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Judaism

Festivals and Holidays

Celebrations of communal life: of time, history and the passing of seasons (Handout: Jewish Holidays/The Jewish Calendar) [see: Lev. Ch. 23, Ex. 23:14-19]

• Many holidays commemorate historic events in the history of the Jewish people thus teaching the history to the next generation; most are observed with synagogue and/or home worship and celebration, many with special foods, meals and gathering of family and friends

• Holiday and Sabbath meals include blessings over candles, wine and bread; Orthodox say grace after meals (a standard Hebrew prayer/recitation)

• All holidays and Sabbath begin and end at sundown (Jewish day begins at sundown: "there was evening and there was morning, one day," Gen. 1:5, et. al.)

The Hebrew calendar: lunar with seasonal adjustments ("leap" month); new moon=new month, full moon=mid month

• Sabbath: day of rest and study, no work may be done including cooking and driving (cannot light a fire, turn on electricity)

• High Holidays: early fall, most important of holidays

• Rosh Hashanah ("Head of the Year"): The New Year celebration (anniversary of the creation of the world) with festive family meal and lengthy prayer services in synagogue (apple & honey, raisin Chalah)

• Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"): 10th day of Holy Day period culminates with 24 hour fast and synagogue prayer

• Sukkot (Feast of "Booths"): 7 day fall harvest festival, temporary booths are built to eat in, waving of lulav and etrog to the six directions (a very earthy festival)

• Simchat ("Joyous") Torah: day after Sukkot, a festive celebration when annual Torah reading is completed and begins again

• Chanukah ("dedication"): late fall, commemorates rededication of the Jerusalem Temple in 165 BCE following victory over the Greek attempt to subdue Jewish religion; lasts for eight days, observed in the home with lighting of the Chanukah menorah, gift giving, game playing and eating fried foods (symbolic of the miracle of the oil); a minor holiday, not the "Jewish Christmas" nor even equivalent in significance (gift giving is not traditional, giving money - gelt - is traditional)

• Purim ("Lots"): mid-winter, commemorates heroic resistance of Persian persecution under Haman as told in Biblical book of Esther; celebrated with much merriment: carnivals and costumes of characters from the story (Jewish Mardi Gras?), a reading of the story during holiday worship service with loud noise to drown out Haman’s name. [see Esther 9:20-32]

• Passover (Pesach): first full moon after vernal equinox (first full moon of spring) (a spring harvest festival - "first fruits"); commemorates the Exodus from Egypt with home celebration of festive ritual meal called a Seder ("order") which serves an educational role; symbolic rituals are performed with special foods promoting the children to ask "why" and for the adults to tell (Haggadah - "telling") the story of the Exodus. [see Ex. Ch. 12]

• Shavuot ("weeks") (aka Pentecost): the 50th day (7 weeks) after Passover commemorating when the Hebrew people arrived at Mt. Sinai and received the Law (Torah) from God (also a harvest festival)

• New holidays include commemoration of two 20th cent. historic events: Holocaust memorial day (Yom HaShoah) and the celebration of Israel independence day (Yom Ha’Atzmaut). These are minor observations during the "counting of the Omar" between Passover and Shavuot