Here is a fun review of the most popular Jewish holidays, from the Jewish New Year, to its day of atonement and Halloween. There are fun stories behind the customs of Jewish holidays. So find out why Jews build a hut in the fall and eat their dinner by starlight, or whose ears they eat on Halloween.
Rosh Hashanah
This is the first Jewish holiday of the Jewish year. Rosh Hashanah translates from Hebrew to mean “the head of the year”, or in other words, the first of the year. This is a wonderful Jewish holiday that takes place in the fall, kicking off the Jewish holiday season. Families gather together for a Jewish holiday feast and greet each other with Shana Tova, which means “Good Year.”
Yom Kippur
This is the next Jewish holiday, and the most important religiously. Yom Kipor is a day of atonement, a day in which Jewish families fast together in atonement for their sins and errors of the past year. Families eat together the night before, then fast until the following evening, without even drinking. Kids usually try to join in the fast, but often begin drinking after the night’s play, when adults are praying in the synagogue. And by the next day, kids will tend to start eating at some time or another.
Sukkot
Sukkot is perhaps the loveliest of the Jewish holidays. Sukkot usually falls in October, which in the Mediterranean is still a fairly warm month. This is important because Sukkot is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the pilgrims who journeyed to Jerusalem in the past. In their memory, Jews built a hut outside, made with sheets for walls and branches for a roof. The hut is decorated with Jewish holiday motifs, and every evening the family gathers to have their Jewish dinner in the hut. This is especially fun on mild evenings when you can see the stars through the branch-roof, while eating by lantern light.
Hanukkah
The Jewish holiday Hanukkah is a festival of lights. This Jewish holiday usually coincides with Christmas and is just as festive. Every night, for seven nights, families gather together to light a Menorah. A Menorah is a Jewish holiday candelabra with eight heads, each representative of a day in a tale of heroic courage. It is the tale of the Jewish fighters, the Maccabim, who fought against a foreign ruler. Reduced to hardly any oil at all, they expected their light to go out after one day. But by some miracle, the lamp burned for seven whole days. And so the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah lights a candle for seven days, while the eighth candle (the Shamash) is simply the candle that lights the others. Hanukkah has a special Jewish holiday toy called a Dreidel, and special foods like Suffganyiot, which are delicious Jewish holiday dough nuts, and Latkesh, which are potato pancakes.
Tu B’Shevat
The Jewish holiday Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of the trees and bounty of the earth. In fact, this Jewish holiday is a sort of Earth Day, but one that has been around for centuries. Jewish families and friends give each other dry fruit holiday baskets, intermixed with nuts. And it is a lovely Jewish holiday tradition to plant a tree on Tu B’shevat.
Purim
The Jewish holiday Purim is similar to Halloween. Purim is a wonderful celebration in which children dress up in costumes and play with rattles (called Ra’ashan). This Jewish holiday celebrates the story of Ester, who saved her people by exposing a wicked Vizier who prayed on the King’s vanity. The story is delightful, and Purim is a happy Jewish holiday. The rattles are used every time the wicked Vizier’s name is mentioned, to drown out the sound. And every one eats Ozney Haman (the ears of the evil Vizier, Haman), which are really just delicious Jewish holiday cookies shaped like triangles. Another wonderful practice of the Jewish holiday Purim involves giving each other a basket of goodies, called Mishloach Manot. Purim is definitely the favorite Jewish holiday of children.
Passover
The Jewish holiday Passover falls at the same time as Easter. This is the great family-get-together holiday. Passover celebrates the exodus of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. The story is read at a great feast, in which symbolic Jewish holiday foods are eaten, like hard boiled eggs or bitter horse-radish to symbolize bitter days. During the Jewish holiday feast of Passover, adults hide an Affikkoman, a piece of holiday bread. The child who finds it is then entitled to make a wish. Another interesting tradition of the wonderful Jewish holiday Passover is the bread eaten. This is called Matzo, and what characterizes the Matzo is that it is made with no yeast. This is symbolic of the Jews’ hurried flight from Egypt. There was no time to let bread rise. In memory of this Jewish exodus, Jews today do not eat any bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, which lasts for a week.
Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)
This is not exactly a Jewish holiday but a crucial day for all humans to remember, for this day commemorates the souls who perished at a dark time in the history of mankind, WWII. For those of you who really wish to understand what life was like for Jews when the Nazis invaded their homeland, read the Bielski Brothers, the heroic story of three Jewish brothers who defied the Nazis, built a village in the forest, and saved 1200 Jews, woman, children and the old among them.
There are a few other Jewish holidays, but these are the best loved and celebrated by secular Jews as well as more religious Jews.
More Jewish Holiday Articles:
Happy Hanukkah-Where to Find Everything for a Happy Hanukkah: For a happy Hanukkah, here’s where to find the best menorah and Hanukkah gifts, free Hanukkah songs, lyrics and audio, free Hanukkah coloring pages and games, plus wonderful crafts for dazzling Hanukkah decorations. Read the article.
Tu B’shevat Gift Baskets, Where to Find the Very Best: Tu B’shevat celebrates the earth’s abundance, and what better way to do that than with a gorgeous Tu B’shevat gift basket. Here are the best online stores for ordering Tu B’shevat gift baskets in the US and Israel. Read the article.
