Bristol Hebrew Congregation : Major Festivals
Major Festivals
The Jewish calendar has a weekly festival on the seventh day of the week, called in Hebrew Shabbat, and throughout the year a sequence of what are termed Major and Minor Festivals.
Major Festivals (in addition to Shabbat), during which work-related activity is not permitted, are:
Rosh Hashanah (New Year) - a time of contemplation and prayer for a physical and spiritual blessing in the year ahead.
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) - on the tenth day of the new year, a day of fasting for 25 hours from sunset to sunset, seeking forgiveness for past misdeeds and determining to behave righteously in future, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.
Succot (Tabernacles or Booths) - starting five days after Yom Kippur, an eight day commemoration of the Israelites’ forty years in the desert after leaving Egypt, and a festival celebrating the harvest of fruits.
Simchat Torah (the Rejoicing of the Law) - ends Succot and celebrates the conclusion of reading each year the first five books of the Old Testament.
Pesach (Passover) - an eight day festival in Spring, a recollection of exile commemorating the ending for the Israelites of slavery in Egypt (the exodus), and noting the start of the barley harvest.
Shavuot (Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks) - seven weeks after Pesach, partly a harvest festival marking the gathering in of the wheat harvest, but principally commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Major Festivals (in addition to Shabbat), during which work-related activity is not permitted, are:
Rosh Hashanah (New Year) - a time of contemplation and prayer for a physical and spiritual blessing in the year ahead.
Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) - on the tenth day of the new year, a day of fasting for 25 hours from sunset to sunset, seeking forgiveness for past misdeeds and determining to behave righteously in future, the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.
Succot (Tabernacles or Booths) - starting five days after Yom Kippur, an eight day commemoration of the Israelites’ forty years in the desert after leaving Egypt, and a festival celebrating the harvest of fruits.
Simchat Torah (the Rejoicing of the Law) - ends Succot and celebrates the conclusion of reading each year the first five books of the Old Testament.
Pesach (Passover) - an eight day festival in Spring, a recollection of exile commemorating the ending for the Israelites of slavery in Egypt (the exodus), and noting the start of the barley harvest.
Shavuot (Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks) - seven weeks after Pesach, partly a harvest festival marking the gathering in of the wheat harvest, but principally commemorating the giving of the Ten Commandments.