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The Jewish calendar has a number of festival days, fast days and days of remembrance, collectively known as Jewish holidays.The denominations of Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism generally regard Jewish laws ( halakha) relating to all these holidays as important, but no longer binding. Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism hold that the halakha relating to these days are still normative (i.e. to be accepted as binding.)
There are a number of differences in religious practices between Orthodox and Conservative Jews, because these denominations have distinct ways of understanding the process of how halakha has historically developed, and thus how it can still develop. Nonetheless, both of these groups have nearly identical teachings about how to observe these holidays.
1 Rosh Hashanah - New Year's Day
- The week before Rosh Hashana, special additional morning prayers are added known as Selichot.
- Erev Rosh Hashanah (evening of the first day) - 29 Elul
- Rosh Hashanah - 1 Tishri
- ראש השנה - א' בתשרי
Rosh Hashanah is set aside by the Mishna as the new year for calculating calendar years, sabbatical and jubilee years, vegetable tithes, and tree-planting (determining the age of a tree). According to Jewish legend, the creation of the world was completed on Tishri 1. This holiday is characterized by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram's horn. The practice of Tashlikh , the symbolic casting away of sins by throwing either stones or bread crumbs into the waters, occurs during the afternoon of the first day. Rosh Hashanah is always observed as a two-day holiday, both inside and outside the boundaries of Israel.
2 Ten Days of Repentance
The ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are known as Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, the Ten Days of Repentance . The day after Rosh Hashanah is a minor fast day Tzom Gedalya the Fast of Gedalia.
3 Yom Kippur - Day of Repentance
- Erev Yom Kippur - 9 Tishri
- Yom Kippur - 10 Tishri
- יום כיפור - י' בתשרי
Yom KippurYom Kippur Observed by: Jews Name Hebrew: Meaning: "Day of atonement and repentance" Begins: 10th day of Tishri Ends: 10th day of Tishri OccasionJewish judgement day (for each person), day of atonement The end of the Days of Awe Symbols: Shofar and fastin is considered by Jews to be the holiest and most solemn day of the year. Its central theme is atonementAtonement is reconciliation with God, of people who have sinned. It is a concept of forgiveness and repair, based on the mercy of God, which is derived from Judaism, and became the central idea of western Christian theology. Especially prominent in Wester and reconciliationReconciliation may be seen as part of a process of restoring a relationship gone awry, typically as the result of one party causing a rift. Reconciliation is a Roman Catholic sacrament; see confession for more details. Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday, cons. Eating, drinking, bathing, and conjugal relations are prohibited. FastingFasting is the act of willingly abstaining from all food and in some cases water, or in other cases from certain food groups. Fasting for Religious Reasons Fasting for spiritual reasons has been known for ages. It is mentioned in the Quran, in the Mahabha begins at sundown, and ends after nightfall the following day. Yom Kippur services begin with the prayer known as " Kol NidreiThe following has been imported from the 1906 public domain "Jewish Encyclopedia". It already has been edited and Wikified, but does not yet incorporate modern scholarship. Please help by modifying as needed. Kol Nidre (ashk. or Kal nidr (sef. is a Jewish", which must be recited before sunset. (Kol Nidrei, Aramaic for "all vows," is a public annullment of religious vows made by Jews during the preceding year. It only concerns unfilled vows made between a person and God, and does not cancel or nullify any vows made between people.)
A TallitTallit (or tallet in Hebrew, or Tallis in Yiddish, is a prayer shawl "cloak" that is worn during the morning Jewish services (the Shacharit prayers) in Judaism. It has special twined and knotted "fringes" known as tzitzit of about six inches attached to i (four-cornered prayerPrayer is an effort to communicate with a God, or to some deity or deities, either to offer praise to the deity, to make a request of the deity, or simply to express one's thoughts and emotions to the deity. There are a variety approaches to understanding shawl) is donned for evening prayers— the only evening service of the year in which this is done. The Ne'ilah service is a special service held only on the day of Yom Kippur, and deals with the closing of the holiday. Yom Kippur comes to an end with the blowing of the shofar, which marks the conclusion of the fast. It is always observed as a one-day holiday, both inside and outside the boundaries of the land of Israel.
Contrary to popular belief, Yom Kippur is not a sad day. Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spanish, Portuguese and North African descent) refer to this holiday as "the White Fast".
