JUDAISM'S FEASTS & FESTIVALS - YOM KIPPUR

Moses (Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments)
Returns to find the People Worshipping the Golden Calf

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Ten days ago we put up a post about the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah. Now, ten days later, we are back to visit Highest Holyday of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur or The Day of Atonement begins at sundown Spetember, 24th.

FORGIVENESS OF SIN

Yom Kippur commemorates the day when God forgave the Jewish people in the desert for the sin of the Golden Calf. Forty days after hearing God say at Mount Sinai: “You shall not have the gods of others in My presence; you shall not make for yourself a graven image,” the Jews committed the cardinal sin of idolatry. Moses spent nearly three months on top of the mountain pleading with God on their behalf, and on the tenth of Tishri it was finally granted. “For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before God.” (Leviticus 16:30)

That date has been kept sacred ever after and became known as the Day of Atonement. While this is the most solemn day of the year, underlying it is a joyful confidence that God will forgive the people’s sins. From several minutes before sunset on Tishri 9 until after nightfall on Tishri 10 the people afflict their souls by abstaining from food and drink, they do not wash or anoint their bodies, do not wear leather footwear, and abstain from spousal intimacy. Instead of focusing on the physical, Jews spend much of the day in the synagogue, engaged in repentance and prayer.

The Yom Kippur Service in a Modern Synagogue

PREPARING FOR THE TIME OF ATONEMENT

On the day prior to Yom Kippur, the people eat and drink in abundance. Two festive meals are eaten, one early in the day, and one just prior to the onset of Yom Kippur fast. Another special observance of the day includes requesting and receiving honey cake. This is done to acknowledge that all we have comes from God. It also gives testimony to the prayerful hope that the following year be a sweet one. Jews also ask forgiveness from anyone they may have wronged during the past year, make extra charitable donations, and ceremonially bless their children. Before sunset, women and girls light holiday candles, and everyone makes their way to the synagogue for the Kol Nidrei services.

RITUAL PRAYERS AND READINGS

There are five prayer services held in the course of Yom Kippur: Maariv, with its solemn Kol Nidrei service, on the eve of Yom Kippur; Shacharit, the morning prayer, Musaf, which includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service, Minchah, which includes the reading of the Book of Jonah. They say the Al Chet confession of sins eight times in the course of Yom Kippur, and recite Psalms every available moment. This is in compliance to the command, “In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and you shall not do any work...For on that day he shall provide atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord.  (Leviticus 16:29-30)

Most of the holiday is spent in the synagogue, in prayer. In Orthodox synagogues, services begin early in the morning (8 or 9 AM) and continue until about 3 PM. People then usually go home for an afternoon nap and return around 5 or 6 PM for the afternoon and evening services, which continue until nightfall. It is customary to wear white on Yom Kippur, which symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Is. 1:18). Some people wear a kittel, the white robe in which the dead are buried.

There are many additions to the regular liturgy. Perhaps the most important addition is the confession of the sins of the community, which is inserted into the Shemoneh Esrei (Amidah) prayer. It is important to note that all sins are confessed in the plural (we have done this, we have done that), emphasizing communal responsibility for transgressions.

Many in Israel go to the Wailing Wall, The Remaining
Western Wall of the Jerusalem Temple, to Pray During Yom Kippur

CONFESSION OF SINS

There are two basic parts of this confession. The Ashamnu contains a shorter, more general list (we have been treasonable, we have been aggressive, we have been slanderous...), the the Al Cheit is a longer and more specific list (for the sin we sinned before you forcibly or willingly, and for the sin we sinned before you by acting callously...) Frequent petitions for forgiveness are interspersed in these prayers. There's also a general confession reminiscent of the Catholic prayer, “…forgive our sins of omission and commission.” The Jewish form is, “Forgive us the breach of positive commands and negative commands, whether or not they involve an act, whether or not they are known to us.”

It is interesting to note that these confessions do not specifically address the kinds of ritual sins that some people might imagine. For instance, there is no “for the sin we have sinned before you by eating pork, and for the sin we have sinned against you by driving on Shabbat,”…though these are obviously included in the general confession. The vast majority of the sins enumerated involve mistreatment of other people, most of them by speech (offensive speech, scoffing, slander, tale-bearing, and swearing falsely, to name a few). These all come into the category of sin known as lashon ha-ra (the evil tongue), which is considered a very serious sin in Judaism.

