Jewish Holidays

Hanukkah or” Chanukah” is an eight day and eight nights Jewish holiday established on the 25 of Kislev (Macaulay).Hanukkah dates are different every year. For 2015 Hanukkah is celebrated on the 6th of December thru December 14th (Chabad). Hanukkah is a celebration of the Jews victory against the Greek and the oil that lasted eight days and eight nights in the Holy Temple (ifcg). The origin of Hanukkah comes from the heroic victory from the Greeks.

There are six Jewish holidays. Which are the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Purim, the Passover, the Shavout, and the Sukkot. According to Julianne Jacques during Hanukkah as a child her family would sing the Jewish Version of the twelve days of Christmas. She didn’t sing it for me but she told me that it goes like this “10 are the Commandments 9 are the festivals, 8 are the lights of Han, 7 days of the week, 6 days of creation, 5 books of Moses, 4 mothers of Israel, 3 Patriarchs, 2 tables of covenant and 1 God.” Jewish Americans celebrate all of these holidays with pride of their heritage.

The eight-day Jewish festival known as Hanukkah or Chanukah remembers the rededication amid the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, whereas per legend Jews had ascended against their Greek-Syrian oppressors in the Maccabean Revolt. Hanukkah, which signifies "commitment" in Hebrew, starts on the 25th of

Passover is, without a doubt, one of the most sacred holidays in Jewish culture, and in this reflection paper, I will take a look at the history of Passover and other important Jewish holy days, then I will go over how attaining my first Passover affected me. The holy day, know as Passover, has its origins in Exodus 12, which tells the story of how the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt by the Pharaoh who had begone to fear them, because of how fast their numbers were increasing. So, after several years of slavery and oppression, God made Himself known to a man named Moses. God instructs Moses to go tell the Pharaoh to let God's people go free. The Pharaoh of course refuses. So, God strikes the people of Egypt with ten different plagues. The

Finally, Jews and Christians interacted differently in their society. First, eating habits differed in both religions. Jews participate in kashrut, a diet that restricts eating any animal without cloven hooves or scales. Christians, however, don’t have any specific dietary laws to follow. Another difference is the significance of Passover, a 7-8 day Jewish holiday. During Passover, Jews celebrate the exodus out of Egypt by eating special meals, performing rituals, and praying. Christians have changed the Passover meal to a celebration of the Last Supper, or Jesus’ last meal before his crucifixion. Finally, a similarity in the Jewish and Christian society is the

Judaism originated close to four thousand years ago in the region of Canaan. It’s heritage traces back to God giving his commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Judaism is based off of the Torah-the Jewish holy book. The Star of David, also known as Shield of David, represents Judaism. In Judaism, women are separate but equal; they believe that women are equal to men, as it states in the Torah, but women aren’t allowed to do the same jobs as men. As for the demographics of Judaism, 13.3 million people in the world are Jewish and the majority of them live in Diaspora. Yom Kippur is the most sacred day of Judaism; in this holiday, Jews fast, pray and repent for 25 hours. Along with Yom Kippur; Chanukkah and the start of Passover are also important in the Jewish holidays. Judaism is similar to Christianity and Islam as they only believe in one God, and Jesus’ crucifixion. Judaism and Islam are strictly monotheistic. Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism believes that God has divine revelation and forgiveness. They call their God Yahwen.

Passover is one of the oldest festivals in the world. This festival falls in spring, in the first month of the Hebrew year, called Nisan (March-April), and lasts for eight days, from the fifteenth to the twenty-third. It commemorates the release of the Israelites from Egypt and the fact that God “passed over” their houses when he sought the first-born in that land.

Yom Kippur, which is the day, designated for anointment is where the Jewish community pray and fast on behalf of forgiveness. *

Last but not least, Judaism comes from the Hebrew word Yehudah meaning Judah. It is the religion and way of life for the Jewish people. Judaism is considered to be the oldest religion. The Hebrew Bible is called the Torah. A synagogue is their place of worship and their services are led by a rabbi. You can be born Jewish or you can convert. There are 14 million Jews worldwide. About 42% are in Israel and about 42% are in the U.S. The remaining Jews are spread worldwide. The spoken language of the Jews is Hebrew. Men wear a small beanie on their head called a kippa while praying, eating or saying blessings. Jews have kosher diets. They can eat chicken and turkey but not pig. The Jewish religion celebrates their own holidays and special days such as Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah. Imagine receiving

The Customs of Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah falls on the first of Tishri, a Jewish month which falls in September. It is regarded as a high holy day, on which all normal activity ceases. Even those Jews who are not particularly observant will make an effort to attend the synagogue. It is known as Yomim Norain, or day of awe.

Jewish American Heritage Month celebrates the achievements of Jewish Americans, fosters pride among the American Jewish community, and aims to educate and enlighten a wider audience about the achievements

“According to Boas, during the exposure of the fallacy of Nazi racial ideology he stated that, “every person is supposed to have a definite, unalterable character according to his racial descent and his political and social status” (1938:226 as cited in Scupin, 2012, pg. 157). This shaping who we are today, a world filled with difference as well as similarities as to our culture, our diversity; and our religious practices to which has changed over the years from generation to generation. Just like when speaking of the Jewish faith many people see them as being different, for their practices and beliefs are unusual in nature than how others see religion. For example, in the Catholic’s or Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of Christ; and worship our beloved God on the 25th day in December or Christmas. Whereas, in the Jewish faith they celebrate Hanukkah starting on the 24th day of December and carrying through to the 1st of January; this is known as celebration of lights. In the more western Christian traditions, Christmas is carried out from December 25th until the 6th of January; and on the 6th day is celebrated as we know it to be as The Three Kings. Though, Jews and Catholic have similarities in their traditional celebrations as to honoring the saints, their differences are somewhat usual than most religion that being that on Friday night it is their Day of Silence and family togetherness, where in the Catholic tradition Sunday is a day for worship, family; and complete rest. However, in order to know the differences between these ethnicities, we first need to eliminate Judaism from being considered as a religion in order to understand their culture, especially, when

Rosh Hashanah, means literally "Head of the Year." By tradition the Jewish New Years is the world's birthday. This is a special time for prayer and forgiveness and introspection and casting away your earthly cares and concerns. It's also a time for settling disputes, forgiving others and to evaluate the past year and look forward to a new one. Many Jewish people go to flowing rivers, lakes or oceans any body of water filled with fish and cast their sins away. In synagogues, people listen to the ram's horn that speaks to their souls. People greet each other with wishes for a prosperous new year.

The babylonian exile forced jews to spread around Israel. The Diaspora caused jews to wander around and eventually create individual communities. Some major Jewish traditions are Rosh Hanasha, which is the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur.

Despite being the product of separate, largely dissimilar religions, Christmas and Hanukkah fulfill a similar goal. Although the specific food traditions throughout Christianity and Judaism differ greatly, the role of food in these holidays is largely the same. Food is imbued with a sense of remembrance and reverence, creating a level of similarity between two very distinct traditions. Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, is a central holiday in modern Judaism. Although it is not a Biblical holiday, it marks a significant cultural event in Jewish history, commemorating the Maccabean revolt and subsequent rededication of the temple by Judah Maccabee.