Tomorrow and Saturday we celebrate Shavuos, the second of the pilgrimage festivals. It is an agricultural festival that greets the first grain harvests. Unlike Passover and Succot, we only observe 2 days for Shavuos, not a whole week. But all three festivals have a Yizkor memorial service as part of the ritual. Yizkor is conducted on the 2nd day of Shavuos and this year that falls on Shabbos. Your presence will help make a minyan and you’ll have an opportunity to say kaddish for family members who have passed.
All three pilgrimage festivals are agricultural in nature, and as such we are commanded to observe them “in their season”. However, the Torah associates historical events with Passover and Succot, none for Shavuos. For example, the Torah states specifically that we observe Passover to remember the exodus from Egypt. But, Shavuos is simply the festival of the first grain harvest. Is that the reason we tend to neglect it?
The rabbis tried to remedy that by associating Shavuos with the giving of the 10 commandments at Sinai. The Torah readings for Shavuos include the reading of the aseret hadibrot (the 10 utterances or 10 statements), and by extension the holiday celebrates Hashem giving us the entire Torah. Consequently, it is appropriate to celebrate the holiday by studying Torah. All day and night! If you are planning to “pull an all-nighter”, Dr. Block recommends this list of things to read.