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Jewish Feasts

The ‘beginning of the year' in Judaism

In fact, the Jewish liturgical year has different feasts for "beginnings of the year".
The first one is Rosh ha Shanah, the official beginning of the calendar. Rosh ha Shanah literally means "the head of year", even though it falls on the first day of the seventh month. It is followed by a series of autumnal feasts.

The second one is Tu Bishvat, or "New Year of Trees". Although today a minor feast, it is important in Israel.

The third one is probably the most known feast by non-Jews: the Passover, Pesach.

And of course, throughout the year there are other feasts which we are going to discover one by one.

First of all, we need to mention, the "High Holidays", ROSH HA SHANAH and KIPPUR, which are feasts of biblical origin.
These rather ‘austere' high holidays extend into the joy of SUKKOT and SIMCHAT-TORAH (Rejoicing with/of Torah) finishing the autumnal celebrations.

Sukkot is the third of tree pilgrimage festivals. Its origins are also biblical and refer to the moment when the whole people came to Jerusalem to celebrate it in the Temple.Also, this is the only great feasts without any comparable celebration in the Christian liturgy.

The other two pilgrimage feasts, the Pesach (Easter) and Shavuot (Festival of Weeks, Pentecost), are generally well known by Christians.
Today, the synagogue and the family liturgy substitute the destroyed Temple.

Then, there are some minor though very popular festivals.

CHANUKAH, festival of the Lights, commemorates the victory of the Maccabees against the Greeks (2nd century BC) and the purification of the Temple. It is celebrated in December.
PURIM, remembers the Persian Jews' liberation through the intervention of Queen Esther. It is celebrated in March or April.
And finally the already mentioned New Year of Trees, celebrated in February. These three festivals are no public holidays.

But the most important place is, of course, granted to the Shabbat. It returns weekly as a holy visit of God to his children, a visit welcomed with joy and gratefulness. Coming after a whole week full of work, troubles and fatigue, it gives beneficial rest and also reinvigorates the spiritual forces of the faithful. Later, we will dedicate to it one page.

Finally we need to keep in mind, that the Jewish calendar is a clever combination of lunar and solar calendars; This means compared to our calendar, Jewish festivals have no fixed date. However they fall into roughly the same period each year thanks to a patch - the equivalent of the leap year - which intercalates in some years, in spring, an additional month, the so-called second Adar. These years are called embolismic years. They occur seven times within a cycle of nineteen-years.

Also, bear in mind, that Judaism accords time for the preparation of festivals, which can be compared to our Lent or Advent. For example, the month of Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for Rosh ha Shanah and the autumnal feasts...

  Two Feasts:  Passower and Shavuot