The concluding service of Yom Kippur, known as Ne'ilah, is unique to the day. It usually runs about an hour. The ark, or cabinet where the scrolls of the Torah are kept, is left open throughout this service. Thus everyone is required to stand throughout the readings, unless physically unable to. There is a tone of desperation in the prayers of this service. The service is sometimes referred to as the closing of the gates. That is, it's the last chance to get in a good word before the holiday ends. The service ends with a very long blast of the Shofar, the tekiah gedolah. 

LOOKING AHEAD

The weeks following Rosh HaShanah are a time of feasts and festivals. The next comes just five days after Yom Kippur…the feast of Sukkoth, literally the feast of booths. One of three so-called pilgrim feasts during which the people left their homes and journeyed to Jerusalem, it was also called the Feast of Tabernacles or the Festival of Ingathering. Jesus, being an observant Jew, traveled to Jerusalem each year to observe this feast. One such instance is noted in John’s Gospel. “After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand...” (John 7:1-2) “About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.” (John 7:7:14)

Until NEXT TIME, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

ROSH HASHANAH

Sounding the Shofar at Rosh HaShanah

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

Judaism, like Christianity, has its calendar of Feasts and Festivals. And again, like Christianity, the liturgical year that governs them does not follow the secular calendar.

FROM ADAM TO THE PRESENT DAY

The term Rosh HaShanah, meaning the head of the year, is not found in the Bible. The Torah refers to the holiday as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the sounding of the Shofar). The holiday is instituted in Leviticus 23:24-25. In Ezekiel 40:1 there is a general reference to the time of Yom Kippur as the "beginning of the year", but it does not specifically refer to the holiday of Rosh HaShanah.

The Jewish ecclesiastical calendar for the year 5773 begins the first day of the month of Tishri. This corresponds to our Gregorian date of September 17^th, 2011. However, since each new day by Jewish reckoning begins at sundown, it actually starts at sundown, September 15^th. Tradition says that Tishri 1 represents either the creation of the world or the creation of man. In the second case, the creation of the world occurred five days earlier on the 25^th of Elul. Either way, the time from Adam to the present time is calculated to be 5,773 years.

HONORING THE HOLYDAY

For the Jew, no work is permitted on Rosh HaShanah. Much of the day is spent in synagogue, where the regular daily liturgy is somewhat expanded. In fact, there is a special prayer book called the machzor used for Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur because of the extensive liturgical changes for these holydays.

One of the most important observances of this holiday is hearing the sounding of the Shofar in the synagogue. A total of 100 notes are sounded each day. There are four different types of Shofar notes: tekiah, a 3 second sustained note; shevarim, three 1-second notes rising in tone, teruah, a series of short, staccato notes extending over a period of about 3 seconds; and tekiah gedolah (literally, big tekiah), the final blast in a set, which lasts 10 seconds minimum. The Shofar is not blown if the holiday falls on Shabbat.

The common greeting at this time is L'shanah tovah (for a good year). This is a shortening of L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem (or to women, L'shanah tovah tikatevi v'taihatemi), which means "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year." A term that references the coming of Yom Kippur.

BEGINNING THE HIGH HOLYDAYS

The celebration of Rosh HaShanah, which lasts either one or two days, has similarities and differences to our celebration of New Year’s Day. Although the Jews gather and celebrate, their celebration is not the all-out party we sometimes see in America. There are no midnight bashes, no Rose Parade floats, no memorial bowl games, and no ball drops in Times Square. Though in one way we are very alike; the Jews, like many Americans, make it a time of introspection, looking back on the mistakes of the past year and planning changes for the year to come.

Rosh HaShanah ushers in what are known as the High Holy Days. This ten-day period begins on Rosh HaShanah and concludes on Yom Kippor, the Day of Atonement. The belief is that this is a time of judgment for each Jewish person. The righteous have their names recorded in the Book of Life. The wicked have their names expunged, and the middle-of-the-roaders have this time in which to repent and join the righteous.

