History UsefulNotes / JewishHolidays

* Marcheshvan (or Heshvan for short--some people think "mar" [Hebrew for "bitter"] was added because it has no holidays, something especially jarring when it follows the holiday-packed Tishri, but this isn't true. Marheshvan is the older name.)

''Food!'' Starting from here, the ''challah'' (a kind of braided bread) eaten every Shabbat are dipped in honey to symbolize the desire for a "sweet new year". Some communities also eat round/circular challah throughout Tishri. On the day itself it's common practice to dip an apple in the honey as well. It is also customary to eat the head of a fish (symbolizing the "head" of the new year). This may be substituted for ''gefilte fish'', but then again many Ashkenazis will eat the fish at any festive opportunity. There are a great many other ''simanim'' ("signs") that various groups eat on this day, including the fish head (or, more commonly for Sephardim and Mizrahim, cow tongue) and honey. All of them have some kind of linguistic justification or pun associated with them as well as a short blessing, many of which refer to hopes of vanquishing their enemies.

When in the synagogue, men will carry the Four Species: the ''etrog'' (a yellow citron[[note]]The citron is a citrus fruit which is mostly skin and pith and contains little if any juicy pulp; outside of Jewish ritual, it is mostly used to make succade, which depending on your perspective is either a kind of marmalade or simply just candied citrus peel.[[/note]]), the ''lulav'' (palm frond), the ''hadasim'' (myrtle branches) and the ''aravot'' (willow branches). The latter three are bound together in one bundle. During the prayers, the Species are held and waved around at various points. Historically, many congregations could not access some or all of the Species (this was a particular problem among Ashkenazis in Europe and, later, North America), so it was common for a synagogue to have only one of each, but today all the men having a full set is pretty common.

The iconic game played on Chanukah is the ''dreidel'', a spinning top with four sides. On each side is a letter: "Nun", "Gimel", "Heh", "Shin", which spell an acronym for ''Nes Gadol Haya Sham'', "a great miracle happened there". In Israel, the Shin is replaced with a Peh, which changes the acronym to ''Nes Gadol Haya Po'' to stand for "a great miracle happened ''here''". Money is put into a pot (like in poker) and depending on what side the ''dreidel'' comes down on, you either put in or take out. It should be noted, however, that because the only "move" a player can make is spinning the dreidel, it is actually really boring to play, and only children and people who don't know better will actually take it seriously. One couple [[http://www.texasdreidel.com/ tried mixing it with Texas-hold-'em]], but we're getting off-topic now. Side note: Dreidel becomes quite a lot more fun when you make it a drinking game.

As a side note, in Israel it's also gotten a bit more important than is traditional or justified on purely religious grounds, though for completely different reasons: there, the whole fight-for-independence angle is played up, and depending on the political and social climate the importance of [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles military strength]] may be emphasized. In a sense, it's become Israel's Armed Forces Day.[[note]]It's picked up an additional meaning for sports fans, since Maccabi Tel Aviv, one of the country's most popular sports club (in both soccer and basketball) is obviously named after the Maccabees. Miracles are expected to happen for them when they happen to play during the holiday, especially if it's against a Greek team.[[/note]]

Taking place 30 days after Purim, Passover (or Pesach) is one of the big three holidays, and probably the second best-known after Chanukah. It commemmorates the exodus from Egypt over 1,000 BCE. As the Bible says, the Jews were led out of Egypt so quickly that their bread didn't have time to rise. The end result was ''matzah'', which for Ashkenazi Jews is invariably a flat bread sort of like a cracker. Because of this, on Passover nothing leavened ("chametz") is eaten at all. Some Orthodox movements have latched onto Passover as a great place to introduce stringencies; so, for example, Ashkenazi Jews don't eat beans or rice, and many don't even allow matzah to come into contact with any liquid, for fear that there's a little uncooked dough inside that may rise. Sephardi and other Jews are for the most part free of this sort of thing, regarding the Ashkenazi stringencies as kind of silly, and several communities are known for their soft, bread-like matzah that is almost indistinguishable from regular bread--to say nothing of their fondness for rice dishes and plenty of legumes during Passover.

Or Hanukah, or [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Channukkah]], or for those truly addicted to spelling, Chhhannnukkkkahhhh.[[note]]to be pronounced using as much phlegm as possible. "Hebrew", said Lewis Black, "is truly a phlegm-based language."[[/note]] The most well-known of the Jewish holidays, and ironically one of the least important in the calendar. Chanukah is the most recent holiday added to the universal Jewish calendar (around 100 BCE) and is classified as a "minor holiday" (i.e. work is permitted).

The Last Supper in Christianity is generally held to have been a Passover seder, and in general, Easter falls quite close to Passover. The massive movement in the date of Easter is a result of having a Christian holiday map to the Jewish festival of Passover; the incessant debates over how to calculate the date of Easter is a result of the Christians refusing to just use the Jewish calendar to figure out the date already and rely on convoluted mathematics instead. Sects that just rely on Passover were declared heretical a long time ago and are mostly nonexistent. The name of Easter in many languages is based on the Hebrew Pesach (Passover): Latin and Greek Pascha gave rise to Spanish Pascua, Italian Pasqua, French Pâques, and Dutch Pasen (among others), and the Hebrew Pesach directly led to Arabic Id ul-Fiṣḥ.[[note]]Lest you forget, about 20% of Arabs are Christian. Also, Arabic makes no differentiation between Passover and Easter; this no doubt led to significant confusion in Arabic-speaking countries back when their Jewish populations were still intact.[[/note]]

The celebration of the adoption of the Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, which, as you might guess from the date, fell on 5 Iyar 5708 according to the Hebrew Calendar. Although it's a national holiday in Israel, religious Zionists also celebrate it as a religious holiday outside Israel with their own celebrations.

