Are there two dates for Jewish Pentecost?

Answer 1

Pentecost is not a Jewish festival and a such we do not celebrate it - thus, there are no dates for the Jewish Pentecost since no such thing exists. The Christian Pentecost, however, is related to the Jewish Shavuot which celebrates the day when the Israelites gathered at Mount Sinai and received the Torah from G-d. There is some controversy regarding the exact date of Shavuot with one camp claiming that it falls on the exact date that the above events took place on Mount Sinai and others claiming that it falls on the date arrived at by the Counting of the Omer, which gives a day fifty days after the beginning of the Counting which itself falls on the second day of Pesach (Passover). Most Jews settle for the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan, which corresponds to mid May or early June on the secular calendar. Since the Hebrew calendar is based on both lunar and solar cycles, making it considerably more complex than the solar-based secular calendar, Hebrew dates fall on different secular dates - for example, in 2011 the sixth day of Sivan will correspond to the 7th of June. In 2012, it will begin on 26th of May, in 2013 on the 14th of May and in 2014 on the 3rd of June. Meanwhile, Pentecost falls seven weeks after Easter Sunday - just as Shavuot falls seven weeks after the second day of Pesach - and the date of Easter Sunday is itself usually in the same week as the beginning of Pesach (however, in three years of the nineteen year cycle followed by the Hebrew calendar, Pesach may fall up to a month after Easter).

Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's followers. As Jews do not accept Christ as the Moshiach (Messiah), Pentecost can therefore not be a part of the Jewish religion. I suspect that these differences in the two calendars combined with the links between the Jewish Shavuot and Christian Pentecost are the source of your confusion.

Answer 2

Pentecost is a Christian occasion, but the word is sometimes employed as a (mis)translation of Shavuot, a Jewish festival (Leviticus ch.23). Shavuot is the sixth of Sivan (late Spring). Outside of Israel, it is celebrated for two days, the 6th and 7th of Sivan. This is because the Jewish proclamation of the New Moon each month took time to reach those who lived far away (see the Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 21a and 30b).

See also:

Jewish festivals