Article Discussion: Jewish Holidays Cheat Sheet

[Unregistered]

I am teaching on Esther to my Kindergartners for the next four weeks and was curious on dates.  I am not Jewish so I am not familiar with any holidays but I looked up Purim expecting it to be celebrated on the 14th or 15th of December, can you please educate me on the significance of the dates?  Thank you

[Benjamin Maron]

Purim is celebrated in the spring. The Hebrew date is Adar 14, which usually falls in March by our calendar. (In specific places, according to ancient rules, the holiday is celebrated on Adar 15 instead.)

If you let us know why you thought it would be December, we might be able to help explain that.

You can find more of our Purim resources here.

I hope this helps.

[Unregistered]

Yom Teruah (The day of sounding) is the holiday the Christians refer to as the Feast of Trumpets.  

[Unregistered]

I'm an african american and really do not know about the jewish tradition, but it is always nice to learn about other religions, I have been seeing the men in my neighborhood carrying a long stem plant wrapped in plastic for the past couple of days is this a tradition or some sort of religious activity? just curious

[Ed Case]

You're seeing people carrying a lulav which is used during the holiday of Sukkot. Check out our video to learn more about it: http://www.interfaithfamily.com/holidays/sukkot/Shake_It_For_Sukkot_Video.shtml

[belinda]

what are the names of all the months in the jewish calendar and does this date back to the bibical days?

[Benjamin Maron]

Only four months were given a name in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh); none of those names are used today. The Hebrew months are:

Nisan (was known as "Aviv" - various places in the book of Exodus), Iyar (called "Ziv" in 1 Kings), Sivan, Tamuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei (called Etanim in 1 Kings), Marcheshvan (called Bul in 1 Kings), Kislev, Tevet, Shvat, and Adar.

[Unregistered]

Thank you! This was so incredibly helpful. I am a clueless Gentile and I want to say the right thing and be considerate to Jewish colleagues observing holidays. It's not always easy to find all this information explained in a down-to-earth, easy to understand way. Thank you so much!

[Unregistered]

what is the date YEAR ...2011
5772??
as I reviewed calendars could not discover YEAR???

[Benjamin Maron]

According to the Hebrew calendar, the year starts in the fall (with Rosh Hashanah). As a result, the year 2011 (of the Gregorian calendar) overlaps with both the year 5771 and 5772. It's currently 5772.

[Unregistered]

Thank you, for the great info. I love the site. Are there any known short plays that incorporate the story of Purim? We want to have the kids "act out" the story. Let us know.

[Unregistered]

You all have great holidays! I work in an area with a large Jewish (Orthodox) population, and love to see entire families walking to the Synagogue.

[Debbie B.]

To the author of reply #40 above:

The classic Purim play is called a "Purim shpiel". Here is a webpage about the Purim shpiel which lists links to several "Scripts for Purim Plays" at the bottom: http://judaism.about.com/od/purim/a/purim_play.htm

At my synagogue (and many others), every year a group of members composes a new Purim shpiel. At my congregation, it is usually done as a farcical musical based loosely on the Purim story, but interweaving stories from our congregation and current world events in a humorous way. They use well-known songs from musicals and change some of the words. On the evening of Purim, after the reading of Megillat Esther, this play is performed for the entertainment of the congregation. One year, my children were part of an all-children's shpiel that they wrote and performed completely on their own---the children ranged from ages 7-11. It was better than the adult shpiel that year!

[Anna]

I am a christian but I observe the Shabbat

[Dan]

I just put up a profile on JDate and I wanted to catch up on everything I've forgotten since the dreaded days I had to go to Hebrew School, prior to my Bar Mitzvah... I think I'm prepared for a date!! Happy passover, and thank you Ruth for putting together such a simple yet thorough review of the Jewish traditions   = )