Judaism - Festivals

1. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur important Jewish festivals and very holy days in the Jewish religion.

2. Rosh Hashanah is the New Year’s Day of the Jewish calendar and Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement.

3. Everyone is judged on Rosh Hashanah, but the judgement is not final.

4. The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur give people the chance to change the judgement.

5. They can do this by righting any wrongs they have done and praying.

6. At Rosh Hashanah, Jews think about the way they have behaved over the past year.

7. The reflect on their mistakes and consider any resolutions they want to make.

8. Special dishes are prepared, many of which contain honey, in the hope of a sweet new year.

9. Jews may also walk to a place where there is flowing water and shake their pockets into it to cast away their sins.

10. The blowing of the shofar, a ram’s horn, starts Rosh Hashanah and ends Yom Kippur.

11. A shofar was an instrument played by the Ancient Israelites.

12. It starts a ten-day period, which ends with the solemn Jewish festival of Yom Kippur.

13. Jewish people attend the synagogue services and fast.

14. Yom Kippur begins at sunset and a big meal is eaten before the fasting begins.

15. Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights, celebrated for eight days, beginning on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev.

16. Hanukkah is a special time for Jewish children, who are given gifts and money and families eat meals together.

17. Hanukkah means re-dedication.

18. t celebrates a great Jewish victory when a group of Jews called Maccabees stood up to a Syrian king.

19. The king destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem, but the Jews cleaned and repaired it and re-dedicated it to God.

20. They lit a sacred menorah, but only one small jar of oil was available - amazingly the lamp stayed alight for eight days.

21. Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting one candle of the hanukkiah, a nine-branched candelabrum, each day.

22. This shows how God looked after the Jewish people at this difficult time.

23. Sukkot is a Jewish harvest festival lasting seven days.

24. t remembers the years the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land.

25. t celebrates the fact that God protected the Jews from the harsh desert conditions.

26. The word sukkot means hut and the Jews celebrate by building a hut.

27. The huts are flimsy and remind Jews that God is the only one who can protect them.

28. A sukkah must have at least three walls and the roof must be made out of plants.

29. People eat meals in the sukkah and prayers are said over four types of plant.

30. These are a lemon and the branches of a palm, willow and myrtle tree.