Festivals | Tishrei
From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur
The Jewish Year - Overview
As we go into the New Year, we open with an overview of the Jewish
Calendar, the major cycles of Festivals and their significance.
The details can be found in subsequent files - and they will be
necessary as background for your activities.
These materials were adapted and extended from "New Year and Day
of Atonement: Program Material for Youth and Adults", published
by the Jewish Center Division, National Jewish Welfare Board,
New York, 1952.
The jewish Calendar
The distinctiveness of the Jewish calendar is a potent factor in
the survival of the Jewish people. The observance of the Sabbath
and the many festivals and holidays that fill it create a definite
bond and unifying force among Jews.
The Months
While the ordinary [Gregorian] calendar is solar, based on the
movement of the earth around the sun, the Jewish calendar (Luah)
is lunar, based on the revolutions of the moon around the earth.
There are twelve months in a normal year-- Nissan (falls some time
in April), Iyar (May), Sivan (June), Tammuz (July), Av (August),
Elul (September), Tishrei (October), Heshvan (November), Kislev
(December), Tevet (January), Shevat (February) and Adar (March).
In a leap year, which occurs seven times in a cycle of nineteen
years, a thirteenth month, known as Second Adar, is added.
The basis of the lunar calendar was the proclamation of the new
moon (Rosh Hodesh) by the SANHEDRIN (governing Sages) in Jerusalem
of Temple times until the 2nd Exile. The dates of all holidays
were dependent upon this proclamation.
Due to the difficulties involved in notifying the people outside
of Jerusalem in time to observe the new moon, it was decided to
observe two days whenever the preceding month had thirty days.
Thus it came about that the festivals are celebrated for two days
in all countries except Israel. Orthodox and Conservative Jews
still adhere to this practice.
The Festivals
The day according to the Jewish calendar begins and ends with sunset.
The most important day in the Jewish week throughout the year is
the Shabbat (Sabbath).
Outstanding days in the calendar include:
- the High Holy Days or Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur),
- the three major festivals (Pesah, Shavuot and Sukkot),
- the minor historic festivals (Hanukah and Purim), and
- the semi-festivals (Lag Ba-Omer and Hamishah Asar Bi-Shevat).
- the modern festivals (Yom Hashoah - Holocaust Remembrance
Day, Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israel's Independence Day, Yom Yerushalayim
- Jerusalem Day).
The Fasts
While fasting plays a minor role in Jewish life there are a number
of fast days, lasting from sunrise until nightfall and only two
from sunset until the following night: Yom Kippur and Tisha BeAv.
The High Holidays
The High Holy Days do not have an agricultural significance, yet
their appeal is universal in character. Many of those most indifferent
to their responsibilities to Judaism and the Jewish community
flock to the synagogue on these Days of Awe. Perhaps an inborn
sense of belonging arouses these Jews and Jewesses to participate
in the rituals of these great days.
The YAMIM NORAIM (Days of Awe) are an annual period
of self-scrutiny. They allow ample time for serious reflection
on and consideration of the manner in which we conduct our lives.
An opportunity is afforded us to plan constructive change as we
engage in deep contemplation at this annual crossroads in time--the
close of the old and the beginning of the new year. We become
aware of the uncertain and temporary nature of life and so begin
to realize our ultimate dependence upon God's mercy. This is also
the sense of their historical significance: Rosh Hashanah as the
anniversary of Creation; Yom Kippur in terms of the End of Days.
Permeating the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is the concept
of God as King of the entire creation. Furthermore, the acceptance
of God's rulership implies the renunciation of such false gods
as wealth, racial purity and dictatorship. His love and mercy
are bestowed upon the righteous of the world irrespective of economic
status and religious beliefs. Both the rich and the poor are obligated
to implore aid of the Almighty. The Jew, however, must found his
hopes for the future upon a strong devotion to Judaism, just as
the Gentile must seek salvation in his own religious beliefs.
Divine Providence guides the creation, in its every aspect the
work of God.
The most significant lesson of these days is that of sincerity.
God does not desire the merely external forms of worship. Mechanical
recitation of prayers and perfunctory repentance affects no change
in the individual and are denials of the very purpose of these
days.
Indeed, the act of fasting itself is to no purpose unless accompanied
by sincere remorse as the prophet (Isaiah 58:6-7) explains: "Is
not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the fetters of
wickedness....and to let the oppressed go free?....Is it not to
deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou (should) bring the
poor that are cast out to thy house?...."
The Three Pilgrim Festivals (Shalosh Regalim)
The Three Festivals consist of Passover (Pesach),
the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) and the Feast
of Tabernacles (or Booths) (Sukkot).
The name Shalosh Regalim derives its origin from the following
Biblical verse:
"Three times you shall keep a feast for me in the
year"
(Exodus 23,14)
Within the word "regalim" however, is
also expressed the idea of a journey on foot or a pilgrimage,
an important element in the celebration of these three festivals.
"Three times every year shall your menfolk appear
before the Lord your God in the place that He will choose, in
the feast of Pesach, in the feast of Shavuot, and in the Feast
of Sukkot."
(Deuteronomy 16,16)
The three festivals have the following characteristics
in common:
- They serve as a means of symbolizing essential religious
and ethical ideas,
- Pesach - The existence of God (to free the Jews from
bondage
- Shavuot - Revelation (God's Law was given to them)
- Sukkot - Divine Providence (intercepted and helped
them to overcome insuperable difficulties)
- They refer to important events in Jewish history
- They mark and celebrate the various harvests
- Pesach - the early barley harvest
- Shavuot - a wheat and fruit harvest
- Sukkot - the ingathering of grain and fruit harvests
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