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Jewish Holidays!

Hebrew Calendar

Passover

Most celebrated Jewish holiday and the most likely to elicit a groan Very strict dietary requirements

Remembers the Exodus from Egypt: Celebration of:

spring birth and rebirth a journey from slavery to freedom taking responsibility for yourself, the community,

and the world

Observe Passover for seven days, beginning on the 15th of the Jewish month Nisan (usually in April)

Includes a special seder Don’t work on the first two or last two days of

Passover Outside of Israel, Jews celebrate a second

seder on the second night

Edible Do’s and Don’ts

Commandment 1: Eat matzah (unleavened bread) on the first night as part of the seder (four pieces – symbolize the Jewish priests, the Levites, the Israelites, and the Jews who are not yet free enough to celebrate the Passover)

Commandment 2: Eat no leavened bread during the entire week of Passover No wheat, barley, rye, spelt, oats, rice, millet, corn, lentils,

and beans (chametz) Grains leaven if they’re not cooked within 18 minutes of

being exposed to water

“So you shall tell your children on that day, saying: We eat unleavened bread because of what the Eternal One did for me when I came out of Egypt.”

Pesach/Passover Seder

Maror (bitter herbs) bitterness and harshness of the slavery

Chazeret (bitter vegetable) – see above

Karpas (vegetable) The dipping of a simple vegetable into salt water (which represents tears) mirrors the pain felt by the Jewish slaves in Egypt

Charoset (apple, nut, spice and wine mixture) the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build bricks

Zeroa (shankbone) – sacrificial lamb Beitzah (egg) – mourning of the

destruction of the Temple

"Why is this night different from all other nights?"

• Combination of prayers, songs, readings, based on the haggadah, a book of instructions laying out the proper order for the ritual•Symbolic Food:

• Cup of Elijah – welcome guest

Elijah – the prophet

Israelites started worshipping Baal (nature god) at the behest of King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel

Elijah stressed monotheism, killed prophets of Baal

Elijah – the prophet

Israelites started ignoring the mitzvah of Bris (circumcision) at the behest of Jezebel

Elijah proclaimed a drought should rule the earth - lasted 3 ½ years

Elijah – the prophet

Elijah is taken up to the heavens in a chariot drawn by fiery horses

The prophet that “never died”

Chair set for him at a bris Place set for him at table

and door left open at Passover Seder Symbolizes that the

Messianic Age may come at any time

Hanukkah/Chanukkah

Celebrates two things: A miracle in which one day’s worth of oil

burned for eight days The victory of the Jewish freedom fighters over

the Syrian-Greek forces that tried to wipe out Judaism in the second century BCE

The very first battle fought neither for territory, nor for conquest of another people, but in order to achieve religious freedom

Rededication of the temple, right of Jews to worship as a community

On the 25th of Kislev are the days of Chanukkah, which are eight... these were appointed a Festival with Hallel [prayers of praise] and thanksgiving. -Shabbat 21b, Babylonian Talmud

Purpose of the menorah

At the time of the rededication of the Temple, there was very little untainted oil left for the menorah, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night.

There was only enough oil to burn the Eternal Flame for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah.

An eight day festival commemorates this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the

military victory: Jews do not glorify war.

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish New Year - begins introspection, looking back at mistakes of the past year, planning changes for the new year.

No work permitted this day. Much of day is spent in synagogue.

The sounding of the shofar in the synagogue. 100 notes sounded each day. Remember the sound the

ancient Hebrews heard at Mount Sinai

...In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a sabbath for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy convocation. -Leviticus 16:24

Rosh Hashanah

Eating apples dipped in honey, a symbol of the wish for a sweet new year

Yom Kippur

Day of atonement – demonstrate repentance and make amends

10 days after Rosh Hashanah begins

Renounce all thoughtless vows made in previous years, all debts owed, all wrongs done

Refrain from work, fast and/or attend services on this day.

...In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work ... For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the LORD. -Leviticus 16:29-30

Purim

From the book of Esther Esther lived in Persia with her cousin, Mordecai Haman hated Mordecai; planned to exterminate all of the

Jews; convinced the king to let him deal with the Persian Jews

Mordecai convinced Esther to talk to the king – dangerous – but she won him over

Haman was hanged in place of Mordecai

Haman has become a symbol of any serious enemy of the Jewish people Celebrating Purim offers an opportunity to remember the

persecution Haman symbolizes

“[Mordecai instructed them] to observe them as days of feasting and gladness, and sending delicacies to one another, and gifts to the poor.” - Esther 9:22

During March – mardi gras spirit with costumes, plays, parodies, liquor

It’s like the Jewish Halloween, but it also includes reading the Book of Ester, giving fruits and nuts, and offering gifts to the poor

Sukkoth/Sukkot

Festival of Booths/Festival of Tabernacles Commemorates the 40 years of Exodus when

the Israelites were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters.

Agriculturally, Sukkot is a harvest festival

“Sukkah" means "booths," and refers to the temporary dwellings constructed during this 7-day holiday in memory

of the period of wandering

“You shall live in booths seven days in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43).

Solomon’s Temple

Constructed under Solomon, king of the Israelites

Jerusalem, on Temple Mount (Mt. Zion) Dedicated to Yahweh Housed the Ark of the Covenant

Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant aka. Ark of the Testimony A chest described in the Book of Exodus as

containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed

Solomon’s Temple

Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians some four hundred years after construction, in 586 B.C.E.

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.

As the navel is set in the centre of the human body,so is the land of Israel the navel of the world... situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the holy place, and the foundation stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded.

The Wailing Wall

To this day, Orthodox Jews pray three times a day for the Temple's restoration.

Most sacred site, outside of the Temple Mount itself.