Jewish People's Stories
The Jewish people's stories are biblically centered around harvest days. These are the original holidays. Since there is no harvest in the winter, there is not an original winter holiday. You may be thinking Hanukkah, but it does not have anything to do with wintery Christmas stuff. Hanukkah is not a biblical holiday so it is under the history stories. The core of the Jewish people's stories are Passover (which I've heard of), Shavuot (never heard of it), and Sukkot (never heard of it).Passover
Passover's theme is freedom and redemption from slavery. We are to remember that the world is capable of changing from bad to good, which is also a common theme for Shabbat and quite frankly throughout the religion as a whole.
Shavuot
Shavuot's theme comes from being released from slavery when the people received the Torah. This is when the Jewish people enter into the covenant with God, an agreement to live by the Torah (including the 10 commandments), and in return God will protect and reward the Jewish people with food and land. It was also interesting to find out that the Book of Ruth is read on this holiday because in a way all Jews were converts on this day; meaning they opted in to the covenant.
Sukkot
Sukkot is one of the 8-day holidays. This holiday's theme remembers the 40 years of wandering in the desert to find their Promised Land. Because of the 40 years of wandering without a home, the Jewish people were forced to build temporary "homes" while traveling. Sukkot is meant to celebrate the anti-materialistic world and appreciate the struggle made in order to get to where you want to be. It is also celebrating the ongoing commitment and faith of finding their new land.
Jewish Personal Stories
The Jewish personal holiday stories are just that - stories of personal renewal and reflection. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hodesh are days of life and world reflection. These holidays are not for work. They are meant to leave the world as is and not try to change anything at all. Rosh Hashanah begins the 10-day period of the High Holidays then ends at the end of Yom Kippur.Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah is an annual holiday celebrating the Jewish New Year or Head of the New Year. The theme of this holiday is like the calendar New Year, but also relates to Judaism by renewing the covenant with God. It is meant to be an awakening of the past year and a time to review. Just like we make New Years resolutions every January 1st, Rosh Hashanah is the time to reflect on what you've done and what you'd like to change in the next year.
We celebrated this year, wore white to represent renewal and ate the traditional foods of apples and sugar to represent the sweetness of the New Year.
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur, also commonly known as the Day of Atonement, is another annual holiday that requires 25 hours of fasting. As the name suggests the focus of this holiday is on repentance before the books of life and death are sealed.
I did not observe this year, but my fiance and some other friends did. It seems to me they all cheated though by taking sleeping pills so they wouldn't have to feel the hunger pains. Defeats the purpose if you ask me! I will not be doing that next year!
Rosh Hodesh
Rosh Hodesh is a holiday I've never heard of until today. It is said to be a mini Yom Kippur monthly fast. It is centered around each new moon. Somewhat like Shabbat it is a frequent Jewish holiday, yet not as popular at all--probably because Jews love to eat! Biblically this holiday's origin is from the Book of Exodus when God told Moses each month will mark the beginning of the months to come.
Shabbat
Shabbat is the third holiday I already knew about next to Passover and Hanukah. Shabbat is a weekly holiday that starts at sundown on Fridays and ends at sundown on Saturdays. It is biblically marked as the day of rest. It is not meant for work or to change anything. It is a time for prayer, family, and yourself. The idea is to leave the world as is because the other 6 days of the week you are working to change the world, and most importantly you need a day of rest and to remember the days of slavery when there was no time for rest.
It is hard for me to NOT do something on Saturday's because I like to rest on Sunday's before work, and I can't have two days of nothing when I have too much to get done.
Jewish History Stories
The Jewish Holidays of History are newer holidays than the people's story holidays. They are not biblical holidays, but still traditionally very old.Hanukkah
Hanukah is another victory story of people who tried to take over and kill the Jews. It commemorates the reclaiming of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Also known as the Festival of Lights (which has nothing to do with Christmas actually), is observed for 8 days. The 8 days of lights symbolize the Jews reclaiming the temple when they only found enough oil for one candle, and the one day supply burned for 8 days. Gifts are also given.
I had to go look up where this gift-giving tradition came from. The original tradition was to give gelt to children. Gelt is a yiddish word for "Hanukkah money" and chocolate coins. But it wasn't until Christmas became an American holiday that the Jews felt pressured to give gifts too so their kids wouldn't feel left out. In the 50's Rabbi's and Jewish child psychologists thought it would be a good idea post-Holocaust to give children a reason to be happy and not feel left out during Christmas.
Purim
Purim is one of those holidays I can't quite put my finger on. It is compared to Halloween because of the costumes and drinking. It is also another victory story, this time over the Persian empire that tried to take over the Jews. It is meant to be a dramatized and an unlikely story of defeating the enemy. As told by my Rabbi and Jewish friends, it is a time to put on costumes and get drunk. The biblical idea of drinking to drunkness is so that you can no longer distinguish between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai" which is exactly what I haven't quite figured out yet...
Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av is another holiday I had never heard of, and by the time we reached discussion of this holiday, I finally saw how many damn holidays the Jewish religion has! This is a third fasting holiday, yet the only sad holiday as opposed to the celebratory nature of the others. There is a time for celebration and there is a time for remembering the bad times.
I will have to check back in with myself every so often and see how well I'm doing with this holiday stuff.
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