Jewish Holidays

Days of Joy, Solemnity, Memory, and Rest

The many holidays of the Jewish religious year offer a wide variety of festivities, feelings, histories, and sacred meanings. Some holidays in Judaism are solemn and require fasting, whereas some feature festivity and feasting. Most, but not all, Jewish holidays are stipulated in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible), and many are founded on events that occurred in Jewish history. Throughout the yearly cycle of celebrations and commemorations, the Sabbath day of rest is a holiday that comes every week. Jewish holiday rituals and meanings have changed significantly in different times, places, and communities across the globe and throughout nearly 4,000 years of history, and yet the Jewish holidays endure as key shared moments of Jewish worship and identity.

The dates of the Jewish holidays change somewhat from year to year as the Jewish lunisolar calendar shifts against the Gregorian calendar.

“Only through the holidays does life experience the eternity of the river that returns to its source.” —philosopher Franz Rosenzweig

“Devote your festival half to yourself and half to God.” —Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah

The Jewish year begins in the fall with Rosh Hashanah, inaugurating a 10-day period known as the Days of Awe or High Holy Days that ends with the penitential Yom Kippur. During this time Jews reflect on the previous year, atone for misdeeds, and look forward to a sweet year to come.

The High Holy Days are followed by Sukkot, the first of three Pilgrim Festivals that in ancient times took place at the Temple of Jerusalem. In the spring the other Pilgrim Festivals, Passover and Shavuot, commemorate the Jews’ Exodus from Egypt and Moses’ reception of the Torah, respectively.

The High Holy Days and Pilgrim Festivals

Two Jewish men wearing yarmulkes and tallitot, one blowing a shofar and the other holding a prayer book, praying during Rosh Hashana in Uman, Ukraine.

Rosh Hashanah

Yom Kippur

Passover

Shavuot

Sukkot

Shemini Atzeret

“The Sabbath and holidays are the primary reason for Jewish endurance and glory.” —poet and philosopher Judah ha-Levi

“A short summary of every Jewish holiday: ‘They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.’” —comedian Alan King

Jewish holidays commemorate past triumphs and tragedies with celebration and sorrow. Hanukkah memorializes the Maccabean victories over the Seleucid empire and the miracle of oil burning for eight days in the Temple. Purim celebrates the defense of the Jews against their Persian oppressors, as told in the Book of Esther. The saddest day of the year is Tisha b’Av, on which many calamities are said to have befallen the Jews. Some Jewish communities recall the Holocaust on Tisha b’Av, whereas others have established a separate Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Holidays of Overcoming Adversity

Hanukkah

Purim

The Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by Francesco Hayez

Tisha b’Av

Holocaust Remembrance Days

Fast of Gedaliah

Fast of 17 Tammuz

“The sabbaths are for rest and the festivals for joy.” —philosopher Moses Maimonides

“More than Israel kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept Israel.” —Zionist leader Aḥad Haʿam

Other Jewish holidays are full of pure jubilation. Simchat Torah exuberantly marks the completion of the yearly cycle of Torah readings, and Tu BiShvat glorifies trees and their fruit. Lag BaOmer offers a festive break during a ritual period of semi-mourning, and Tu b’Av revels in love and marriage.

The weekly Sabbath, from Friday sundown to Saturday nightfall, offers a respite from work for relaxation and religious contemplation. The Sabbath recalls the original seventh day on which God rested after completing the creation, as told in Genesis 1, and it is the only Jewish holiday mandated in the Ten Commandments. Although the annual holidays might receive more attention, the weekly Sabbath is often regarded as the most important Jewish holiday.