Jewish Holidays Academic Team

Rosh HaShanah

• Celebrated on the first and second days of the month of Tishrei, marks the beginning of the Jewish civil year/Pesach

• Souls are judged, and God decides their fate Between

• Ten Days of Repentance

• Wear white clothes and eat apples with honey and pomegranates

• The blowing of the shofar and a ceremony called Tashlich: Jews throw bread crumbs into running water to symbolize the cleansing of their sins.

Yom Kippur

• Celebrated on the tenth day of Tishrei

• Day of Atonement; one’s fate is sealed. Abstain from eating, drinking, washing, and sex, as well as indulgent dress

• Book of Jonah is read. Kol Nidre, which releases Jews from vows or promises to God.

• Final service, N’ila.

Sukkot

• Celebrated on the 15th of Tishrei.

• Commemorates the booths that Israelites lived in following the Exodus from Egypt; it also celebrates the harvest.

• Jews build outdoor booths in which they live and eat for seven days.

• The palm, a yellow citrus called the etrog, the myrtle, and the willow — are waved in seven directions.

• It is traditional to invite a Biblical figure to be the guest for that night.

Hannukah

• This festival lasts for eight days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev

• Celebrates the victory of the small Maccabee army against the large Greek army of Antiochus, re-purification of the Temple in Jerusalem

• When they did so, they found only a small amount of oil to light the menorah in the Temple, and it would take a week to make more; miraculously, the oil burned for the full week.

• “Helper candle” called the shamash to light candles in a menorah (more properly called a chanukiah

• Furthermore, it is traditional to eat foods fried in oil; in the United States, potato pancakes called latkes are popular; in Israel, fried jelly donuts called sufganiyot are more common.

• Spinning a top called the dreidel, Hebrew letters form the initials of a phrase that translates as “a great miracle happened there.”

• Exchanging presents is only a recent tradition developed in the U.S.

Purim

• Celebrated on the 14th of Adar (the sixth month) and commemorating the victory of Jews led by Esther and her cousin Mordechai — against Haman, who tried to destroy the Jews

• The story, recorded in the Book of Esther (megillah), takes place in Shushan, capital of King Ahasuerus (Achashvayrosh).

• Traditional to dress up, get drunk, give to charity, eat triangular pastries called hamentaschen and exchange gifts (mishloach manot) with friends.

Passover

• Celebrated for seven or eight days beginning on the 15th day of Nissan.

• Commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. Ancient Hebrew New Year.

• Jews have a festival dinner called a seder, where they retell the story of the Exodus from a book called a hagaddah.

• The Song of Songs is recited. Begins a period of seven weeks called the Omer, a period of semi-mourning that leads into Shavuot.

Shavuot

• Celebrated on the sixth day of Sivan (the ninth month), the 50th day of the Omer

• Means “weeks,” name of holiday Pentecost.

• Commemorates the giving of the Torah to the Israelites the beginning of the harvest in ancient Israel

• The Book of Ruth is read in synagogue.

Tisha b’Av

• Day of mourning for the destructions of the First and Second Temples,

• Fast and to keep oneself in a solemn mood.

• The Book of Lamentations is read.