ABSTRACT
Rabbis often insist that they be given preference in their interpretation of Scripture, as sole spokesmen for the oral tradition, a tradition that was given on Mount Sinai alongside the ten commandments. It is the rabbis, and not the Bible, that fix the giving of the Torah on Shavuot on the 6th and 7th of Sivan, the festival that commemorates the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Though there is a scriptural basis in Exodus 19, the Torah never explicitly states that this was the actual date. There are some unusual features linked to the festival. It is uniquely lacking in a biblically established date, a fact that led to the Karaite schism. The Karaites argued that we should follow the Torah by taking it to be literally true, and they argued that the festival was held 50 days after the end of Passover and not, as the rabbis argued, 50 days after the conclusion of the first day of Passover. They claim that the time to bring the Omer offering and to start the 49-day countdown to Shavuot is the day after the first Shabbat after Passover, rather than the day after Passover. This might seem a small disagreement that could not really provide a reason to split a community. But behind the debate over a text is one dealing with power and the issue of who determines these issues.
