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Jewish Festivals
Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. Karaite Judaism#The calendar, Karaite Jews and Samaritans#Samaritanism, Samaritans also observe the biblical festivals, but not in an identical fashion and not always at exactly the same time. They include religious, cultural and national elements, derived from four sources: ''mitzvot'' ("biblical commandments"), rabbinic mandates, the history of Judaism, and the State of Israel. Jewish holidays occur on the same dates every year in the Hebrew calendar, but the dates vary in the Gregorian. This is because the Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar (based on the cycles of both the sun and moon), whereas the Gregorian is a solar calendar. Each holiday can only occur on certain days of the week, four for most, but five for holidays in Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years slightly differently to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long rather than the Julian calendar's 365.25 days, thus more closely approximating the 365.2422-day tropical year, "tropical" or "solar" year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is that every year divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are divisible by 100, except in turn for years also divisible by 400. For example 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, but 2000 was. There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar was based on the estimate that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shevat
Shevat (, , ; from ) is the fifth month of the civil year starting in Tishre (or Tishri) and the eleventh month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar starting in Nisan. It is a month of 30 days. Shevat usually occurs in January–February on the Gregorian calendar. The name of the month was taken from the Akkadian language during the Babylonian Captivity. The assumed Akkadian origin of the month is , meaning "strike", that refers to the heavy rains of the season. In Biblical sources, the month is first mentioned by this name in the book of prophet Zechariah ( Zechariah 1:7). Holidays * 15 Shevat – Tu Bishvat In Jewish history and tradition *1 Shevat – Moses repeats the Torah (Deuteronomy 1:3) *2 Shevat (circa 1628 BC) – Asher born *10 Shevat (1950) - Death of the Previous Rebbe, the 6th Chabad Rebbe. *10 Shevat (1951) the Lubavitcher Rebbe formally accepts the leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement by reciting the discourse "Bati Legani". *17- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lag BaOmer
Lag BaOmer (, ''LaG Bāʿōmer''), also Lag B'Omer or Lag LaOmer, is a Judaism, Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Iyar. According to some of the Rishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period of the Counting of the Omer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities. According to modern kabbalah, this day is the Hillula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai or the anniversary of his death. According to a late medieval tradition, Simeon ben Yochai is buried in Meron, and this association has spawned several well-known customs and practices on Lag BaOmer, including the lighting of bonfires and pilgrimages to Meron, Israel, Meron. Additionally, in modern-day Israel, the holiday also serves to commemorate the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans. Etymology Lag BaOmer is Hebrew for "3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independence Day (Israel)
Yom Ha'atzmaut (, , ) is Israel's national day, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948. It is marked by a variety of official and unofficial ceremonies and observances. Because Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, which corresponded with the 5th of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar in that year, Yom Ha'atzmaut was originally celebrated on that date. However, to avoid Sabbath desecration#Judaism, Sabbath desecration, it may be commemorated one or two days before or after the 5th of Iyar if it falls too close to the Shabbat, Sabbath. The day preceding Israel's independence day is Yom HaZikaron, which is dedicated to the memory of fallen Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilian victims of terrorism. In the Hebrew calendar, days begin in the evening; Yom Ha'atzmaut is observed from nightfall until the following evening of the designated day. History Israelis observe Yom Ha'atzmaut to commemorate the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which was pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yom HaShoah
Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah (), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (, ) and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its allies, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national memorial day. The first official commemorations took place in 1951, and the observance of the day was anchored in a law passed by the Knesset in 1959. It is held on the 27th of Nisan (which falls in April or May), unless the 27th would be adjacent to the Jewish Sabbath, in which case the date is shifted by a day. Origins Rabbinate-instituted day (1949–1950) The first Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel took place on December 28, 1949, following a decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel that an annual memorial should take place on the Tenth of Tevet, a traditional day of mourning and fasting in the Heb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pesach
