Religious Holidays, Jerusalem

Rehearsal for an easter passion at the Christian quarter in the old city of Jerusalem. I saw this walking on the rooftops of the old city.
See the Christian quarter travelogue for more.

Chanukka is an eight days Jewish holiday in which candles are lighted every night. starting with one, adding one each day, until there are eight candles in the last day. As, like the other Jewish holidays, it follows the Jewish lunar calendar, there is no fixed date for Chanukka. Anyway, it is usually falls in the end of December. One of the nicest trips in Jerusalem is walking the old neighborhoods at night looking at all the lights. Tradition dictates that the lights should be visible from the outside, so they are usually put on the window or out of the door. Good places to see the lights will be the Nachlaot area, or the more religious parts around Mea She'Arim. See more at the travelogue.

HANUKKAH: Feast of Lights, an 8-day holiday, usually in December, around Christmas time, celebrating the victory of the "few against the many": The Jews, led by Judah Maccabee, drove out the Syrian occupiers of Jerusalem and the Temple in 167 BCE. When the Temple was cleansed and rededicated, only a small jug of ritually pure oil was found to light the candelabra. The quantity was sufficient for one day, but miraculously lasted for eight. So a special Hanukkah menorah called a "hanukkiah" that holds eight candles plus an extra one (the "shamash," used to light the others), is placed on a windowsill where people outside can see it, (to "publicize" the miracle) and one candle is lit every night, until there are eight. This is not a Sabbath-like holiday, which means everything is open and transportation operates as usual. Kids are off from school that week. In Israel, it is traditional to eat jelly doughnuts, although the idea is to eat something fried in oil -especially latkes - potato pancakes, topped with sour cream or applesauce. In a spin-off of Christmas, the children get presents or Hanukkah gelt (money). Another feature of the holiday is the Hanukkah top - "sevivon" in Hebrew, "dreidel" in Yiddish." It used to be a simple wooden affair with Hebrew letters on each side but nowadays there are souped-up battery-powered versions.

(For more on dreidels, see the custom tips on my Israel page).

TISHA B’AV (the Ninth of Av), which comes out in July-August is a kind of catch-all day for tragedies in Jewish history. According to the Talmud (Ta’anit 26b), five calamities befell the Jews on this day:

1) The Israelites were denied entry to the Promised Land.
2) The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians (568 CE).
3) The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans (70 CE).
4) The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed and the city of Betar - the Jews’ last stand against the Romans - was captured and liquidated (135 CE).
5) The Roman emperor, Hadrian, plowed up Jerusalem and turned it into a pagan city – Aelia Capitolina - which the Jews were forbidden to enter.

Other catastrophic events said to have taken place on this date were the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492); the outbreak of World War I (1914), when Germany declared war on Russia; and the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, en route to Treblinka (1942).

Today, Tisha B’av has become a day for soul-searching, for thinking about why these tragedies happened.

This is a fast day, similar in many respects to Yom Kippur, but not as strict. Some people only fast half a day. It is not a Sabbath-like day: Stores are open and public transportation operates as usual. For three weeks leading up to Tisha B’av, very religious people will avoid swimming, going to the movies or having haircuts. On the nine days before the fast, it is customary not to eat meat.

Before sundown, a dairy meal (“se’uda mafseket”) is eaten. As night falls, the Book of Lamentations – Eicha – is read out in synagogues around the country, as worshipers sit on the floor or on low stools. Leather footwear is not worn. It is customary to hold the service in semi-darkness, using candles for illumination. In Jerusalem, hordes of people head for the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Temple, to recite Lamentations there.

Some more offbeat places for donning “sackcloth and ashes” are the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mt. Zion and Yitzhak Rabin’s gravesite on Mt. Herzl.

YOM KIPPUR: Day of Atonement, celebrated 10 days after Rosh Hashanah. The whole country comes to a standstill - no shops are open, no public transportation, no cars in the street apart from ambulances, airports are shut down, no radio broadcasts or TV programs (unless you have cable). Special features: Fasting from sundown on the eve of Yom Kippur until the following evening. Religious people (and even many of those who are not) spend the whole day in the synagogue, usually with a break at mid-day.

It is customary to wear white on the eve of Yom Kippur (white= purity). Leather shoes are not worn, bearing in mind that a living creature gave its life for them. Instead, you will see a variety of interesting footwear, from beach thongs to cloth slippers and sneakers, which can look a little odd paired up with fancy suits and dresses.

