Festivals and Holidays

   669. Within the Hebrew calendar there are twelve months of the year, just like our modern calendar. However, the Hebrews calendar starts in Tishri (September). The other months of the year are Heshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar, Nisan. Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, and Elul.

   670. Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the Hebrew year and is celebrated as we celebrate New Year's Day. Numbers 29:1 and Leviticus 23:24 explain the celebration in detail; typically the holiday falls in mid-September.

   671. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and comes on the tenth day of Tishri (Lev. 16:29; 23:27). The day falls toward the end of September.

   672. Succoth, or the feast of Tabernacles or Booths, is celebrated the week of the fifteenth to the twenty-second of Tishri, concluding with a Solemn Assembly (Lev. 23:34-36).

   673. Solemn Assembly comes on the twenty-second day of Tishri (Lev. 23:36) and falls in our month of October.

   674. Dedication (Hanukkah) is celebrated in the month of Kislev, on the twenty-fifth day (John 10:22).

   675. Purim is celebrated in the month of Adar on the fourteenth and fifteenth days. The month falls between February and March. Purim commemorates the events of the Book of Esther (Esther 9:18-22). Therefore, it is not mentioned in Leviticus.

   676. Esther's triumph is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim, a joyous festival to commemorate the Jews' deliverance from Haman while they lived under Persian rule. Since the time of the exile, Jews have observed this feast in recognition of God's continued deliverance of His people. As the Book of Esther is being read, each time the name of Haman is read, the listeners yell out, "Let his name be blotted out!" The names of Haman's sons are all read in one breath, to emphasize the fact that they were all hanged at the same time.

   677. The bitter herbs for the celebration of the Passover mentioned in Numbers 9:11 may have included chicory, wild lettuce, and several plants whose leaves were gathered for use in salads; but they were most likely dandelions. Though we find them invading lawns in many parts of the world, the dandelion's original home was in the lands bordering the Mediterranean.

   678. Pesach, or Passover, is celebrated on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which falls on our Palm Sunday, and can be in March or April depending on the year. Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 explain the commemorative reasons in more detail.

   679. The Feast of Unleavened Bread comes between the fifteenth and twenty-first days of the month of Nisan. This commemorates the Israelites' time in the desert and the food they were to eat-unleavened bread (Lev. 23:6).

   680. The Waving of the Sheaf of Firstfruits celebrates the firstfruits of harvest (Lev. 23:10) and falls on the seventeenth day of Nisan, somewhere between March and April of our calendar year. It is just two days past the celebration called the Passover.

   681. Shavuoth, or Pentecost, is held in the month of Sivan, on the sixth day. It is also known as the Feast of Weeks (Lev. 23:15).