KEEPING MORE THAN ONE YEAR

Those familiar with the Hebrew Bible may notice an apparent contradiction between Rosh HaShanah, which occurs on the first day of the seventh month and the first month of the Jewish calendar Nissan, which occurs in March and April.

Judaism has several different years. At first glance this may seem strange, but it’s no different than  the American calendar New Year starting in January, while the new school year starts in September, and many businesses have fiscal years that start at various times throughout the year. In Judaism, Nissan 1 is the new year for the purpose of counting the reign of kings and months on the calendar. Elul 1 in August is the new year for the tithing of animals. Shevat 15 in February is the new year for trees which determines when first fruits can be eaten, etc., and Tishri 1, Rosh HaShanah is when the year number is increased and Sabbatical and Jubilee years begin.

The Traditional meal Begins with Apples and Honey

TRADITIONAL FOODS

All holidays, secular and religious, have certain foods associated with them. If you don’t believe this, try serving something other than turkey on Thanksgiving and see what happens. The Rosh HaShanah meal traditionally begins with apples served with honey to give the New Year a sweet start. This is a late medieval Ashkenazi addition that is now almost universally accepted.

The Ashkenazi are Jews whose history can be traced to the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region, and thus for Germany. They later migrated, forming communities in non German-speaking areas throughout Europe and the United States. Although they composed only 3 percent of the world's Jewish population in the 11th century, at their peak in 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for 92 percent of the world's Jews.

The Usual Oblong Shape of a Braided Loaf of Challah Bread

Several other traditional foods eaten during this holiday are honey cake, braised brisket of beef, and Challah. The C is silent so this rich, braided, egg bread is pronounced Hallah. Raisins, or other bits of fruit, are typically added to the Rosh HaShanah bread. It can also be formed from multiple types of dough for added variety. Rather than appearing in its typical oblong braid, the holiday Challah comes to the table formed into a round braid representing the crown of God.

The very simplest way to make a round Challah loaf is to take a round baking pan, such as a cake pan, and put about a dozen equally sized balls of dough in it. When the dough rises, it takes on the semblance of a woven loaf. You can also actually weave, or braid, the dough in increasingly complex forms. The video below offers three options; the simple circular spiral, a four-strand braid, and a cut bird applied to the Challah crown. Click Here for Video

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings

THE SAMARITAN PASSOVER

Samartin High Priest in Green

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

If you’ve been following our series of Lenten/Easter posts, you may recall the one on how the date of Easter is determined. (If you missed it, you can find it HERE.) In the post we pointed out that the Western Church adheres to the Gregorian calendar when calculating the date of Easter. In contrast, the Eastern Church uses the Julian, or Roman, calendar. Because of this difference, some years both branches of Christianity celebrate Easter on the same day and other years the dates are widely divergent.

It so happens that a similar situation exists with our Jewish brethren. This year, the Jews celebrated Passover on April 6^th, whereas the Samaritans will celebrate on May 4^th. There still exists today a small group of Samaritan Jews. These Samaritans adhere to the Torah – the first five books of the bible – but end up celebrating the Passover on a different date than the Jewish people who follow rabbinic laws. Still, one suspects the Samaritan traditions may possibly resemble the ancient traditions to a greater degree than those of the rabbinical Judaism.

Gathering the Lambs for Passover

Any reader of the Bible is surely aware of the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans in the First Century. Actually, the ill feelings between them can be traced all the way back to the lost tribes. Following Solomon's death his son, Rehoboam (Hebrew: רְחַבְעָם‎, Rehav'am, meaning “he who enlarges the people”) became  king of the United Monarchy of Israel. The ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932/931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel and invited Rehoboam's brother, Jeroboam (Hebrew: יָרָבְעָם‎, yarobh`am, meaning “he pleads the people's cause”) to be their king. Rehoboam retreated and resurrected his grandfather David’s Kingdom of Judah (in Latin Judaea).

Fast forward a couple of hundred years and the Assyrians invade the Northern Kingdom, carry away the people into captivity, and force them to intermingle with other peoples under their control. Hence, the famous lost tribes of Israel. To destroy any remnant and prevent the Jews from ever reclaiming the territory, the Assyrians moved other alien races into the area. [This is not unlike what the Chinese are currently doing by flooding Tibet with Han Chinese.] These new people eventually adopted the beliefs and practices of the Jews, becoming, in effect, converts to Judaism. Because of the method by which they came to the faith, the Jews refused to accept them and banned them from worshipping at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans responded by building their own Temple at Mt Gerizim.

