An Overview of Selected Jewish Holidays 

     "The Jewish year is marked by a number of important festivals and holidays, most of which trace their origin back to the Scriptures. The following four festivals represent a wide range of solemn Jewish worship and exuberant celebration. 

Rosh Hashanah

     Rosh Hashanah is a two-day period that marks the Jewish new year. It also begins the High Holy Days, a ten-day period of soul-searching and repentance that culminates with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the Jewish year. 

     The Jewish New Year is not a time of frivolous rejoicing and spectacular fireworks, but one of solemnity and intense moral and spiritual introspection. The Bible refers to the Festival of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year, as "the day of the blowing of the shofar" or ram's horn (Numbers 29:1). White is the predominant color scheme during the High Holy Days, signifying purity, holiness, and atonement for sin. 

     The liturgy of the Rosh Hashanah morning service is among the most beautiful and moving of the entire year. The blowing of the shofar remains the primary ritual of the holiday, as it did in biblical times.

Hanukkah

     Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday perhaps most familiar to Christians, celebrates the victory achieved in 165 BCE as the Macabees, a band of courageous Jews, defeated a larger Greek-Syrian army that had invaded Israel and defiled the temple in Jerusalem. 

     After the Macabees' victory, the Jews rededicated the temple and were able to worship God freely. The victory was considered a miracle because the Macabees overcame oppressors who were vastly superior in military strength. 

     Hanukkah also celebrates the miracle of the olive oil. Tradition says the Jews found only one flask of pure olive oil, enough to keep the temple's eternal lamp burning for just one day. But miraculously, the oil lasted eight days and nights until more pure oil was found. 

     Jews celebrate Hanukkah by lighting a Menorah, or candelabra. One additional candle is lit on each succeeding evening during the eight days of Hanukkah. 

Yom Kippur

     During the 24 hour period of Yom Kippur, Jews fulfill the biblical commandment of Leviticus 16:29-32 to fast from both food and water, engaging in intense soul-searching and praying for forgiveness. 

     From the evening of the holiday until sundown the following day (except for a few hours of sleep at home), Jews are in the synagogue beseeching God for forgiveness and reflecting upon their lives. The inspiring, yet sobering, words of Isaiah 58:6-8 are read publicly in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. It is a reminder of the frailty of human existence, and our responsibility to act charitably and compassionately toward the less fortunate. 

     The drama of Yom Kippur ends with a blast of the shofar and the congregation's cry, "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Purim

     Purim commemorates the rescue of the Jews in Persia from a plot to annihilate them. The familiar story that gave rise to the Purim festival is portrayed in the biblical book of Esther.
Esther was the beautiful Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, who did not know she was Jewish. Haman, a wicked official of Ahasuerus who hated the Jews, persuaded the king to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed.

     But Esther pleaded for the lives of her people, and the king had Haman put to death. And on the appointed day of their slaughter, the Jews of Persia won a great victory. Not surprisingly, Purim is one of the most joyous festivals of the year.

     It is celebrated in either February or March, on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Adar.