Jewish Festivals

Homepage | Literacy Zone | Maths Zone | Science Zone |Festivals and Celebrations

Click here for our calendar of Religious Festivals 2009 - 2010

Jews celebrate the important events of Jewish history throughout the year. The Jewish Sabbath or Shabbat begins at sundown Friday night and ends at nightfall on Saturday. This day of rest is one of the most important holy days in the Jewish calendar and it's considered a holiday.

What and when are the main Jewish Festivals?

Passover

Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is the time when Jewish people remember how the children of Israel left slavery behind them when they left Egypt. It is a major eight day festival. A highlight is the Seder meal held in each family's home at the beginning of the festival, when the story of their deliverance is recounted as narrated in the Haggadah (the Telling, the Story).  Matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten throughout the festival, as are other foods that contain no leaven.  There is a great spring cleaning in the home before the festival to ensure that no trace of leaven is left in the home during Pesach.

Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year

This festival marks the Jewish New Year (5767) and begins with ten days of repentance and self examination, during which time God sits in judgement on every person. The festival is also known as the Day of Judgement, the Day of the Sounding of the Shofar, and the Day of Remembrance.

Over the two days of Rosh Hashanah, there are special services at the synagogue. A musical instrument, called a shofar, is blown. It makes a loud piercing sound like a trumpet and reminds Jews of God's great power.

People east slices of apple dipped in honey. This is a way of wishing each other a sweet and happy New Year.

Happy New Year - 'Leshanah Tovah Tikatev'

Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement

This is the final day of the ten days of repentance. It is the holiest day in the Jewish religion (Sabbath of Sabbaths). As well as fasting for 25 hours, Jews spend the day in prayer, asking for forgiveness and resolving to behave better in the future.

Sukkot / Sukkoth

A harvest festival commemorating the 40 years that the Jews spent in the wilderness on the way from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. Some lived in tents. Others built huts out of leaves and branches. These huts were called sukkah.

During the festival, some Jews build their own sukkah in the garden or at the synagogue. Jews eat their meals in the sukkah for the eight or nine days of the festival.

There are rules to making the sukkah. Each sukkah must have at least three walls. The roof of the sukkah must be made of material referred to as sekhakh, which means "covering." Thie 'covering' must be something that grew from the ground and was cut off, such as tree branches, corn stalks, bamboo reeds or sticks. Sekhakh (the roof covering) should be sparse and left loose enough so that the stars can be seen.

There is a special Sukkot service in the synagogue. Everyone holds branches from three trees in their hands and a citron fruit in their right. They walk around the synagogue seven times, waving the branches.

Hanukkah (Chanukah)

Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights. It is an eight day holiday starting on the 25th night of the Jewish month of Kislev

Hanukka celebrates the miraculous victory over religious persecution in the Holy Land and also commemorates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the burning oil. This is where the oil of the menorah (the candelabrum in the temple) miraculously burned for eight days, even though there was only enough oil for one day.

During Hanukkah, each day at sundown, Jews light a candle on their menorah and say a prayer. A special candle known as the shamash candle, is used to light the candles on the menorah from left to right. Each night another candle is lit until all candles are buring on the eigth day.

Calendar of Religious Festivals

If you find our pages useful please tell us! Sign our guestbook