Jewish Holidays
The JCC Indianapolis is proud of its Jewish roots and seeks to create a community space based on universal Jewish values. Part of the Jewish experience is celebrating Jewish holidays. The following is a list of the holidays we observe and a brief description. All Jewish holidays begin at sundown the day before (erev, or “eve”) and the JCC may be closed.
Shabbat – Occurs Every Saturday
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from week to week and from place to place, depending on the time of sunset at each location.
Shabbat is considered a festive day, when a person is freed from the regular labors of everyday life and can contemplate the spiritual aspects of life and spend time with family.
Words to Know
- Shabbat: Sabbath, day of rest.
- Kiddush cup: Wine cup used to bless the Shabbat meal.
- Havdallah: Ceremony that ends Shabbat; the word means “separation.”
- Challah: A yeast bread enriched with eggs, similar to brioche that is traditionally used to begin the Sabbath.
Tu B’Shevat – Occurs in Late January or Early February
Tu B’Shevat or the “New Year of the Trees” is Jewish Arbor Day. The holiday is observed on the 15th (tu) of the Hebrew month of Shevat.
Tu B’Shevat is not mentioned in the Torah. According to scholars, the holiday was originally an agricultural festival, corresponding to the beginning of spring in Israel. As in the case with many Jewish observances, a critical historical event served as a catalyst. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and the exile that followed, many Jews felt a need to bind themselves symbolically to their former homeland. Tu B’Shevat served in part to fill that spiritual need. As it was no longer possible to bring tithes to the Temple, Jews used this time each year to eat a variety of fruits and nuts that could be obtained from Palestine. The practice, a sort of physical association with the land, continued for many centuries.
Today in modern Israel, Tu B’Shevat has become a national holiday, a tree planting festival for both Israelis and Jews throughout the world.
Tu B’Shevat may be observed in a variety of ways, including hosting a seder to celebrate the many wonderful fruits and nuts of Israel. Many recipes include these foods:
Lyrics: Hash’kediyah porachat
Veshemesh paz zorachat,
Tziporim merosh kol gag
Mevarshot et bo hachag.
Tu B’Shevat higi’a
Chag La’ilanot.
Tu B’Shevat higi’a
Chag La’ilanot.
Ha’aretz meshava’at
Higi’ah et lata’at
Kol echad yikach lo etz
Be’atim nitze chotzetz.
Tu B’Shevat higi’a…
The almond tree is blooming
And the golden sun is shining,
Birds atop each roof
Brush (bless) the arrival of the festival.
Tu B’Shevat has arrived
(It’s) the festival of trees.
Tu B’Shevat has arrived
(It’s) the festival of trees.
The land is crying out
The time of planting has arrived
Each person shall take a tree
We’ll stride out with spades.
Tu B’Shevat has arrived…
Purim – Occurs Around March
Purim is a partying holiday celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman. The story is recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther, or Megillah, which is read aloud each year. It’s customary to celebrate by dressing in costumes, giving ready-made gifts of food to friends (Mishloach Manot) and giving charity (Matanot L’evyonim). Did you catch the three “m”s? The Megillah reading, Mishloach Manot and Matanot L’evyonim are the three key components to the holiday.
Words to Know
- Megillah: A scroll of the story of Queen Esther.
- Grogger: A noisemaker.
- Hamantaschen: A filled cookie in the shape of a triangle which represents Haman’s hat; Haman is the villain of the Purim story.
- Queen Esther: Jewish heroine.
- Mordechai: Queen Esther’s cousin.
- King Ahashuerus: Ruler of Persia.
Passover – Occurs in March or April
Commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and represents freedom for all people. Passover is celebrated for seven or eight days (depending on the branch of Judaism) starting on the night of a full moon in the spring.
Almost all American Jews observe Passover by participating in a ritual dinner (called a seder, pronounced SAY-der) on the first and/or second night of the holiday. Most American Jews avoid bread and grain products to one extent or another throughout this holiday, in memory of the fact that their ancestors left Egypt in a hurry and didn’t have time to wait for their bread to rise.
Strictly observant Jews do not work, go to school, or carry out any business on the first two and last two days of Passover (first one day and last one day for some branches).
Yom Ha-Shoah – Occurs in Late April or Early May
Holocaust Memorial Day. A day to remember the victims of the Holocaust.
