The faith of the people on the occasion of their departure from Egypt, the foundational event of Israel, has two aspects. On the one hand, the biblical text ...

On the one hand, the Torah refers to Yom Kippur as a day of self-denial (Leviticus 16:29,31; 23:27,32; Numbers 29:7), and, on the other hand, as the day on w...

There are two essential concepts at the heart of the holyday of Rosh Hashana: Judgment and Re-creation. At the beginning of each new year, according to Jewis...

According to Jewish tradition, the destruction of the first temple in Jerusalem, like the second, occurred on the same day, the ninth of the month of Av (Mis...

Shavuot is described in the Torah as an agricultural holiday. On the second day of Passover, the feast of spring (Deuteronomy 16: 1), the barley harvest bega...

The identity of the Jewish people is determined by everything that happened to our ancestors in Egypt, their process of liberation by God, their wandering th...

Purim is a very peculiar holiday. Judaism teaches to avoid excessive behaviors, but on Purim it is a mitzwah to overindulge with alcoholic beverages (Shulcha...

The book of 2 Maccabees is one of the most important sources to understand the meaning of the Chanukah festival (“Dedication” in Hebrew) and its rituals. In ...

The festival of Sukkot is celebrated over seven days, but the Torah adds an “eighth day” of joy to it: “Shemini Atzeret” (an expression that could be transla...

What is the meaning of the celebration of Sukkot? The question seems unnecessary since there is a biblical paragraph that gives a very explicit explanation: ...

Yom Kippur is the most important day in the Jewish calendar. Since biblical times it was dedicated as the time when in response to a ritual performed by only...

Biblical festivals are generally related to the seasonal events on the ancient agricultural calendar in the land of Israel: Pesach with the beginning of the ...