Many synagogues require advance purchase of a ticket if you want to insure yourself a seat. A long blast of the shofar at the last service marks the end of Yom Kippur and people rush home to eat. All of a sudden the streets fill with cars and the news comes on - and it's back to normal.

One of the weirder customs associated with Yom Kippur is "kapparot." Today it is mainly practiced by the ultra-Orthodox. They hold a live chicken or rooster in their right hand, recite a prayer( "Zot kapparati" - This is my atonement) and swing it around their head three times. The poor bird is a kind of stand-in for man's sins. The chicken is then slaughtered and given to the needy.

Nowadays, many people practice a "sanitized" version of this ritual. They place money in a handkerchief, swing it around their heads and donate it to charity.

SHAVU'OT

Shavu'ot (Feast of Weeks or Pentecost) comes out exactly 50 days after Passover, on the 6th of Sivan, in late May or early June. Also called "Hag Habikurim" - holiday of the first fruits - it was the day that farmers brought the best of their harvest to the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering. Shavu'ot also celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Again, it is a Sabbath-like holiday that begins and ends at sundown (no stores open, no public transportation).

What I love most about this holiday is the tradition of eating milk products. Cheeses of every kind are on sale. Cheesecake and blintzes - sweet cheese crepes - are popular dishes. White clothing is traditional, and you will see little children wearing wreaths of flowers on their heads and carrying small baskets of fruits and vegetables to kindergarten before the holiday. Synagogues and homes are decked the greenery. The Book of Ruth, with its agricultural themes, is read out in the synagogue.

On the eve of Shavu'ot, it is customary to stay up and study all night long at a "Tikkun." Many synagogues organize a marathon of lectures and classes (with refreshments) for those who are willing to give up some shut-eye. Keep your eyes peeled: According to tradition, the sky opens up at precisely 12 midnight. The trouble is, you always seem to blink just at that second...

LAG BA'OMER

The 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, which begins on the second day of Passover. "Omer" was a barley offering in the Temple in ancient times. From Passover, 49 days are counted until Shavuot, which falls on the 50th day. This is a semi-mourning period in which very religious Jews do not shave, cut their hair or get married. According to tradition, Lag Ba'omer marked the end of an epidemic that killed 24,000 disciples of the famous Rabbi Akiva, who was illiterate until the age of 40. This was said to be punishment for the students' lack of respect for one another. Anyway, the 33rd day of the Omer became a day of celebration. Bonfires and picnics are customary. Buses run as usual and the shops are open, but schools are closed so the kids can go out and have fun. For weeks ahead of time, you will see children dragging old boards, crates and bits of lumber to the place where they plan to light their bonfire. When it gets dark, the smell of fires burning spreads over the city. The biggest to-do is in Meron, the burial place of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai near Safed. Thousands of people flock to the site to dance and sing around a giant bonfire.
Many religious people don't cut their children's hair until they're 3 - the age when they supposedly begin studying Torah. Lag Ba'omer is when they get their curls snipped off...

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PESAH

Passover, a spring festival celebrated in April (more or less coinciding with Easter) marks the exodus of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. It is a week-long holiday that requires rigorous advance preparation. The house must be throroughly cleaned to remove every speck of "hametz" - bread, cake, cookies, anything containing flour, actually any food product opened before the holiday. It is a kind of spring-cleaning, but multiplied beyond anything you've seen in any other culture...The cleaning countdown in some houses begins the moment Purim is over. The highlight of the holiday is the seder - a festive dinner on the first night of Passover (and outside of Israel, also on the second), at which the "haggadah" is read and a whole slew of special rituals are carried out. Bread is not eaten throughout the holiday, replaced by flat cracker-like squares of matza. The seder can take several hours,
and often ends after midnight. It is customary to invite guests and share the meal with others - both family and strangers. Four cups of wine are drunk and a variety symbolic foods are eaten (explanations are provided in the haggadah).

In terms of getting around, only the first day and the last day of the holiday are Sabbath-like. The other days, shops are open (not bakeries and pastry shops, though) and buses run. The children are off from school , the weather is usually springy and the countryside is in full bloom. So many people pack a matza picnic and head for the great outdoors.