All of this is back story to introduce the irony of today's post. Nearly two millennia after the destruction of Jerusalem and Herod's Temple it is the Samaritans, not the Jews, who still adhere to the old sacrificial laws. Some forty miles north of Jerusalem, an annual event occurs that transports the modern person thousands of years back in history. The Samaritan Passover has, for over two thousand years, been observed on Mt. Gerizim and Samaritans still continue to gather there to offer the sacrifices prescribed in the Torah (Pentateuch).

Preparing the Lambs

The Jewish people celebrate Passover each year, of course, but since the temple in Jerusalem was leveled by the Romans in A.D. 70, they have not offered the biblically mandated sacrifices. The Samaritans, by contrast, owed no allegiance to the Jerusalem Temple and held their sacrificial services on Mt. Gerizim. A reference in the New Testament makes this clear when the woman at the well asked Jesus if worship should be held on Mt. Gerizim or in Jerusalem (John 4:20). Excavations are now underway on the Samaritan temple that was constructed in the 4th century B.C. and destroyed in the 2nd century B.C. Even after their temple was destroyed, the Samaritans continued to offer sacrifices on Mt. Gerizim, and do so to this day.

People come from all over the world to witness the Samaritan Passover. If you can get beyond the crowds and the noise, you can almost imagine yourself back in Second Temple period and feel like you are actually present at the sacrifices as they once were. Come to think of it, keep the crowds and the noise and the experience would probably be closer to how it really was. 

The service begins at sunset. The Samaritan men dress in white garments, the leaders wear red hats, and the priests wear a distinctive turquoise-green garb. The Samaritans begin chanting and praying. When the signal is given, the head of each household reaches for his knife to slice the throat of his family’s lamb. As soon as the deed was done, the Samaritans begin celebrating. Recently, about thirty-five sheep were slain, about one for each larger family unit (no more than 600 Samaritans remain ). Then the sheep are skinned and put on a pole and carried over to one of the roasting pits to be cooked for most of the night.  

A sacrifice is a bloody process and the men end up with blood on their hands and all over their clothes. To the Samaritan or the ancient Israelite, the Mosaic statement, "the life is in the blood," must have left a profound impression of the cost of the sin which required such a sacrifice. Christians today in the sterile environment of the sanctuary may miss the benefit of understanding the gravity of sin that was such an integral part of the life of the Israelites.  

Drop by tomorrow for a special, money-saving announcement. On Friday, we’ll resume our series on Foods of the First Century with a look at salad greens and ancient recipe for Columella’s salad. 

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings. 

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THE JEWISH FEAST OF PURIM

Esther Enters to See the King in the Movie One Night With the King

Hello My Friend and Welcome. 

We take a short pause in our Lenten/Easter Posts to look at another of the Jewish Feasts  and Festivals, Purim. This celebration always begins on the 14^th day of the Jewish month of Adar…which comes in late winter or early spring. This year, Purim begins at sundown Wednesday, March 7^th , and lasts until sundown on March 8^th — Purim Day.  

THE BOOK OF ESTHER

The word Purim means lots and refers to the lottery Haman used to choose the date for the massacre of the Jews. Purim is preceded by a short fast as a memorial to Esther’s fast before she approached the king. Each year, the entire Megillah, as the book of Esther is known, is read in the synagogue on this day. 

The heroes of the story are Hadassah (Esther), a beautiful young Jewish woman living in Persia, and her older cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of Persia, to become part of his harem. However, King Ahasuerus fell in love with Esther and made her his queen not knowing that she was a Jew. At Mordecai’s urging she speaks to the king on behalf of the Jewish people, saving them from annihilation.

Hadassah’s story has been told and re-told in books and movies including the 2006 release, One Night with the King, starring Tiffany DuPont, Luke Goss, John Noble, and Omar Sharif. The picture at the top of this post is from that movie. Big Idea Productions also produced a Veggie Tales version called Esther, The Girl Who Became Queen. 

NO GOD?

