Shabbat is rooted in creation and built into the Ten Commandments.

• Creation pattern: Genesis 2:1–3
• Fourth commandment: Exodus 20:8–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–15
• Festival summary: Leviticus 23:1–3

Shabbat is the oldest and most regular of Israel’s holy days. It reminds God’s people of both creation (God rested) and redemption (God rescued Israel from Egypt).

It has been practiced continuously in Jewish life from biblical times until today, though the way it is kept has developed through rabbinic traditions.

Shabbat shapes the weekly rhythm of Jewish life: from Friday evening to Saturday evening. It is a day for stopping ordinary work, sharing family meals, attending synagogue, praying, and resting.

Under foreign empires, keeping Shabbat marked out Jews as different and sometimes brought conflict. In modern Israel, public life is strongly influenced by Shabbat (reduced public transport, many businesses closed), though not everyone keeps it in the same way.

Shabbat is weekly, not annual. It begins at sunset on Friday and ends at nightfall on Saturday.

In our calendar: every weekend, following the local sunset times.

• Lighting Shabbat candles before sunset on Friday.
• Reciting blessings over wine (kiddush) and special bread (challah).
• Attending synagogue services (Friday night and/or Saturday morning).
• Sharing festive meals, singing songs, and rest from normal work.

For Christians, Shabbat helps us picture the deeper rest we have in Jesus (see Hebrews 4:9–10).

• Institution: Exodus 12–13
• Festival laws: Leviticus 23:4–8; Numbers 9:1–14; Deuteronomy 16:1–8
• New Testament fulfilment: Luke 22:7–20; 1 Corinthians 5:7–8

Passover remembers God’s rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt, when the blood of the lamb marked each house so that judgment “passed over” them.

The first Passover took place on the night before the Exodus. Families slaughtered a lamb, painted blood on the doorposts, roasted the lamb, and ate it in haste with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.

In later Old Testament times, Passover became a pilgrimage festival: Jewish men were called to come to the sanctuary (later the Temple in Jerusalem) to offer the Passover sacrifice.

After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, animal sacrifice ceased. Passover shifted to a home-based meal (the Seder) with prayers, symbolic foods, and retelling the Exodus story. It is still widely practiced today.

Passover is both a family celebration and a national identity marker. It reminds Jews that they were slaves and God brought them out with a mighty hand.

The Haggadah (order of service) guides the evening with questions, answers, psalms, and blessings. Children play an active role by asking, “Why is this night different from all other nights?”

For Christians, Jesus’ Last Supper was a Passover meal that he re-framed around his own death and blood of the new covenant.

Passover is about liberation from oppression. In the first century, it was a tense time in Jerusalem. Roman authorities feared uprisings, because crowds were thinking about freedom and God’s kingdom.

In modern times, Passover has also inspired movements for justice and freedom far beyond the Jewish community.

In the Jewish calendar, Passover begins on the 14th day of the month of Nisan and runs into the Feast of Unleavened Bread (7 days in the Land of Israel, often 8 days in the Diaspora).

In our calendar, this usually falls in March or April, at the beginning of the northern spring and around the time of Christian Easter.

Modern Passover is centred on the Seder meal:

• Removing leaven from the home before the festival.
• Eating matzah (unleavened bread) and avoiding normal bread.
• Four cups of wine (or grape juice) with set blessings.
• A Seder plate with symbolic foods (bitter herbs, salt water, roasted bone, egg, sweet paste like charoset).
• Retelling the Exodus story, singing psalms (Hallel), and giving thanks.

In Christian teaching, Jesus is seen as our Passover Lamb whose blood saves us from judgment and brings us out of slavery to sin.

• Exodus 12:15–20; 13:3–10
• Leviticus 23:6–8
• Deuteronomy 16:3–8

This feast is closely joined to Passover and remembers the haste of Israel’s departure: no time for bread to rise.

For seven days Israel was to eat unleavened bread and remove all leaven from their homes. Over time, special methods of cleaning and checking for leaven developed in Jewish practice.

Today, the days of Unleavened Bread are wrapped into the wider “Passover season.” Eating matzah becomes a daily reminder of the Exodus.

Like Passover, this period highlights God’s power over human empires. It has sometimes been a time of both joy and tension in Jewish history.

In the Jewish calendar, the Feast of Unleavened Bread runs from the 15th to the 21st of Nisan.

