Shabbat | Rosh Hashanah | Yom Kippur | Sukkot | Shemini Atzeret |
Simchat Torah | Hanukah | Tu B'Shevat | Purim | Passover |
Omer | Yom HaShoah | Yom Ha'atzmaut | Yom Yerushalayim | Shavuot | Tisha B'Av
On Shabbat, or the day of rest, we spend time with family and rest from the work week. This begins on Friday night with the lighting of the two Shabbot candles, traditionally lit by the woman of the house to commemorate the two mitzvot of this holiday: Zachor (to remember) and Shamor (to observe). Shabbot lasts until sundown on Saturday.
Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, celebrates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after its defilement by the Syrian Greeks in 164 BCE. The holiday is centered around the home and family, where we light the hanukkian (also known as the menorah).
Purim, or the Feast of Lots, is a joyous holiday that recounts the saving of the Jews from a massacre during in Persia. The holiday is traditionally celebrated with costumes and a reading of the story from the Book of Esther. Cheering and celebration are popular with the children, who spin groggers, or noisemakers, to drown out the name of the evil Hamen.
Yom Hashoah--Holocaust Remembrance Day--is observed one week after the conclusion of Passover on 27 Nissan. It is also falls halfway between the first day of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising--which began on the first day of Passover in 1943-- and Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel's Independence Day.
| Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day
Yom Ha'atzmaut is a joyful celebration of Israel's independence. It is celebrated on the 5th day of Iyar, which in 1948 corresponded to May 14, the day on which David Ben Gurion, the nation's first prime minister, announced the creation of the State of Israel.
USCJ Independence Day
BBC - Israel at 50
CIA World Factbook (Israel)
The forgotten Jewish holiday. In the Torah, Shavuot is listed along with Pesah and Sukkot, but it doesn't have matzah or a Seder; it doesn't have a Sukkah or a lulov; it is a holiday struggling for attention. Originally, it was the spring parallel to Sukkot, a Festival of Thanksgiving; celbrating the spring harvest. The Torah tells us of the ceremony of the Bikkurim, the First Fruits, brought to the Temple in Jerusalem. After the destruction of the Temple and our exile form the land of Israel, the agricultural nature of the hoiday was transformed into a celebration of the giving of the Torah and ultimately of Jewish Education.
Fun & Games, & things to learn for Kids
Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the month of Av (which month coincides with July and/or August), is the major day of communal mourning in the Jewish calendar. Although a large number of disasters are said to have befallen the Jews on this day, the major commemoration is of the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E. Central to the observance of this day is fasting.
Tisha B'Av, the Other Fast Day (Aug 2006) by Rabbi Mark
My Jewish Learning.com
Kinot (dirges) Recounting the sorrows.