CELEBRATE
Your Guide to Jewish Holidays
The three categories of Jewish holidays, celebrations and commemorations.
Jewish Holidays
Your Guide to Jewish Holidays
There are essentially three major categories of Jewish holidays, celebrations, and commemorations found in the Jewish calendar. These are biblical holidays, rabbinic holidays, and post-rabbinic celebrations. These categories indicate the historical period during which these holidays came to be established events in the Jewish calendar.
There are a handful of holidays that entered Jewish life in the latter half of the 20th century.
Tu B’Av
Tu B’Av, the 15th day of the month of Av, is a modern semi-holiday with ancient roots. Although it is mentioned in the Mishnah as a day on which the women of ancient Israel went out to find husbands, Tu B’Av more or less disappeared from the Jewish calendar for close to two millennia, only to be rediscovered by mainly secular Israelis, seeking a Jewish equivalent to Valentine’s Day in the non-Jewish world. Over the course of the last few years this mid-summer celebration of love has become increasingly popular in Israeli society.
Yom Hashoah: Holocaust Memorial Day
Yom Hashoah–Holocaust Remembrance Day–is observed one week after the conclusion of Passover, on the 27th of Nissan. Significantly, it is also halfway between the first day of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising–which began on the first day of Passover in 1943– and Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. This date, chosen by the Israeli government, emphasizes the nature of Jewish opposition to disaster. While the rituals for this holiday are still being created, it is a solemn day that is widely observed wherever Jews live.
Yom Ha’atzmaut: Israel Independence Day
Directly following Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut is a joyful celebration of Israel’s independence. It is celebrated annually on the 5th day of Iyar, which in 1948 corresponded to May 14, the day on which David Ben Gurion, the nation’s first prime minister, announced the creation of the State of Israel. Yom Ha’atzmaut is celebrated both in Israel and in Jewish communities throughout the world.
Yom Hazikaron
Yom Hazikaron–Israeli Memorial Day–is observed one week after Yom Hashoah and one day before Yom Ha’atzmaut. It is a quintessentially Israeli holiday, commemorating all the soldiers who fell in defense of Israel from the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 to the present. While it is often acknowledged outside of Israel, it is in Israel itself that this holiday unites the whole country in its somber observance.