In our calendar, this is in March or April, immediately following Passover.

• Eating only unleavened bread.
• Avoiding foods made with ordinary yeast or leaven.
• Special holiday meals on the first and last days.

In the New Testament, leaven is sometimes used as a picture of sin or false teaching, so this feast also points to a life cleaned out for God (1 Corinthians 5:6–8).

• Leviticus 23:9–14
• Deuteronomy 26:1–11
• New Testament link: 1 Corinthians 15:20–23 (Christ as “firstfruits”)

Firstfruits marked the beginning of the barley harvest in the Land of Israel. An offering of the first sheaf was presented to God as a sign that the whole harvest belonged to him.

Agricultural festivals like Firstfruits tied daily work in the fields to worship. Today, with fewer people farming, the original agricultural meaning is often taught in symbolic ways.

In ancient Israel, good harvests meant economic stability. Firstfruits reminded the nation that their security depended on God, not just on politics or military strength.

In the Jewish calendar, Firstfruits is linked to Passover week and occurs on the day after a special Sabbath during that period (details interpreted differently by different Jewish groups).

In our calendar, this is usually in March or April.

Temple-era practice involved bringing a sheaf of barley to the priest, who would wave it before God. Today, because there is no Temple, the festival is mainly remembered through readings and teaching.

• Leviticus 23:15–22
• Deuteronomy 16:9–12
• Acts 2:1–41 (Pentecost)

Originally an agricultural harvest feast, Shavuot is also linked in Jewish tradition to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

The name Shavuot (“Weeks”) comes from counting seven weeks from Firstfruits.

By New Testament times, many Jews connected Shavuot with the Sinai covenant. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in Jerusalem on this festival day.

Today, Shavuot is a time for studying Torah, reading the book of Ruth, decorating homes and synagogues with greenery, and eating dairy foods in many communities.

As one of the three pilgrimage festivals, Shavuot once brought large crowds to Jerusalem, strengthening national unity around the covenant and the Temple.

In the Jewish calendar, Shavuot falls 50 days after Passover/Firstfruits.

In our calendar, this is usually in May or early June.

• All-night Torah study in some communities.
• Reading the Ten Commandments in synagogue.
• Special dairy meals (cheesecakes, blintzes) in many traditions.

For Christians, this is the feast when the Holy Spirit was poured out and the church began its mission to the nations.

• Leviticus 23:23–25
• Numbers 29:1–6

The Torah describes a day of trumpet blasts and rest in the seventh month. Later Jewish tradition associated it with the New Year and God’s kingship.

Over time, this day became known as Rosh Hashanah (“Head of the Year”). Rabbinic teaching emphasised themes of judgment, repentance, and God’s rule.

Common customs include blowing the shofar (ram’s horn), sharing festive meals, and eating symbolic foods like apples dipped in honey (“May it be a sweet year”).

The trumpet imagery also has royal overtones: announcing the King. For Jews living under foreign rule, this could be a quiet reminder that God is the true King over all nations.

In the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah falls on the 1st day of Tishrei (often observed for two days).

In our calendar, this is usually in September or early October.

• Synagogue services with shofar blasts.
• Prayers focusing on God as King and Judge.
• Festive meals with family and friends.

• Leviticus 16 (full ritual description)
• Leviticus 23:26–32; Numbers 29:7–11
• Hebrews 9–10 (New Testament reflection)

Yom Kippur is the most solemn day in the biblical calendar, focused on atonement, cleansing, and reconciliation between God and his people.

In Temple times, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies once a year with sacrificial blood, making atonement for the nation. Two goats were central:

• One goat sacrificed as a sin offering.
• The “scapegoat” symbolically carrying the people’s sins into the wilderness.

After AD 70, without the Temple, Yom Kippur shifted to prayer, fasting, and repentance as the main ways of seeking forgiveness. It is still widely observed today as Judaism’s holiest day.

Yom Kippur closes the “High Holy Days” (Days of Awe) that begin with Rosh Hashanah. Many Jews who are not otherwise religious still attend synagogue or fast on this day.

The mood is serious but hopeful: God is merciful and ready to forgive.

In modern Israel, Yom Kippur has a strong national feel: streets become quiet, traffic almost stops, and a sense of shared pause covers the country.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War is a reminder that even holy days can become moments of great national testing.

In the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of Tishrei.

