JEWISH SEASONAL DAYS OF CELEBRATION AND HOLY DAYS

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Origins:

Conservative Jews and Christians generally agree that the main seasonal days of celebration that are mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) were established by God and recorded by Moses. Religious liberals and many historians believe that the ancient Israelites took the three ancient harvest festivals of the Pagan Canaanites (Creation, Revelation and Redemption) and reworked them into the Jewish festivals of Tabernacles, Shavout and Passover. ₁

In modern times, Jews refer to the weekly Sabbath as the Shabbat; other holy days are now called festivals, feasts, holy days or holidays.

High Holy Days: ₃

This essay continues below.

Other holy days:

* First day

Description of the seven holy days:

Rules for calculating Rosh Hashanah and Passover are available online at: http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/

Reasonable care has been taken to prepare this list. Sources often differ, so check elsewhere if the precise date is important.

References:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Stephen M Wylen, "Holidays mark victory of light over darkness," The Bergen Record, 1999-DEC-2
2. Seymour Rossel, "Basic Judaism: Jewish Holy Days," at: http://www.rossel.net/
3. Bill Jeffery, "AST 309--Time: Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Passover," University of Texas, Austin, at: http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/
4. Fact Monster, "Rosh Hashanah is Jewish New Year," at: http://www.factmonster.com/
5. Fact Monster, "What is Yom Kippur?," at: http://www.factmonster.com/

Copyright © 1996 to 2005 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update: 2005-DEC-01
Author: B.A. Robinson