Here are 7 things you may not have known about the festival.

1) Shavuot is the only festival in the Torah with no explicit date written. Rather we are told to celebrate it after counting 49 days from the second day of Passover!

2) Shavuot is the only Jewish holiday with a dairy menu. The Bible refers to Israel as “the land of milk and honey,” and Shavuot puts the Israel's world-famous dairy in the spotlight.

3) Staying awake all night is not just for the teenagers. For centuries, it has been customary to study through the night as payback for the Israelites’ error in oversleeping on the morning they were supposed to receive the Torah.

4) Shavuot is a floral frenzy. Go to your local synagogue to see it decked out with beautiful flower arrangements. This is based on the tradition that Mount Sinai flowered and bloomed to mark the giving of the Torah!

5) King David was born and died on Shavuot. We read the book of Ruth, who converted to Judaism and was an ancestor of King David.

6) Shavuot has many names, Shavuot means weeks, marking the fact it is celebrated after 7 weeks. It is also called Yom Habikkurim, The Day of the First Fruits, where Israel would celebrate the first fruits of the harvest. Another name is Chag Hakatzir, The Festival of the Harvest, as it was celebrated at the end of the barley harvest.

7) Finally Shavuot marks the momentous event of God giving the Jewish nation the Torah, just 50 days after leaving Egypt, the Jews heard the Ten Commandments which revolutionized the world!