In our calendar, this is usually in September or early October, ten days after Rosh Hashanah.

Modern Yom Kippur focuses on repentance and reconciliation:

• Approximately 25 hours of fasting (no food or drink for adults who are able).
• Multiple synagogue services, including the Kol Nidre prayer on the eve.
• Confession of sins and asking forgiveness from God and from other people.
• Restrictions on work, and often on washing, wearing leather shoes, or marital intimacy.

The day ends with a final shofar blast and the hope that the “book of life” is sealed for good.

For Christians, the New Testament presents Jesus as our great high priest and final atoning sacrifice (Hebrews 10:11–14), fulfilling what Yom Kippur pointed toward.

• Leviticus 23:33–44
• Deuteronomy 16:13–17
• John 7–8 (Jesus at the feast)

Sukkot celebrates God’s provision and presence, remembering the wilderness journey when Israel lived in tents and God dwelt with them.

Originally an end-of-harvest festival, Sukkot became a joyful pilgrimage time in Jerusalem. Special water and light ceremonies developed in Second Temple times.

Families build temporary shelters (sukkot) with leafy roofs and spend time eating or even sleeping inside them to remember the desert wanderings and God’s care.

This feast is sometimes called “the season of our joy.” Prophets picture a future time when all nations will come to Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot (Zechariah 14:16).

In the Jewish calendar, Sukkot starts on the 15th of Tishrei and lasts seven days, followed by Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

In our calendar, this is in September or October.

• Building and decorating a sukkah (booth).
• Waving the “Four Species” (palm branch, myrtle, willow, and citron).
• Sharing meals and hospitality in the sukkah.

• Leviticus 23:36–39 (Shemini Atzeret)

Simchat Torah (“Rejoicing in the Torah”) developed later as a celebration of finishing and restarting the annual Torah reading cycle.

Shemini Atzeret is an “eighth day assembly” attached to Sukkot. Over time, Jewish communities paired it with a joyful Torah festival, especially in the Diaspora.

On Simchat Torah, scrolls are carried and danced around the synagogue. Children often join in with flags or sweets, celebrating God’s word.

Rejoicing in the Torah has been a way for Jewish communities to hold onto their identity even when scattered among many nations.

Shemini Atzeret follows immediately after the seven days of Sukkot (22 Tishrei in Israel; the pattern can be extended in the Diaspora).

In our calendar, this is usually late September or October.

• Special prayers for rain in the Land of Israel.
• Dancing with Torah scrolls, completing and restarting the reading cycle.

Hanukkah is not commanded in the Torah. It remembers events recorded in the books of 1–2 Maccabees and is mentioned briefly in the New Testament:

• Historical account: 1 Maccabees 4; 2 Maccabees 10
• Jesus at the “Feast of Dedication”: John 10:22–23

In the 2nd century BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV tried to force Greek religion on the Jews and desecrated the Temple. The Maccabean revolt regained control of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple in 164 BC.

Hanukkah celebrates this victory, God’s faithfulness, and the rededication of the Temple.

Hanukkah is an eight-day winter festival of lights and joy:

• Lighting candles on a special nine-branched lampstand (hanukkiyah).
• Eating foods fried in oil (latkes, doughnuts) in many traditions.
• Playing dreidel (spinning top game) and giving gifts or coins.

For many Jewish families today, Hanukkah is one of the most visible and child-friendly festivals.

Hanukkah highlights themes of religious freedom and resistance to forced assimilation. It often resonates strongly in times when Jewish identity feels under pressure.

In the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah begins on the 25th of Kislev and lasts eight days.

In our calendar, this usually falls in December (sometimes late November or early January).

• Lighting one additional candle each night until all eight are lit.
• Singing songs, reciting blessings, and placing the candles where their light is visible.
• Family gatherings, special foods, and sometimes exchanging presents.

• Book of Esther, especially Esther 9:20–32

Purim remembers how God saved the Jewish people from Haman’s plot in the days of Esther and Mordecai.

Set during the Persian Empire, the story shows Jewish life in exile and God’s hidden hand at work. The festival was established by royal letters at the end of the book of Esther.

Purim is one of the most joyful and playful festivals:

• Reading the book of Esther (Megillah) aloud, with noise-makers when Haman’s name is read.
• Costumes and plays retelling the story.
• Gifts of food to friends (mishloach manot) and gifts to the poor.
• Festive meals and celebration.

