Rosh Hashanah
The Jewish New Year—the Day of Judgment, the head of the Ten Days of Repentance, and the day on which the shofar is sounded.
Holidays
A Chapter on Every Yom Tov, Chag, and Fast Day
Yamim Noraim
Yom Kippur
The Day of Atonement—the holiest day of the year, observed with a 25-hour fast, five services, and white garments.
A High-Holiday Checklist
You have decided to go to synagogue for the High Holidays. Good. Now comes a surprisingly complicated question: what goes in the bag?
Shalosh Regalim
Sukkot
Festival of Booths—seven days of dwelling in the sukkah and waving the four species, commemorating the Israelites' wandering.
Sukkah
The temporary dwelling that is itself a mitzvah—a roof of stars under which the Jew dwells for seven days.
Lulav and Etrog (The Four Species)
The lulav, hadasim, aravot, and etrog—the four species waved during Sukkot.
Pesach
Passover—the Festival of Freedom, the foundational story of the Jewish people, and the seder that is the most widely observed Jewish ritual in the world.
Counting the Omer (Sefirat HaOmer)
The 49-day count from the second night of Pesach to the eve of Shavuot—a Torah commandment, a practical bridge, and a Kabbalistic discipline.
Shavuot
The Festival of the Giving of the Torah—fifty days after Pesach, the early summer pilgrimage festival.
Yom Tov
Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah
The eighth-day festival following Sukkot—in Israel a single day, in the diaspora two—climaxing with the dance of Simchat Torah.
Rabbinic Festivals
Hanukkah
The eight-day winter festival commemorating the Maccabean victory and the miracle of the oil.
Hanukkiah (Menorah)
The nine-branched candelabrum lit on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah—one of the most distinctive pieces of Jewish judaica.
Purim
The festival of Esther—the joyful deliverance of Persian Jewry, observed with the Megillah, gifts to the poor, mishloach manot, and the seudat Purim.
Minor Holidays
Tu BiShvat
The New Year of the Trees—a Mishnaic minor festival recovered with great enthusiasm in modern times.
Lag BaOmer
The 33rd day of the Omer—the end of the spring period of mourning, observed with bonfires and visits to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Meron.
Fasts
The Four Minor Fasts
Four daylight fast days frame the Jewish year with grief and remembrance.
Tisha B'Av
The 9th of Av—the major fast day of the Jewish year, commemorating the destruction of both Temples and many other catastrophes.
Modern Observances
Yom HaShoah
Holocaust Remembrance Day: the 27th of Nisan, fixed by Knesset resolution in 1951 and given statutory form in 1959.
Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut
Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day—observed back-to-back on the 4th and 5th of Iyar.
Yom Yerushalayim
The 28th of Iyar—commemorating the reunification of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Guides & Practice
Your First Holiday Cycle
The Jewish year has a clear shape. Knowing the shape makes every individual holiday more meaningful.
Megillot
The five biblical scrolls read on five different occasions—most famously the Megillat Esther on Purim.