Jewish holidays are celebrated on special days on the lunar Jewish calendar. This calendar varies in relation to the solar calendar used in the west. This means that the Jewish holidays move around with the western dates. The Jewish calendar once in a while adds another month to keep it in sync with the solar year and sometimes the days are moved to make sure that the Sabbath (Sunday/Holy day) does not happen on certain festivals.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, when the Jews believe that God decides on what will happen to them in the new year. The synagogue services for this festival show God's kingship and also include the blowing of the shofar, a ram's horn trumpet. They believe that God also judges their good and bad deeds on this day.
Yom Kippur is regarded as a sacred and solemn day, on which synagogue attendance is very important. On this day, the Jews believe God makes his final decision on who will live, die and fail during the next year, then he seals his judgment in the Book of Life.
The book of Exodus tells the story of the Israelites' journey to the promised land. The day Sukkot helps remember these years spent wandering the desert, living in temporary homes. During the time of the festival Jewish families live in temporary huts called sukkot, which they build from branches and leaves.
Simchat Torah means "Rejoicing in the Torah". Synagogues are read from the Torah each week, finishing one read-through each year. When they reach the end of the Torah on Simchat Torah it means that they have completed the cycle and begin again the next week from Genesis.
The story of Hanukkah is of the "miracle of the oil". In 164 BC a group of Jews called the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrian Greeks. When they came to the temple, they had only enough sacred oil to light the menorah (seven-branched candlestick) for only one day. The story says that the candles stayed lit for eight whole days even with that little amount of oil. During the eight days of Hanukkah, Jews light one extra candle on a special nine-branched menorah, called a chanukkiya.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, when the Jews believe that God decides on what will happen to them in the new year. The synagogue services for this festival show God's kingship and also include the blowing of the shofar, a ram's horn trumpet. They believe that God also judges their good and bad deeds on this day.
Yom Kippur is regarded as a sacred and solemn day, on which synagogue attendance is very important. On this day, the Jews believe God makes his final decision on who will live, die and fail during the next year, then he seals his judgment in the Book of Life.
The book of Exodus tells the story of the Israelites' journey to the promised land. The day Sukkot helps remember these years spent wandering the desert, living in temporary homes. During the time of the festival Jewish families live in temporary huts called sukkot, which they build from branches and leaves.
Simchat Torah means "Rejoicing in the Torah". Synagogues are read from the Torah each week, finishing one read-through each year. When they reach the end of the Torah on Simchat Torah it means that they have completed the cycle and begin again the next week from Genesis.
The story of Hanukkah is of the "miracle of the oil". In 164 BC a group of Jews called the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrian Greeks. When they came to the temple, they had only enough sacred oil to light the menorah (seven-branched candlestick) for only one day. The story says that the candles stayed lit for eight whole days even with that little amount of oil. During the eight days of Hanukkah, Jews light one extra candle on a special nine-branched menorah, called a chanukkiya.