[Teachldsseminary] Jewish Holidays

[Shannon Sperry]

After 7 years of teaching early morning, I also am moving on, but I
wanted to give this list my two best ideas that resulted from the last
time I taught Old Testament.  I have thoroughly appreciated this list
and Bro. Holder and his site and I will miss all of your great ideas.
Before leaving the office each day, I would turn to Latter-Day Village
and print all of your ideas.  My lessons were far more interesting and
relevant to teenagers because of all of the work that has gone into the
site.  I could not have done it for so long without Latter-Day Village.


My two best ideas:

1.  The first is to buy a shofar.  You can get a pretty cheap one on
many Jewish internet sites.  They blow the shofar all through the OT and
I would rotate the blowing among my students whenever we came to such a
place.  The kids would read ahead to see when we got to blow it next.
It is hard, and in fact even my French horn player student struggled.
The only really successful student was a tuba player. 

2.  The second idea and something that will always be remembered by my
students is that instead of celebrating US holidays (OK, we celebrated
those also) we celebrated the Jewish holidays.  There are many and all
are scripturally important.  I love the fact that the Jews remember
their ancestors and attach so much importance to the faith of their
ancestors (very similar to Mormons).  My students and I live on a small
island with a large Jewish population.  Although their classmates would
be absent from school for certain holidays (and you could watch most
Jews walking to the Synagogue morning and night), most if not all of my
students had no idea why.  They did not realize that the holidays were
linked to the Old Testament, the very book we were studying.  We loved
learning about and celebrating the Jewish holidays, with special
emphasize on Passover where we put on our own Seder.  

Here are the holidays we celebrated:


\
JEWISH HOLIDAYS FOR THE YEAR 2007-2008

Each holiday begins at sundown the previous day.

ROSH HASHANAH   Sept. 13-14, 2007 (Begins High Holy Days)

Rosh HaShanah (literally, "Head of the Year") refers to the celebration
of the Jewish New Year.  The holiday is observed on the first day of the
Hebrew month of Tishrei, which usually falls in Sept. or Oct., and marks
the beginning of a ten-day period of prayer, self examination and
repentance, which culminate on the fast day of Yom Kippur. These ten
days are referred to as Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe or the High Holy
Days.

While there are elements of joy and celebration, Rosh HaShanah is a
deeply religious occasion. The customs and symbols of Rosh HaShanah
reflect the holiday's dual emphasis, happiness and humility.  Special
customs observed on Rosh HaShanah include; the sounding the shofar,
using round challah, eating apples and honey (and other sweet foods) for
a sweet new year.

YOM KIPPUR   Sept. 22, 2007

Yom Kippur is the "Day of Atonement" and refers to the annual Jewish
observance of fasting, prayer and repentance.  This is considered to be
the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.  In three separate passages in
the Torah, the Jewish people are told, "the tenth day of the seventh
month is the Day of Atonement.  It shall be a sacred occasion for you.
You shall practice self-denial..." (Leviticus 23:27)  Fasting is seen as
fulfilling this biblical commandment. The Yom Kippur fast also enables
Jewish people to put aside their physical desires and to concentrate on
their spiritual needs through prayer, repentance and self-improvement.
It is customary in the days before Yom Kippur for Jews to seek out
friends and family whom they have wronged and personally ask for their
forgiveness.

(It is traditional for most Jews to eat chicken and rice before the
fast.  To break the fast, usually a milk meal is served with an apple
dipped in honey, followed by other traditional foods.  The Sephardim
serve eggs, the symbol of hope and life.  In America, Jews usually
celebrate with bagels, lox and cream cheese)


SUKKOT  Sept. 27-Oct. 2, 2007

Sukkot, a Hebrew word meaning "booths" or "huts", refers to the Jewish
festival of giving thanks for the fall harvest as well as the
commemoration of the forty years of Jewish wandering in the desert after
Sinai. Sukkot is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur on the 15th of
Tishrei, and is marked by several distinct traditions.  One tradition,
which takes the commandment to "dwell in booths" literally, is to build
a sukkah, a booth or hut.  A sukkah is often erected by Jews during this
festival, and it is common practice for some to eat and even live in
these temporary dwellings during Sukkot.

(Our seminary class made small sukkahs out of twigs and leaves.  Another
class actually erected a sukkah outside and had their class out side for
the week)


SIMCHAT TORAH  Oct. 7, 2007

Simchat Torah, Hebrew for "rejoicing in the Law" celebrates the
completion of the annual reading of the Torah.  Simchat Torah is a
joyous festival, in which they affirm their view of the Torah as a tree
of life and demonstrate a living example of never-ending, lifelong
study.  Torah scrolls are taken from the ark and carried or danced
around the synagogue seven times.  During the Torah service, the
concluding section of Deuteronomy is read, and immediately following,
the opening section of Genesis, or B"reishit as it is calling Hebrew, is
read.

(In many congregations, the custom is that everyone reads aloud the
verse that concludes each day of creation as well as the verses which
talk about Shabbos.)