One of the big three holidays, the only one to be only one (or two) days long. Shavuot (or Pentecost) takes place 50 days after Passover and commemmorates the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. There are only two well-known customs associated with it. First, men stay up literally the entire night studying Torah. Morning prayers are done before sunrise, and often finish around 7:00 AM. Second, plant decorations are common (flowers, greens etc.) in both homes and synagogues.

Among the non-Orthodox, there's also parties to be found on Christmas eve in major American cities, such as Jew'ltide and Heebonism.

* Marcheshvan (or Heshvan for short--some people think "mar" [Hebrew for "bitter"] was added because it has no holidays, something is especially jarring when it follows the holiday-packed Tishri, but this isn't true. Marheshvan is the older name.)

If you're wondering what Jews do on non-Jewish holidays, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dukfZs3RGhw this guy]] pretty much sums it up (at least for Jews in predominately Christian areas). Note that even on non-Jewish holidays, food is still involved.

* Marcheshvan (or Heshvan for short--some people think "mar" [Hebrew for "bitter"] was added because it has no holidays following Tishri which has like half of the holidays, but this isn't true. Marheshvan is the older name)

In Israel, the foreign holidays celebrated by a majority of the population are New Year's (50% chance it's specifically the Russian [[UsefulNotes/ChristmasIsBourgeois Novy God]] - If it's not, it's called "Sylvester's"), and Valentine's. Naturally, there's a vocal minority that discourages the celebrations, with the argument that "Sylvester/Valentine/[[CriticalResearchFailure Novy God]] [[HitlerAteSugar was an antisemite!]]"

Yes, observed. Not celebrated, observed. It's a somber day of mourning and reflection, recognizing [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles those soldiers]] who have died in service to Israel, as well as all the Jews killed in Pogroms since the 1870s, and it shows; Not only are all flags lowered to half-mast, all places of public entertainment closed, TV shut down, and radio only playing mood-appropriate songs, the entire country - [[UpToEleven even cars on highways]] - will stop everything and freeze in place for two minutes on 11 AM to observe a moment of silence, accompanied by a siren. Most Israelis will also visit memorials and graves of loved ones.

* "Major Holidays": They originate from the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), the first five books of the Judaeo-Christian religious canon. On these days, "work" is forbidden in mostly the same way it is on the Sabbath (cooking is allowed, as is transferring flame from one already-burning fuel source to another. Starting a new fire is not allowed). This includes operating electrical devices like light switches, riding buses, conducting business, and a myriad other laws. To confuse you further, this is known as a ''yom tov'' when compared against ''chol hamo'ed'' (below) -- but the full holiday is ''also'' known as ''yom tov'', so context matters.

->''"We have holidays up the ass! Sometimes I stay home, and I don't even know why!"''
-->--'''Creator/JonStewart'''

* Marcheshvan/Heshvan (the only month that, for most denominations, has no holidays, hence the addition of "mar," which is Hebrew for "bitter")

The iconic game played on Chanukah is the ''dreidel'', a spinning top with four sides. On each side is a letter: "Nun", "Gimel", "Heh", "Shin", which spell an acronym for ''Nes Gadol Hayah Sham'', "a great miracle happened there". In Israel, the Shin is replaced with a Peh, which changes the meaning to "a great miracle happened ''here''". Money is put into a pot (like in poker) and depending on what side the ''dreidel'' comes down on, you either put in or take out. It should be noted, however, that because the only "move" a player can make is spinning the dreidel, it is actually really boring to play, and only children and people who don't know better will actually take it seriously. One couple [[http://www.texasdreidel.com/ tried mixing it with Texas-hold-'em]], but we're getting off-topic now. Side note: Dreidel becomes quite a lot more fun when you make it a drinking game.

Occurs five days after Yom Kippur (yes, Tishri is a busy month). One of the big three holidays in the calendar and originally one of the three times when Jews are obliged to go to the Temple in Jerusalem (besides Passover and Shavuot). Sukkot is more of an agricultural festival, but nowadays is mainly known for the sometimes elaborate wooden huts that spring up in any heavily Jewish area. Jews eat and (some) sleep in them for seven days, celebrating God's providence throughout the Jews' journey out of Egypt, during which time they had to sleep in huts.

As a side note, in Israel it's also gotten a bit more important than is traditional or justified on purely religious grounds, though for completely different reasons: there, the whole fight-for-independence angle is played up, and depending on the political and social climate the importance of [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles military strength]] may be emphasized.[[note]]It's picked up an additional meaning for sports fans, since Maccabi Tel Aviv, one of the country's most popular sports club (in both soccer and basketball) is obviously named after the Maccabees. Miracles are expected to happen for them when they happen to play during the holiday, especially if it's against a Greek team.[[/note]]