The book of Esther is unusual in that it is the only book of the Bible that does not contain the name of God. In fact, it includes virtually no reference to God. Mordecai makes a vague reference to the fact that the Jews will be saved by someone else, if not by Esther, but that is the closest the book comes to mentioning God. Thus, one important message that can be gained from the story is that God often works in ways that are not apparent and appear to be chance, coincidence or ordinary good luck.

CELEBRATING WITH HAMENTASCHEN

Purim is a day of festivity, frivolity and celebration. It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations, perform plays and parodies, and hold beauty contests. Traditional Purim treats are triangular fruit-filled cookies. Known as hamentaschen, they are supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat. They are available in most Jewish delicatessens. If you’d like to try making them at home, here’s a recipe: 

Ingredients:  2/3 C butter or margarine, 1/2 C sugar, 1 egg, 1/4 C orange juice (pulp free, not pulpy), 1 C white flour, 1 C whole wheat flour (DO NOT substitute white flour. The whole wheat flour is necessary to achieve the right texture.), 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp. cinnamon.

Various preserves, fruit butters and/or pie fillings.  

Process: Cream butter and sugar together, add egg and blend thoroughly. Blend in orange juice. Combine the baking powder and cinnamon with the white flour. Add flour a ½ cup at a time, alternating white and wheat, blending thoroughly between each. Refrigerate batter overnight or at least a few hours. Roll as thin as you can without getting holes in the batter (roll it between two sheets of wax paper lightly dusted with flour for best results). Cut out 3 or 4 inch circles.  

Put a dollop of filling in the middle of each circle. Divide the circle into three equal parts and fold in the three sides to make a triangle, folding the last corner under the starting point, so that each side ends up with a corner that folds over and a corner that folds under (see picture above). Folding in this "pinwheel" style will reduce the likelihood that the last side will fall open while cooking, allowing filling to spill out. It also tends to make a better triangular shape.  

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown but before the filling boils over.  

Traditional fillings are poppy seed and prune, but apricot works well. Apple butter, pineapple preserves, and cherry pie filling also work quite well. The number of cookies this recipe makes depends on the size of your cutting tool and the thickness you roll. A 4-1/4 inch cutting tool and rolling to a medium thickness, yields 20-24 cookies.  

MODERN ECHOES OF PURIM

In the time of the Book of Esther, Haman tried to destroy the Jews. In modern times, there have been two significant figures who have threatened the Jewish people, and there are echoes of Purim in their stories.

Many have noted the echoes of Purim in the Nuremberg war crime trials. In the Book of Esther, Haman's ten sons were all hanged (Esther 9:13). In 1946, ten of Hitler's top associates were put to death by hanging for their war crimes, including the crime of murdering 6 million Jews. An 11th defendant, Hermann Göring, committed suicide the night before the execution, a parallel to the suicide of Haman's daughter recorded in the Talmud. Göring was rumored to be a transvestite, which makes the parallel even more accurate. One of the defendants seems to have been aware of this. On his way to the gallows, Julius Streicher shouted “Purim Fest 1946.”  

Another echo of Purim is found in the Soviet Union a few years later. In early 1953, Stalin was planning to deport most of the Jews in the Soviet Union to Siberia, but just before his plans came to fruition, he suffered a stroke and died a few days later. He suffered that stroke on the night of March 1, 1953…the night after Purim. However, because Jewish days end at sunset, calendars that year marked March 1^st as Purim. Stalin’s plan to deport Jews was never carried out.  

A story is told of that 1953 Purim. The Lubavitcher Rabbi led a Purim gathering and was asked to give a blessing for the Jews of the Soviet Union, who were known to be in great danger. Instead, he told a cryptic story about a man who was voting in the Soviet Union and heard people cheering for the candidate, saying, Hoorah! Hoorah! The man did not want to cheer, but was afraid to not cheer, so he said hoorah, but in his heart, he meant it in Hebrew— hu ra, which means, “he is evil.” The crowd at the 1953 gathering began chanting “hu ra!” regarding Stalin, and that night, Stalin suffered the stroke that led to his death a few days later.  

Next Monday we’ll examine the English word Easter.

Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.

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JUDAISM'S FEASTS & FESTIVALS - CHANUKAH

The Martyrdom of Channah's Seven Sons

Hello My Friend and Welcome.

