Why Do Jewish Community Practice Holidays

Having the privilege to serve in the military has allowed this writer the opportunity to be exposed to the pluralistic society in a way which has exposed him to the beauty of the diversity enjoyed in American culture. One aspect of said diversity is the interaction which has taken place amongst the Christian and various world religions who also wear the same uniform in defense of America. It was the pleasure of the writer to attend a local synagogue in which his Jewish brothers and sisters welcomed him with open arms. The local congregation of Jewish believers went out of their way in order to ensure their newest visitor understood the flow of service and the significance of the ritual which took place on the first Shabbat or Sabbath of the month. The following essay will serve to detail the worship experience as well as how it and other beliefs of Judaism compare/contrast with the Christian faith.

For ones of Jewish faith a Christmas tree is replaced for a Menorah. A Menorah is Hebrew for “candelabrum” a ceremonial lamp of nine branches (Jewishvirtuallibrary). The Menorah is the oldest and main ritual object during Hanukkah (Ibid). Every year at nightfall the first candle of the Menorah is lit (Chabad). “A light unto the nations” Isaiah 42:6 is said to be the Menorah mission statement and is the symbol of Israel nation (Jewishvirtuallibrary). After the Jews flock the Greek emperor Antiochus and the Greek from their land as the emperor forbidden the study of the Torah and tainted the Holy Temple with Greek symbols (Chabad).The Jews regained their Holy Temple on 25th of Kislev the Hebrew month consisting of November toward December (ibid). That same day the Jews went to light the candles of the temples Menorah only to realize that the Greek had polluted all of the oil with only an enough to provide one night of light from the candles (ibid). However, the oils had lasted eight days and eight nights therefore creating eight days and eight nights celebration of Hanukkah

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.

Jewish celebrations (yearly and specific times), Jewish Holy Days or High Holidays are said to be a time of “spiritual renewals”, in “remembrance” of the original creation of the world, and are linked to events in history. According to Fisher (287), individual followers are encouraged to change inwardly, by looking at their mistake of the past year, and forward to the year about to come. The most important Jewish holy days are; the Sabbath, the three pilgrimage festivals Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot and the two High Holy Days Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

For my family and I, Hanukkah is the holiday that represents family and religious traditions. We open gifts just like everyone else during this time of year, and celebrate with each others company. However, Hanukkah has a long and powerful story behind it. The Hanukkah story describes how the “Maccabees” rededicated the second Temple in Jerusalem and how the Menorah that was lit with such little oil, lasted for eight whole days. It holds great importance to the Jewish religion and was not always celebrated in the way that it is today. For example, gifts were not originally given, and family gatherings only took place to pray in Synagogue.

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

Holidays are an important part of every culture in the world. They are times of festivity where friends and family gather together to celebrate special events at different points of the year. Oftentimes these affairs aren’t limited to a single day and each country has their own set of specific rituals that they perform to commemorate the occasion. Many holidays also have religious origins that are a mix of Christian and pagan beliefs.

Jonathan D. Sarna, author of “A Time to Every Purpose” writes of letters written from a father to his child about Jewish lifestyles, customs, and holidays designated to specific events in Jewish history. Of the many letters written, a few especially depicted the religious aspects of Jewish life as well as the relationship between Jews and Americans in the United States. Chapter 2 speaks of food, family customs, and Jewish “distinctiveness” during the celebration called Maimuna. Chapter 3 addresses the remembrance of the Holocaust and its’ personal affect on Jews as a whole, during the day of Yom ha-Shoah. Chapter 4 indulges in the celebration of Israel as an independent state during a day called Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Lastly, Chapter 6 takes on anti-Semitism,

Hanukkah is one of the reasons Judaism should be the dominant religion. Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev ( A Jewish month between late November and December ) . Hanukkah lasts a total of eight days. Hanukkah is very similar to the Christian holiday, Christmas they give gifts to each other and eat meals together . During Hanukkah they light a menorah. A menorah holds candles

Judaism is practiced by almost half of the country and is one of the oldest and biggest monistic religions. The laws they follow come from the Torah which comes straight from the Hebrew bible. This paper will consist of Jewish traditions regarding food preferences and avoidances, death/dying, communication, and grieving.

The purpose of this research paper will be to examine how Judaism rituals have helped the religion remained amongst the most prominent in the world. The use of tradition and rituals has been at the very core of its existence. Birth, adolescent, marriage and death rituals will be used to highlight how the Judaism way of life is not dependent on the written word but rather the actions of those who follow this historic Hebrew religion. The paper will begin with a brief outline of Judaism and its relationship with God and then continue with how the written word of the Torah has laid the basis for the many traditions still practiced in Judaism.

A2: You got that right! Well, we have a scholar from the Association for Jewish Studies to tell us about Judaism and the speciality of this day!

The first celebrated hanukkah was in 138 BCE.It was held in a temple.HAnukkah is a religious holiday it is kind of like christmas.It is for mostly jewish people.

One day in class with the professor Joseph Hoolbrok, I was thinking about which essay would be easier to do, but then I thought about how interesting would be to know about other religions, costumes and different traditions. One friend of mine works in events in a Jewish temple and I asked him if I could go there to do a site visit. The Jewish temple I went is called “Dor Dorim” and is ubicated in Weston, Florida. As Christianity is my religion, in this site visit essay I am going to talk about the Jewish ceremonies, their sacred days and their traditions.

The Bible provides no guidelines that explain how Christmas should be observed, nor does it even suggest that it should be considered a religious holiday. Because of the lack of biblical instructions, Christmas rituals have been shaped by the religious and popular traditions of each culture that celebrates the holiday.