Jewish Holidays

Rosh Hashanah  Jewish New Year (starts spiritual new year)  10 day period of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur  Time of reflection and self-examination  Occurs in September  osh-hashanah-history osh-hashanah-history

Yom Kippur  Day of Atonement  The major fast of the year  Asks forgiveness for not keeping vows  Seeks forgiveness from anyone they have wronged  Honors and renews the sacred covenant of the Jewish people with God  Occurs in September  aid/676113/jewish/Yom-Kippur.htm aid/676113/jewish/Yom-Kippur.htm  an-introduction-to-the-jewish-day-of- atonement_55f352a5e4b077ca094f3c6c an-introduction-to-the-jewish-day-of- atonement_55f352a5e4b077ca094f3c6c

Sukkot  Commemorates the time when Israelites lived in temporary shelters in the desert on way to promised land.  Build shelters in open air and fill with greenery  For 7 days family eats there  Also celebrates the end of the harvest  Simhat Torah- last day- ends the yearly cycle of Torah readings- creation to death of Moses  Occurs in early October  ins-of-the-jewish-holiday-of-sukkot-seeker- daily htm ins-of-the-jewish-holiday-of-sukkot-seeker- daily htm

Hanukah  Judah Maccabee defeats Greek tyrant  Temple s rededicated but only oil enough for one day- takes 8 days to make new oil  Lit it anyway and miraculously it burned for 8 days  Manura- 8 branch candlestick  Celebrates the survival of the Jewish faith in midst of adversity  Occurs in December  kkah kkah

Tu B’shvat  New Year for Trees  Environmental festival  Plant trees in Israel or send money to do so around the world  Occurs in January/February  i-DXvHQ i-DXvHQ

Purim  Celebrates the story of Esther  Jewish queen of Persian King Xerxes who rescues her people from being destroyed by Haman.  Every time “Haman” is read try and drown it out with yelling and noisemakers.  Occurs February or March  JSZg JSZg  cdo/aid/ /jewish/Purim-Is- Awesome.htm cdo/aid/ /jewish/Purim-Is- Awesome.htm

Pesach  Passover- celebrates the deliverance of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt.  8 day festival- Passover seder- Unleavened bread and other items symbolize the trials and then deliverance of the people.  Occurs March or April  assover assover

Yom Hashoah  Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism Day  To remember the victims of the holocaust  Siren sounds for 2 minutes of silent devotion- 11am  27 th of nisan- marks the day of Warsaw ghetto uprising  Occurs March/April  d-Oo d-Oo tcjewfolk.com-

Shavuot  Pentecost/feast of weeks  Wheat harvest and thankfulness for the gift of the Torah to Moses  Occurs in May  xiyuZqc xiyuZqc

Tisha B’Av  Both first and second temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this day  A time to rememeber the victims of the Holocaust  Day of fasting and mourning  Occurs in July  7wFlv0Q 7wFlv0Q en.wikipedia.org-

Yom Haatzma-Ut  Israel’s Independence Day  May 14, 1948  Celebration, folk dancing, family picnics  =voO3DXnPc-U =voO3DXnPc-U  =LaRAPpBE4Fo =LaRAPpBE4Fo