In the Jewish calendar of Feasts and Festivals, we will be celebrating Chanukah this coming Wednesday. The Jewish Festival of Chanukah, or the festival of lights, begins on the eve of Kislev 25, and lasts eight days. It is the newest of the Jewish Feast and Festivals in that it was first celebrated in 165 BC. This year it begins at sundown tomorrow, December 20^th and ends December 28^th. It celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, purity over adulteration, spirituality over materiality. Chanukah memorializes events recorded in the Biblical Books, 1 & 2 Maccabees.

The Chanukah story begins with Alexander the Great. Following his untimely death, his Empire was divided among his generals. Ptolemy, for instance, took Egypt and most of the Holy Land. Seleucius took the adjoining area north and east of Ptolemy’s which included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan. Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the Parthians under Mithridates I of Parthia in the mid-2nd century BC. Seleucid kings continued to rule from Syria until their eventual overthrow by the Roman general Pompey.

ANTIOCHUS IV

About 170 years before the birth of Christ, the Jewish nation was ruled by the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV called Epiphanes, meaning “Manifest of God,” although the historian Polebius, gave him the epithet Epimanes—madman— because of his cruelty . He tried to impose Hellenistic beliefs upon the Jews. He removed their High Priest and installed his own man, Menelaus. He then marched on Egypt. When Rome overpowered Antiochus in Egypt, a rumor spread that Antiochus was dead. The former high priest, Jason, raised an army and led the people rebelled driving Menelaus him out.

Enraged by his defeat, Antiochus attacked Jerusalem and restored Menelaus. He ordered his soldiers to cut down anyone whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. They massacred young and old, killing women, children, and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost. Forty thousand met a violent death, and the same number were sold into slavery.

CHANNAH and HER SEVEN SONS

Channah and her seven sons were arrested and taken before the king. One-by-one, he ordered the sons to abandon their religion and one-by-one they refused and were killed. As they took the last boy away Channah told him, “Tell your ancestor Abraham, ‘You bound only one son upon an altar, but I bound seven.’”

YEHUDIT

Her story is told in the Book of Judith. While it is unclear whether her story took place during the war with the Seleucids, the Book of Judith is read in every Synagogue during Chanukah. Her city came under siege by a huge army. Rather than starve to death, the people appealed to their leader to surrender. The Jewish leader asked for five days before he surrendered. Meanwhile, Judith, a young widow, went meet with the general. He invited her to dinner and she fed him her homemade cheese and wine. He got drunk and passed out. In an act reminiscent of David and Goliath, she cut off his head with his own sword, put it in her picnic basket and took it to the leader of the Jews. The soldiers panicked when they realized their general was dead and the Jews defeated this army.

Judas Maccabeus Leading his Troops in Battle

ENTER THE HAMMER

Judah was the third son of Mattathias, the Hasmonean, a Jewish priest from the village of Modiin. He and his brothers led a rebellion against the Seleucids. He was a great general and defeated Antiochus’s armies though often greatly outnumbered. For this reason people began to call him Judah Maccabeus, Judah the Hammer. When the war was over, he and his family ruled the country for next100 years. His descendents are often referred to as the Maccabees or the Hasmoneans. 

 THE MIRACLE of the MENORAH

Once they were victorious, the Jews wanted to purify the Temple that the Hellenists had defiled. When they reached the Temple, they could only find one jug of oil with the high priest’s seal of purity intact.  Worse yet, there was only enough oil in the jug to last for one day. Regardless, they used it to light the menorah and this one day’s worth of oil miraculously burned for the full eight days. This miracle has been celebrated ever since as the Festival of Light, or Chanukah.

Lighting the Menorah in the Temple

CELEBRATING CHANUKAH

Chanukah commemorates an oil-based miracle, which explains why Jews eat oily foods to commemorate it. Some eat fried potato pancakes known as latkes, while others eat sufganiyot, deep-fried doughnuts. It is also customary to eat cheese since one of the greatest victories resulted from Judith feeding the enemy cheese.

During Chanukah it is also customary to give gelt (money) to children, so they can be taught the value of charity. During the Hellenistic oppression, the Greeks outlawed Torah schools, so the children had to study in the forests. They posted a sentry to alert them of patrols, and when the alert came, the children would hide their texts and start playing with dreidels (spinning tops).

