HANUKKAH SHABBAT ROSH HASHANAH YOM KIPPUR SUKKOT PESACH PURIM TU B'SHEVAT SIMCHAT TORAH SHAVUOT 2 | Jewish Holidays

Shabbat

Sabbath

Celebrated starting Fridays at sundown to commemorate God’s day of rest after six days of creation. Traditions include lighting candles, drinking wine and eating challah (braided bread). Havdalah, a ceremony of farewell to Shabbat, takes place when three stars appear in the Saturday night sky. Rituals include lighting a braided candle, drinking wine and smelling sweet spices.

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish New Year

This joyous celebration ushers in a period of festivities, introspection, blessings and penitence. Traditional foods include round challah and apples with honey, symbolizing wholeness and sweetness for the new year. It begins the Ten Days of Awe, which culminate on Yom Kippur. 1–2 Tishrei

Yom Kippur

Day Of Atonement

The holiest day of the Jewish year. Through fasting and prayer, Jews reflect upon their relationships with other people and with God, atoning for wrongdoings and resolving to do better. It ends at sunset with a blast of the shofar (ram’s horn).

10 Tishrei

Sukkot

Festival Of Booths

Commemorates the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring the Israelites to the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering in the desert. Many people erect a sukkah (booth), a temporary structure with a roof made of branches, modeled after the huts built in the desert. Celebrations include eating foods of the harvest and shaking the lulav (assemblage of palm, willow and myrtle branches) and etrog (a citrus fruit).

15–21 Tishrei

Shemini Atzeret

Eighth Day Of Assembly

Celebrated at the end of Sukkot and sometimes considered an extension of that holiday. Marks the first time the prayer for rain is recited during services, a practice that continues until Pesach. 22 Tishrei

Simchat Torah

Rejoicing For The Torah

Celebrates the completion of the annual Torah-reading cycle. After reading the last sentence of Devarim (Deuteronomy), the Torah is joyously paraded seven times around the synagogue. The new cycle begins immediately with reading the first words of Beresheet (Genesis). 23 Tishrei

Hanukkah

Festival Of Lights

This eight-day holiday commemorates the triumph over Syrian-Greek oppression and the rededication of the Temple, when oil meant to last for one day burned miraculously for eight. Jews light candles in a hanukkiah (nine-branched menorah), eat latkes (potato pancakes) or sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), play with dreidels (spinning tops) and give money or gifts.

25 Kislev–2 Tevet

Tu B’Shevat

New Year Of Trees

Biblical in origin, this holiday celebrates springtime renewal and growth. Traditions include seders with wine and symbolic fruits, planting trees and caring for the environment. 15

Shevat

Purim

Feast Of Lots

Marked by raucous merriment, this holiday celebrates the rescue of the

Jews by Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai from the evil Haman. During the chanting of the Megillah (Book of Esther), whenever Haman is mentioned, celebrants shout and shake graggers (noisemakers) to drown out his name. Traditions include costume parties, skits, mishloach manot (gifts of food) and eating hamantaschen (three-cornered, fruit-filled pastries).

14 Adar

Pesach

Passover

Celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. At the seder, celebrants read the haggadah (collection of texts and commentaries on the Exodus) and share a festive meal with symbolic foods. In remembrance of the departure of the Israelites, who could not wait for their bread to rise before fleeing, Jews eat matzah (unleavened bread) for eight days (seven days for Israeli, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews) and refrain from most grains.

15–22 Nissan

Sefirat HaOmer

Counting Of The Omer

Seven-week period begins the second night of Pesach, ending at Shavuot. The 49 days are a time of anticipation for the giving of the Torah as well as a period of semi-mourning, recalling the deaths of Rabbi Akiva’s students. Traditionally, weddings, festivities and haircuts are prohibited during this time, except on Lag B’Omer.

16 Nissan–5 Sivan

Yom HaShoah

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Day of mourning for the millions killed in the Holocaust. Services honor survivors and remember the dead with prayers and yahrzeit (memorial) candles. In Israel, a siren’s blast announces two minutes of silence. 27 Nissan