Tradition Is The New Year

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 Torah, the Tanak, the Hebrew Bible, and the Pentateuch. No matter how you say it they all mean the same thing. The Torah is the foundation of Judaism: the most sacred documents. The word Torah can mean numerous things. It often simply refers to the T in Tanak. It is most commonly translated to mean “ the law”. There are five books that make up the Torah. These books are referred to as the Five Books of Moses: Exodus, Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The books of the Torah tell the Israelites a story. A story that begins where we begin, and ends before the introduction of the Savoir. It is often questioned, who the author(s) of the Torah is (are). For this question there are generally two main hypotheses: Mosaic Authorship and the Documentary Hypothesis.

Rosh Hashanah is referred to as the Jewish New Year, marking a 10 day period of self-condemnation. Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second day of the Tishri, the first month on the traditional Jewish calendar with the word Rosh Hashanah meaning ‘head of the year’ or ‘beginning of the year’. The Bible itself does not use the words Rosh Hashanah to expostulate the New Year, alternatively referring to it as Yom Ha-Zikkaron, meaning ‘day of remembrance’. This is shown in Leviticus 23:24-25, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of Sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.” The religious practices that occur throughout this Jewish festival focus on the sovereignty of God. The Torah refers to Rosh Hashanah as a day of remembrance, to celebrate the creation

Torah Scrolls: This object is the most significant to the Synagogue, which is made up of the five books of Moses hand written by a pious scribe. The scrolls are kept inside an Ark of each synagogue and are read aloud in all synagogues four times a week.

Thanksgiving Holiday means so much to me. I love to celebrate that extended weekend with my family. On the eve of the big day, my cousins and I meet at an elder’s house and then the festivities began. This shared feast started in 1621 with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians sharing a harvest feast ("Thanksgiving," 2016). A portion of the food can be prepared the day before. We decide who would handle what task and when it time clean up the second generation, always try to make the third generation do it. We then continue to cook and clean and reminisce of our past year. Sometimes we would bring up our childhood pranks and stories of family members that passed and present. On the day of Thanksgiving we finish cooking,

(Even the “ex’s” and the people who are not quite in the picture anymore.) As we gather around the table we share things we are thankful for. Whether we are thankful for the sweet banana pudding waiting for us after supper, or whether it is something heart felt, we always come together and share things as a family. But most importantly, we share food. Each separate family brings something they cooked and my aunt sets it out as a buffet line along her kitchen counters and we join hands and say the blessing, and start fixing our plates. Us ladies get to go first. As I make my way around the counter tops each year, I fill my plate with tender turkey and juicy ham, potato casserole, green beans, macaroni and cheese, rolls, corn on the cob, and other things

It is a day on which one should show humility to God and acknowledge that whatever our intentions may be we will descend into sin. On this day one should become particularly aware of sin, as it is a day for reflection. It is not intended to be a negative activity, but to induce positive behavior, as it is very brave to face up to weaknesses and mistakes . Rosh

We set up a large table for the food. By dinner time the table is filled with different foods from American to Mexican to even Italian. We all gather around the table to say grace, and propose a toast. Then we all line up to get food. I always try to get a little bit of everything, this way I know what everything tastes like and what to get for seconds. Last year one of my aunts made Mexican smoked barbecue ribs. I couldn't stop eating them, they were amazing! They were seasoned with her very own rub which consisted of plain slat, garlic, and cayenne pepper. They had this beautiful reddish glazed look, I just couldn't

At Easter, our extended family comes over and we have egg hunts for the little kids, kids, and adults. We also eat Easter brunch together. On Thanksgiving we also have our extended family over! Our family will eat an immense dinner cooked by my mother and my aunts. Football is usually playing on the TV, and everyone is having a great time. Christmas is our family’s most celebrated holiday. On Christmas Eve, we have lunch with some of our friends at Troegs. Later in the evening, we go to my mom’s brother’s house to give gifts and have a good time. On Christmas Day my immediate family will celebrate christmas together eating a delicious breakfast- usually cinnamon buns- and give gifts. Later that day, we’ll head over to our nana’s house and then to my grandma’s house. At my Grandma’s house we celebrate Christmas and my cousin’s birthday (which is on the same day). Two days after Christmas we will celebrate my birthday, which is on the

Kwanzaa is traditionally celebrated on December 26 through January 1 and focuses on the values of family,

Torah technically refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. These five books are called Chumash and are divided into 54 portions called a parashah. At least one portion is read in the synagogues each week. The readings give to each member of the synagogue the basis for their life practices of the week.

“Torah” is a feature of the Old Testament that includes “the comprehensive list of instructions and stipulations by which Israel’s covenant with God is controlled.” Therefore, according to Archer, torah actually stands for the manner of life that had to be followed in order to uphold Israel’s relationship with God.

Since my family lived so close together, we had many family traditions that remain important. We gather for nearly every holiday for a meal and routine. For Easter every year, we have an Easter egg hunt and dinner at my grandmother’s house. For Christmas Eve, we always went to my great-grandparents house and had dinner and exchanged gifts. For Christmas, we celebrated at home, and then went to my grandmother's for breakfast with our cousins. The importance of all of the holidays we celebrated was that no matter what was going on in our lives,

Eating brings people closer together everyday, and for everyone, there are important memories that have been created because of food. Whether it’s a formal dinner, or an informal picnic, there will always be special bonds between people because food was involved. We need to have traditions with food because they form and strengthen the bonds between us.

The New Year is upon us once again, ready or not. This holiday seems to me the one that provokes the most thought and reflection, which is a good thing really. We all need to assess where we are in our journey of life and make adjustments. For the Christian, this is especially important. Ephesians 5:1-2 reminds us to "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." The past year has been a great learning year for me in the area of relationships. I 've learned a lot about myself, others, and especially about how much God loves ME! Some of what I learned was very disappointing as I saw so much selfishness in relationships. I know that I am guilty of it too sometimes, but I just recognized it more, and saw the repercussions many times. Those consequences are painful and the effects are trickle-down. It has made me really think about Love a lot more and how Love as God intended it to be should be evident in our lives ALWAYS, and not just when it 's convenient for us. God spoke to me about His Love through my dog, Tracker. Yep, this is the Tracker story that I 've been meaning to put out there. This isn 't exactly how I thought I 'd convey it to everyone but as time has passed and I think about it even more, I know without a doubt that the truth that God impressed upon me that night is what is most important about the story. Tracker is an