By playing with a dreidel children commemorate the courage of those heroic children. A driedel is four-sided top with the letters nun נ gimmel ג hay ה and shin ש carved on its sides, which stand for the words nes gadol hayah sham―A great miracle happened here.

They also eat fried foods such as potato pancakes, latkes and deep-fried donuts, sufganiyot, and give children presents every night.

PRAYERS

Each day of Chanukah Jews recite the complete Hallel in their morning  prayer service. They also insert a special prayer of thanksgiving, V'al Hanissim, in the prayers and Grace after Meals. Every morning they read from the Torah about the inauguration offerings brought in honor of the dedication of the Tabernacle—reminiscent of the Maccabean re-dedication of the defiled Temple.

On Friday afternoon, the menorah is lit before lighting the Shabbat candles. The Friday night Chanukah candles must burn for at least 1½ hours. On Saturday night they light the menorah after dark following the Havdallah ceremony.

Tomorrow we will have our post in the Christian Writer’s Blog Chain. The topic this month is Gifts of the Heart.

Our Christmas posts will resume on Friday when we examine the events surrounding the birth of the Christ child.

Until next time, we wish you Peace and Blessings

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FEASTS AND FESTIVALS OF JUDAISM — SUKKOTH

A Backyard Sukkah Readied for the Feast of Sukkoth

Hello My Fiend and Welcome.

In the Jewish calendar of Feasts and Festivals, we are currently celebrating Sukkoth. Since the Jewish year began just a short while ago with Rosh Hashanah, this seemed like an opportune time to begin our series on the major Feasts and Festivals of Judaism.

The Festival of Sukkoth begins on Tishri 15, the fifth day after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is quite a drastic transition, from one of the most solemn holidays of the year to one of the most joyous. Sukkoth is so unreservedly joyful that it is commonly referred to in Jewish prayer and literature as Z'man Simchateinu , the Season of our Rejoicing. There is a short chapter in my novel WITNESS, in which Shemu’el and Atticus celebrate in the Sukkah of some friends. If you are interested, you can read that chapter here.

THE THREE PILGRIM FESTIVALS

Sukkoth is the last of the Shalosh R'galim (the three pilgrimage festivals). Like Pesach, or Passover, and Shavu'ot, Sukkoth has both historical and agricultural significance. Historically, Sukkoth commemorates the forty-year period which the children of Israel spent wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkoth is a harvest festival and is sometimes referred to as Chag Ha-Asif, the Festival of Ingathering.

A TENT, NOT A PHONE BOOTH

The word Sukkoth means “booths,” and refers to the temporary dwellings that Jews are commanded to live in during this holiday in memory of their period of wandering. The name of the holiday is frequently translated “Feast of Tabernacles,” which, like many translations of Jewish terms, isn't very useful. This translation is particularly misleading, because the word “Tabernacle” in the Bible refers to the portable Sanctuary in the desert, a precursor to the Temple. The Hebrew word sukkah (plural: Sukkoth) refers to the temporary tent-like booths that people lived in, not to the Tabernacle.

Sukkahs on the Balconies of Apartments in Israel

Sukkoth lasts for seven days. The two days following the festival, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, are separate holidays but are related to Sukkoth and are commonly thought of as part of Sukkoth. The festival of Sukkoth is instituted in Leviticus 23:33. No work is permitted on the first and second days of the holiday. The intermediate days on which work is permitted are referred to as Chol HaMo'ed, as are the intermediate days of Passover.

In Leviticus 23:40, which comes directly after a discussion of Sukkoth, the Torah tells us: “On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before Adonai your God seven days.”

 

The Cirton or Etrog

THE FOUR SPECIES

From this text emerged the Four Species: a citron, a palm branch, three myrtle twigs and two willow branches. During Sukkoth the four species are brought together in the form of an etrog and the lulav. The etrog is a kind of citron, while the lulav is a composed of the three myrtle twigs (hadassim), two willow twigs (aravot) and a palm frond (lulav). Because the palm frond is the largest of these plants, the myrtle and willow are wrapped around it. The Four Species are waved together as part of the synagogue service during Sukkoth. They can also be waved at home or near the sukkah.

