A Brief Description of the Jewish Holidays

Introduction

The Jewish calendar is a combined luni-solar calendar.  Every month begins with a new moon and every year on average coincides with the solar year so that all the holidays occur at roughly the same time of year.  Twelve lunar months is approximately 354 days while one solar year is a little more than 365 days.  To keep the calendar synchronized, a leap month is added in late winter or early spring every 7 out of 19 years.  As a result, the Jewish holidays move relative to the Gregorian calendar.

Jewish holidays begin before sundown on the day before the Gregorian calendar date and last until after sundown on the Gregorian calendar date.  On major holidays, described in more detail later, work is not allowed.  Additionally, most transportation is not allowed.  Since Jews must often go somewhere to celebrate the holidays, which in most cases begin with a holiday meal, it can be difficult to attend classes on the day before a holiday, particularly in the afternoon and especially in winter.  It may not be possible to submit assignments without more than 24 hours’ notice before the holiday begins if the due date falls on or the day before a holiday since the assignment must be submitted in advance of the holiday.

Jewish practice varies widely.  The description here applies to traditional practice, but some Jews will only observe the first day of a two-day holiday or only observe some of the holidays.  It is thus reasonable for faculty to expect that students will inform them of the dates that they cannot attend class for religious reasons as soon as possible (typically 1–2 weeks) after the class syllabus has been published or the date of an exam or quiz or other assessment has been published.  Conversely, simple notification by email that a student will be absent from class and/or is requesting a makeup assessment (exams, quizzes, etc.) for religious reasons should be sufficient.

The Jewish sabbath (Shabbos or Shabbat) is arguably the most important of the major holidays.  It occurs every week and not every year like the other major holidays.  It begins every Friday before sundown and ends every Saturday after sundown.  That makes attending classes on Friday afternoon or events on Saturday either problematic or impossible for traditionally observant students, depending on when sundown begins and ends.  Friday night dinners in which the family gathers are a cherished tradition in many Jewish families.

The annual major holidays are:  Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, Pesach (Passover), and Shavuot.  The first four holidays all occur within 23 days in fall, making their observance a bit of an obstacle course.  Two of the major holidays (Sukkot and Pesach) last a week with several days during the holiday in which some work and transportation are permitted (called Hol hamo’ed).  The amount and type of work permitted varies widely in the traditional Jewish community.  While some work and transportation are permitted in this portion of the holiday, religious retreats that include the entire holiday are common.

Rosh Hashana:  This holiday is a two-day holiday that begins a 10-day period of reflection.

Yom Kippur:  This holiday is a one-day holiday that ends the 10-day period of reflection.  Observant Jews fast during the holiday (no food or drink).  Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are referred to together as the high holidays, and Jews that observe no other holidays will often observe these two.

Sukkot:  This is a seven-day holiday that begins five days after Yom Kippur.  Work and transportation are prohibited on the first two days.  Observant Jews will eat at least some of their meals in an outdoor booth, referred to as a sukkah.  Some Jews will go on retreats during this holiday.

Shemini Atzeret/Simhat Torah:  This two-day holiday begins immediately after Sukkot.  Work and transportation are prohibited.  This holiday ends the 23-day fall holiday period.

Pesach (Passover):  This is an eight-day holiday that occurs in spring.  Work and transportation are prohibited on the first two and the last two days.  Observant Jews will observe food restrictions in which most bread and other grain products are prohibited.  Some Jews go on religious retreats during this holiday.  There is a festive meal and home service on the first two nights of Pesach, referred to as a seder.  Jews who do not observe the other holidays will often participate in a seder.  The first seder begins on the evening before the Pesach date on the Gregorian calendar.

Shavuot:  This is a two-day holiday that occurs in late spring and begins seven weeks after Pesach.  Work and transportation are prohibited.

In addition to the major holidays, there are minor holidays, including five fast days.  While work and transportation are permitted, students may have trouble focusing on classwork if they are fasting, and these days have other restrictions.  The most restrictive of these fast days is Tisha b’Av that occurs in summer and memorializes disasters that have overtaken the Jewish people from the destruction of the Jewish temple 2500 years ago to the holocaust that wiped out three-quarters of the Jewish population in Europe.  Traditionally observant Jews will spend much of the day in prayer.

A great resource is hebcal.com that creates calendars with the start and end dates and times anywhere in the world.  A book that has all the dates for the Jewish holidays between 1900 and 2100 is The Comprehensive Jewish Calendar by A. Spier (Feldheim, 1986).  Chabad.org also publishes a calendar.  The Wikipedia article, The Hebrew Calendar has many more details on the construction of the Jewish calendar and extensive additional references.