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in Judaism, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and mark their doorframes with its blood, in addition to instructions for consuming the lamb that night. For that night, God would send the Destroying angel (Bible), Angel of Death to bring about the Plagues of Egypt, tenth plague, in which he would Plagues of Egypt#plague10, smite all the firstborn in Egypt. But when the angel saw the blood on the Israelites' doorframes, he would ''pass over'' their homes so that the plague should not enter (hence the name). The story is part of the broader Exodus narrative, in which the Israelites, while living in Egypt, are enslaved en masse by the Pharaoh to suppress them; when Pharaoh refuses God's demand to let them go, God sends ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purim
Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (usually dated to the late-5th or 4th centuries BCE). Haman was the Vizier, royal vizier to the List of monarchs of Iran, Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I or Artaxerxes I; and in Old Persian, respectively). His plans were foiled by Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin, who previously to that warned the king from an assassination attempt and thus saving his life, and Esther, Mordecai's cousin and adopted daughter who had become queen of Persia after her marriage to Ahasuerus. The day of deliverance became a day of feasting and rejoicing among Jews. According to the Scroll of Esther, "they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor". Purim is celebrated among Jews by: *Exchangi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tu BiShvat
Tu BiShvat () is a Jewish holiday occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat. It is also called ''Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot'' (), literally " New Year to the Trees". In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration. Etymology The name ''Tu BiShvat'' is originally from the Hebrew date of the holiday, which occurs on the fifteenth day of Shevat. "Tu" stands for the Hebrew letters Tet and Vav, which together have the numerical value of 9 and 6, adding up to 15. The date may also be called "Ḥamisha Asar BiShvat" (, 'Fifteenth of Shevat'). Talmud Tu BiShvat appears in the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah as one of the four new years in the Jewish calendar. The discussion of when the New Year occurs was a source of debate among the rabbis, who argued: * The first of Nisan is the "new year for kings and festivals". * The first of Elul is the "new year for the tithe of cattle"; the tannaim Eleazar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible, Biblical Jewish holiday of ''Shemini Atzeret'' ("Eighth Day of Assembly"), which follows immediately after the festival of Sukkot in the month of Tishrei (occurring in September or October on the Gregorian calendar). Simchat Torah's main celebrations occur in the synagogue during evening and morning services. In many Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox as well as many Conservative Judaism, Conservative congregations, this is the only time of year on which the Sefer Torah, Torah scrolls are taken out of the Ark (synagogue), ark and read at ''night''. In the morning, the last ''parashah'' of Deuteronomy and the first ''parashah'' of Book of Genesis, Genesis are read in the synagogue. On each occasion, when the ark is opened, the worshippers leave t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shemini Atzeret
Shemini Atzeret (—"Eighth [day] of Assembly") is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Tishrei, usually coinciding with late September or early October. It directly follows the festival of Sukkot, which is celebrated for ''seven'' days; thus, Shemini Atzeret is literally the ''eighth'' day [of assembly]. It is a separate—yet connected—holy day devoted to the spiritual aspects of the festival of Sukkot. Part of its duality as a holy day is that it is simultaneously considered to be connected to Sukkot and a separate festival in its own right. Outside the Land of Israel, this is further complicated by the Yom tov sheni shel galuyot, additional day added to all Biblical holidays except Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Talmud, ''Beitza'' 4b. Shemini Atzeret is thus sometimes wrongly regarded as the eighth day of Sukkot outside the Land of Israel, leading to sometimes involved analysis as to which practices of ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sukkot
Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Biblically an autumn harvest festival and a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt, Sukkot's modern observance is characterized by festive meals in a sukkah, a temporary wood-covered hut. The names used in the Torah are "Festival of Ingathering" (or "Harvest Festival", ) and "Festival of Booths" (). This corresponds to the double significance of Sukkot. The one mentioned in the Book of Exodus is agricultural in nature—"Festival of Ingathering at the year's end" ()—and marks the end of the harvest time and thus of the agricultural year in the Land of Israel. The more elaborate religious significance from the Book of Leviticus is that of commemorating the Exodus and the de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and repentance. The day's main observances consist of full fasting and asceticism, both accompanied by extended prayer services (usually at synagogue) and sin confessions. Some minor Jewish denominations, such as Reconstructionist Judaism, focus less on sins and more on one's goals and accomplishments and setting yearly intentions. Alongside the related holiday of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is one of the two components of the High Holy Days of Judaism. It is also the last of the Ten Days of Repentance. Name The formal Hebrew name of the holiday is , 'day fthe atonements'. This name is used in the Bible, Mishnah, and Shulchan Aruch. The word 'atonement' is one of many Biblical Hebrew words which, while using a grammatical plural form, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