BUILDING THE SUKKAH 

Leviticus 23:42 commands, “You will dwell in booths for seven days; all natives of Israel shall dwell in booths.” Building the sukkah can be great fun for children. It satisfies the common childhood fantasy of building a fort, and dwelling in the sukkah fulfills a child's desire to camp out in the backyard. The commandment to “dwell” in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals there; however, if the weather, climate, and one's health permit, many people sleep in them as well.  

The walls of the sukkah do not have to be solid; canvas covering tied or nailed down is quite common. A sukkah may be any size, so long as it is large enough to fulfill the commandment that a person dwell in it. They are intended to be rustic and the roof of the sukkah is made of material referred to as sekhakh (literally, covering). To fulfill the commandment, sekhakh must be something that grew from the ground and was cut down, such as tree branches, corn stalks, bamboo reeds, or sticks.

Sukkahs come as do-it-yourself kits, or they can be built from scratch. It is a common practice to decorate the sukkah. In the northeastern United States, Jews commonly hang dried squash and corn in the sukkah because these vegetables are readily available around the time of the American holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Many families hang artwork drawn by the children on the walls. Building and decorating a sukkah is a fun family project, much like decorating the Christmas tree.

Many Americans, upon seeing a sukkah for the first time, remark on how much the sukkah (and the holiday generally) reminds them of Thanksgiving. This may not be entirely coincidental. There is a tradition that the American pilgrims who originated the Thanksgiving holiday borrowed the idea from Sukkoth. It goes something like this: The pilgrims were deeply religious people. When they were trying to find a way to express their thanks for their survival and for the harvest, they looked to the Bible for an appropriate way of celebrating and found Sukkoth.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SUKKOTH AND THANKSGIVING

This, of course, is not the standard story taught in schools today, but the Sukkoth explanation of Thanksgiving fits well with the meticulous research of Mayflower historian Caleb Johnson. He believes that the original Thanksgiving was a harvest festival (as is Sukkoth), that it was observed in October (as Sukkoth usually is), and that Pilgrims would not have celebrated a holiday that was not in the Bible. Although Mr. Johnson claims that the first Thanksgiving was “not a religious holiday or observance,” he apparently means this in a traditional Christian sense. He goes on to say that the first Thanksgiving was instead “a harvest festival that included feasts, sporting events, and other activities.” All of these concepts are very much in keeping with the Jewish observance of Sukkoth.

THE BOOK OF QOHELETH

In modern Judaism, the Book of Qoheleth is read during the Feast of Sukkoth. It is known to most Christians as the Book of Ecclesistes...from its Greek name. The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title, Qoheleth, (usually translated as teacher or preacher), introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem. Could it be Solomon, perhaps?

THE GREAT HOSHANAH

The four species are also held and waved during the Hallel prayer in religious services at the Synagogue, and are held during processions around the bimah, the pedestal from which the Torah is read. These processions commemorate similar processions around the altar of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. This part of the service is known as Hoshanot, because while the procession is made, a prayer is recited with the refrain, “Hoshanah!” (Please save us!). On the seventh day of Sukkoth, seven circuits are made. For this reason, the seventh day of Sukkoth is known as Hoshanah Rabbah or the great Hoshanah.

After the circuits on Hoshanah Rabbah, they beat the willow branches against the floor five times, shaking loose some or all of the remaining leaves. A number of explanations are offered for this unusual practice, but the primary reason seems to be agricultural. The rainy season in Israel begins in the fall, and the leaves falling from the willow branch symbolize the desire for beneficial rainfall.

Most Christians immediately recognize the phrase Hoshanah. How did it move from Jewish usage to Christian usage? Certainly part of the answer lies in Christianity’s Jewish roots. Hosanna was an exclamation of joy and triumph. Like all acclamations in frequent use, it lost its primary meaning and became a kind of hurrah of joy, triumph, and exultation. The Gospels seem to indicate that it was in this manner that it was uttered by the crowd on Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donley. It was with this indefinite meaning that the word hosanna passed into the liturgies of the Early Church, a position it has retained ever since. Hosanna is found in some of the Church’s earliest documents such as the Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions.

Until the next time, We wish you Peace and Blessings.