Yom HaAtzma’ut, Yom Ha-Zikaron & Yom Yerushalayim – Occur in late April or May
Words to Know:
Shavu’ot – Occurs in May or June
Commemorates the Giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Occurs between Memorial Day and Independence Day and lasts for one or two days, depending on the branch. Like Sukkot, this holiday is every bit as important as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.
Words to Know:
Tisha B’Av – Occurs in August
A fast commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and other tragedies.
Rosh Hashana – Occurs in September or October
Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year. It occurs between Labor Day and Columbus Day and lasts for one or two days, depending on the branch of Judaism.
Rosh Hashana is a happy, festive holiday but more solemn than the American New Year. It is a time to look back at the past year and make resolutions for the upcoming year. It is also a wake-up call, a time to begin mental preparations for the day of atonement, Yom Kippur.
Words to Know:
- Shana Tovah: A greeting for a good year.
Yom Kippur – Occurs in September or October
Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement, a day of fasting and repentance to reconcile ourselves with the Creator for the mistakes we made in the last year. It occurs on the ninth day after the first day of Rosh Hashanah, so it is usually in late September or early October. Most (but not all) Jews take off from work or school on this day, even ones who are not religious at other times.
How do you pronounce the name of this holiday? “Yom” rhymes with “home” and “Kippur” sounds like “key poor” with emphasis on the “poor.”
Sukkot – Occurs in September or October
This “festival of booths” commemorates the Biblical period of wandering in the desert by building a temporary shelter (called a sukkah, rhymes with “book a”) in the yard and eating meals in it. Some spend considerable time in the sukkah, even sleeping there. Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur, in late September or October, and lasts for seven days. From the perspective of the Bible and Jewish law, this holiday is every bit as important as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.
Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah – Occur in September or October
These two holidays fall immediately after Sukkot. Shemini Atzeret is sort of an extra day added onto the end of Sukkot; Simchat Torah celebrates the completion of the annual cycle of Bible readings in sabbath services. Some branches celebrate these two holidays on the same day, which is the first day after Sukkot.
Chanukah – Occurs in December
Chanukah (sometimes spelled Hanukkah) is the “Festival of Lights,” commemorating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after a successful revolt against the Greeks. As part of the rededication, the victorious Jews needed to light the Temple’s menorah (candelabrum), but they had only enough oil to last one day, and it would take eight days to prepare more oil. Miraculously, the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days. The miracle of the oil is commemorated with this eight-day candle-lighting holiday.
Chanukah begins between Thanksgiving and Christmas. About half of the time, it overlaps with Christmas, but there are many years when Chanukah ends long before Christmas.
Almost all Jews light candles with their families for at least some nights of the holiday, so people like to be at home during this holiday.
The most important thing to remember about Chanukah is that it is not Jewish Christmas. Chanukah is a very minor holiday. It’s about lighting candles and playing games for chocolate coins and eating potato pancakes. Chanukah gift-giving rarely extends much beyond one’s own children.
Words to Know:
Other Traditions and Symbols
For boys, the bris or circumcision takes place when the child is eight days old.
At the age of 13 (12 for girls), children become obligated to observe the commandments. The bar mitzvah ceremony formally and publicly marks the assumption of that obligation, along with the corresponding right to take part in leading religious services, to count in a minyan (the minimum number of people needed to perform certain parts of religious services).
Also known as a yarmulke, it is usually a cloth, hemispherical or platter-shaped skullcap often worn by Orthodox Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that their head be covered at all times and sometimes worn by men and, less frequently, women in Conservative and Reform communities at times of prayer.
A tallit (or tallis) is a prayer shawl worn at the synagogue. The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes known as tzitzit attached to its four corners.
A special braided bread eaten on the Sabbath and holidays.
A cracker-like, unleavened bread made of plain white flour and water. The dough is pricked in several places and not allowed to rise before or during baking, thereby producing a hard flatbread. Matzah is the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
A mezuzah is a sacred parchment inscribed with two portions of Torah. Both of these Torah portions include the verse, “And you shall inscribe these words upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.” It is stored in a protective case and hung on the doorposts of Jewish homes.
Contributions to charity, an act of kindness; the word means “justice.”
Jewish dietary laws. This word is from the same root as the more commonly known word, kosher. There are extensive laws of kashrut. The most widely understood are prohibitions against certain foods, such as pork and shellfish. Meat and dairy foods cannot be eaten at the same meal.