CHANUKAH  Dec. 5-12

Chanukah, meaning "dedication" in Hebrew refers to the joyous eight-day
celebration during which Jews commemorate the victory of the Maccabeus
over the armies of Syria in 165 B.C.E. and the subsequent liberation and
"rededication" of the Temple in Jerusalem. The modern home celebration
of Chanukah centers around the lights of the chanukiah, a special
menorah for Chanukah; unique foods, latkes and jelly doughnuts; and
special songs and games, including the dradel game.

TU BISH'VAT  Jan. 22, 2008

Tu BiSh'vat or the "New Year of the Trees" is Jewish Arbor Day.  The
holiday is observed on the fifteenth (tu) of Sh'vat.  Scholars believe
that TuBiSh'vat was originally an agricultural festival, marking the
emergence of spring.  After the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.C.E.
this holiday was a way for Jews to symbolically bind themselves to their
former homeland by eating foods that could be found in Israel.  In the
sixteenth and seventeenth century Kabbalists created a ritual for Tu
BiSh'vat similar to the Passover Seder. Today, Tu BiSh'vat has also
become a tree planting festival in Israel, in which both Israelis and
Jews around the world plant trees in honor or in memory of a loved one
or friend.  
(Consider planting a tree somewhere on the church property that your
students can watch grow)

PURIM  March 21, 2008 

Purim is celebrated by the reading of the Scroll of Esther, known in
Hebrew as the Megillat Esther, which relates the basic story of Purim.
Under the rule of King Ahashuerus, Haman, the King's prime minister,
plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia.  His plan is foiled by
Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of
the land from destruction. The reading of the megillah is typically a
rowdy affair, which is punctuated by booing and noisemaking when Haman's
name is read aloud.

Purim is an unusual holiday in many respects.  First, Esther is the only
book of the Bible in which God is not mentioned.  Second, Purim, like
Chanukah, is viewed by tradition as a minor festival. The elevation of
Purim to a major holiday was a result of the Jewish historical
experience.  Over the centuries, Haman became the embodiment of every
anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance in
Purim lays not so much in how it began, but in what it has become - a
thankful and joyous affirmation of Jewish survival against all odds.

PESACH  April 20-27, 2008

Pesach, Known as Passover in English, is a major Jewish spring festival,
commemorating the Exodus from Egypt over 3,000 years ago. The ritual
observance of this holiday centers around a special home service called
the seder (meaning "order" and a festive meal; the prohibitions of
leaven bread; and the eating of matzah unleavened bread).  On the eve of
the fifteenth day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, Jews read from a book
called the hagaddah, meaning "telling" which contains the order of
prayers, rituals, readings and songs for the Pesach seder.  The Pesach
seder is the only ritual meal in the Jewish calendar year for which such
an order is prescribed, hence its name.

The seder has a number of scriptural bases.  Exodus 12:3-11 describes
the meal of lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs which the
Israelites ate just prior to the Exodus. In addition three separate
passages in Exodus (12:26-7, 13:8, 13:14) and one in Deuteronomy
(6:20-21) enunciate the duty of the parents to tell the story of the
Exodus to their children.  The seder plate contains various symbolic
foods referred to in the seder itself.

(Consider putting on a seder. There are many helps on the Latter Day
Village site or the internet.)


SHAVUOT   June 9-10

Shavuot is a Hebrew word meaning "weeks" and refers to the Jewish
festival marking the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.  Shavuot, like
so many other Jewish holidays began as an ancient agricultural festival,
marking the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the
summer wheat harvest.  Shavuot was distinguished in ancient times by
bringing crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem.  

Shavuot, also know as the Festival of the Giving of the Torah, dates
from biblical times and helps to explain the holiday's name, "Weeks".
The Torah tells that it took precisely forty-nine days to travel from
Egypt to the foot of Mount Sinai (the same number of days as the
Counting of the Omer) where the Israelites were to receive the Torah.
Thus, Leviticus 23:21 commands: "And you shall proclaim that day (the
fiftieth day) to be a holy convocation..."  The name Shavuot, "Weeks,"
then symbolizes the completion of a seven-week journey.

Special customs on Shavuot are the reading of the Book of Ruth, which
reminds the Jews  that they  too can find a continual source of blessing
in the tradition of their fathers.  Another tradition includes staying
up all night to study Torah and Mishnah, a custom called Tikkun Leil
Shavuot, which symbolizes the commitment to the Torah, and that we are
always ready and awake to receive the Torah.  Traditionally, dairy
dishes are served on this holiday to symbolize the sweetness of the
Torah, as well as the "land of milk and honey".

TISHAH B'AV  Aug. 10, 2008

Tishah B'Av, which means the Ninth of Av, refers to a traditional day of
mourning the destruction of both ancient Temples in Jerusalem.  In
contrast to Orthodoxy, Reform Judaism has ever assigned a central
religious role to the ancient Temple.  Therefore, mourning the
destruction of the Temple in such an elaborate fashion did not seem
meaningful.  More recently, in Reform Judaism Tishah B'Av has been
transformed into a day to remember many Jewish tragedies that have
occurred throughout history.