Festivals
Jewish calendar for 2009
please note: most festivals commence at sundown on the previous day
Saturday 19 September
- Rosh Hashanah
- Jewish New Year
Monday 28 September
- Yom Kippur
- Day of Atonement - the most solemn day of the Jewish year.
Saturday 3 October
- Sukkot
- Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles, commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God took special care of them under impossible conditions.
Saturday 10 October
- Shemini Atzeret
- Shemini Atzeret can be translated as “the assembly of the eighth (day).” In Israel the festival is combined with Simchat Torah.
Sunday 11 October
- Simchat Torah
- Simchat Torah means “Rejoicing in the Torah.” This holiday marks the completion of the yearly cycle of weekly Torah readings.
Saturday 12 December
- Hanukkah
- Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.
Jewish calendar for 2010
Wednesday 27 January
- National Holocaust Memorial Day
- The UK Holocaust Memorial Day was first held in January 2001. The date was chosen as the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Saturday 30 January
- Tu B’Shevat
- The Jewish New Year for trees - For religious accounting purposes all trees have their anniversaries on this festival, regardless of when they were planted.
Sunday 28 February
- Purim
- Purim commemorates the time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination by the courage of a young Jewish woman called Esther.
Tuesday 30 March
- Passover
- The start of the season of Passover when Jews commemorate the liberation of the Children of Israel who were led out of Egypt by Moses.
Sunday 11 April
- Yom Hashoah
- The Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day. The date is chosen as the closest date (in the Jewish calendar) to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Wednesday 19 May
- Shavuot
- Shavuot marks the time when the first harvest was taken to the Temple. Also known as the Festival of Weeks.
Tuesday 29 June
- 17th Tammuz
- An important Jewish fast day.
Tuesday 20 July
- Tisha B’Av
- A solemn day that commemorates a series of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over the years, many of which have coincidentally happened on this day.
Thursday 9 September
- Rosh Hashanah
- Jewish New Year
Saturday 18 September
- Yom Kippur
- Day of Atonement - the most solemn day of the Jewish year.
Thursday 23 September
- Sukkot
- Sukkot or The Feast of Tabernacles, commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God took special care of them under impossible conditions.
Thursday 30 September
- Shemini Atzeret
- Shemini Atzeret can be translated as “the assembly of the eighth (day).” In Israel the festival is combined with Simchat Torah.
Friday 1 October
- Simchat Torah
- Simchat Torah means “Rejoicing in the Torah.” This holiday marks the completion of the yearly cycle of weekly Torah readings.
Thursday 2 December
- Hanukkah
- Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and marks the restoration of the temple by the Maccabees in 164 BCE. Hanukkah is celebrated at roughly the same time as Christmas, but there is no connection at all between the festivals.
Friday 17 December
- 10th Tevet
- An important Jewish fast day. (Please note that there is no fast in 2008.)
Selichot:
This beautiful Service, held on the Saturday evening a week before Rosh Hashanah, helps us to prepare ourselves for the forthcoming Festivals.
Rosh Hashanah:
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. Preparation is of body and mind, not just for the new year at hand but also righting anything untoward that we may have done in the past year.
Yom Kippur:
During 25 hours of contemplation within the community and using our special High Holyday Prayer Books, we can review our past year and look forward to the oncoming year, remember our departed dear ones and recall precious memories.
Sukkot:
Come, help us decorate our Sukkah. We need all the help we can get!
Simchat Torah:
Rejoice as we read the final verses of Deuteronomy, and then begin again with Genesis. We honour members of our community who have given devoted service to our Congregation. This celebration is followed by a special kiddush.
Chanukah:
We recall the wonders and miracles that happened for our ancestors at that time.
Purim:
We need no excuses to make lots of noise and dress up in silly costumes!
Pesach:
This is when we recount the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, so that all of us throughout the generations understand it as if we had been there. Pesach is celebrated for 8 days for those of us outside Israel.
Yom Hashoah:
This moving and emotional Service enables us to commemorate our dear ones and the 6 million who perished in the Holocaust.
Yom Ha’atzmaut:
Rejoice on the anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.
Shavuot:
50 days after Pesach, when Moses received the Torah at Mount Sinai, we give thanks and rejoice. Following the evening Service we enjoy a Tikkun Leyl Shavuot where we study and eat lots of delicious cheesecake in a convivial and friendly atmosphere.
Tisha B’Av:
We recall the destruction of the two Temples and other calamities in our long history, reading from Lamentations and other relevant literature.