The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2218 page)

 
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(Heb., ‘weeks’). The Jewish festival of Pentecost. The festival is celebrated on 6 Sivan (and 7 in the
diaspora
) and is one of the three pilgrim festivals (see
Deuteronomy
16. 16). It falls fifty days after the first day of
Passover
, and it originally marked the end of the barley and the beginning of the wheat harvest. The
first fruits
were brought to the
Temple
(Deuteronomy 26. 1–11), and in
rabbinic
times the festival also became the anniversary of the giving of the
Torah
to
Moses
on Mount
Sinai
.

 
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see
ANAFITES
.

 
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(Arab.). Old man, chief, or elder; a title of respect in Islam, especially for religious leaders, usually transliterated shaikh.

 
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