Purim reminds Jews that God can protect his people even under foreign rule, often through ordinary people who act with courage and faithfulness.

In the Jewish calendar, Purim is celebrated on the 14th of Adar (15th in walled cities like Jerusalem, “Shushan Purim”).

In our calendar, this usually falls in February or March.

• Hearing the whole book of Esther read in synagogue.
• Wearing costumes and enjoying children’s activities.
• Giving gifts of food and charity.

The story encourages trust in God even when his name is not mentioned, and boldness in doing what is right.

Based on the fasting in Esther 4:15–17. The fast itself is a later tradition, preparing for Purim.

The Fast of Esther recalls the time when Esther and the Jewish community fasted before she went in to the king, risking her life to plead for her people.

This is usually a daylight fast (from dawn to dusk) that sets a more serious tone before the joyful celebration of Purim.

It underlines the vulnerability of minority communities and the need to seek God when facing unjust laws or threats.

Observed on the 13th of Adar (or just before Purim when dates shift).

In our calendar, usually in February or March.

Many observant Jews fast from food and drink during daylight hours and attend special prayers in preparation for Purim.

Tisha B’Av is not commanded in the Torah but is rooted in later Jewish history and tradition. The book of Lamentations and selected psalms are central readings.

This fast day remembers a series of disasters, especially the destruction of the First and Second Temples (586 BC and AD 70). Other tragedies in Jewish history have also been associated with this date.

The mood is one of deep mourning:

• Sitting on the floor or low stools in synagogue.
• Reading the book of Lamentations.
• Restricting greetings and usual comforts.

Tisha B’Av gathers up centuries of loss, exile, and persecution. It keeps alive the hope for restoration and the rebuilding of Zion.

In the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av falls on the 9th of Av.

In our calendar, this is usually in July or August.

• About 25 hours of fasting and refraining from normal pleasures.
• Special lament prayers and readings.

Lag BaOmer is not commanded in the Bible. It developed in rabbinic tradition during the counting of the Omer (between Passover and Shavuot).

According to tradition, a plague among Rabbi Akiva’s students ended on this day, and it is associated with the memory of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Lag BaOmer breaks a semi-mourning period with joyful activities:

• Bonfires and outdoor celebrations.
• Weddings and haircuts (which were often avoided earlier in the Omer count).

Some see connections with memories of Jewish resistance (such as the Bar Kokhba revolt), though details are debated.

Lag BaOmer is the 33rd day of the Omer count.

In our calendar, it usually falls in April or May.

Families and youth groups often mark the night with bonfires, songs, and outdoor games, especially in Israel.

Tu BiShvat is based on rabbinic discussions about agricultural tithes, not on a direct biblical command. Over time it became a minor festival celebrating trees and the Land.

Originally an administrative date for counting the age of trees, Tu BiShvat later gained spiritual themes, especially in Kabbalistic practice and Zionist renewal.

Today many Jews plant trees, hold “Tu BiShvat seders” with different fruits, and reflect on environmental care and God’s creation.

In modern Israel, Tu BiShvat is linked with reforestation and caring for the land after centuries of neglect.

In the Jewish calendar, Tu BiShvat is on the 15th of Shevat.

In our calendar, it usually falls in January or February.

• Eating a variety of fruits, especially from the Land of Israel.
• Tree-planting ceremonies and environmental education.

These days (such as Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, Yom HaAtzma’ut, Yom Yerushalayim) are modern national observances established by the State of Israel rather than by biblical command. Some communities connect them with psalms of praise and lament.

• Yom HaShoah: Holocaust Remembrance Day.
• Yom HaZikaron: Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror.
• Yom HaAtzma’ut: Independence Day (1948).
• Yom Yerushalayim: Jerusalem Day (1967).

These days link the ancient story of Israel to modern history, war, loss, and statehood.

Sirens, ceremonies, school events, and family gatherings mark these days in Israel. Jewish communities worldwide may hold parallel services.

These observances are deeply connected to the modern State of Israel and can be experienced differently by Jews inside and outside the country, and by neighbouring peoples.

These days fall in the spring months of the Jewish calendar (Nisan and Iyar), usually April–May in our calendar.

• Moments of silence marked by sirens.
• Public ceremonies, prayers, and memorial services.
• Celebrations and fireworks on Independence Day.