Shabbat:  For six days, we work in the world and try to change it for the better.  On the seventh day, we cease our work and rest.  For six days, we work to support ourselves and our families.  On the seventh day, we rest, study Torah, enjoy our family and friends and offer our thanks.  Shabbat is God’s gift to us all.

Rosh HaShanah: The New Year, the birthday of the world. We spend the two days of Rosh HaShanah in synagogue thanking God for our world.  We share meals with friends.  (Round challah, apples and honey symbols of renewal and sweetness are traditional Rosh HaShanah treats.)  This holiday is marked by the sound of the shofar, a wake-up call letting us know the Days of Awe and Wonder are underway. On Rosh Hashanah, we reflect on what we have done and what we have left undone. We reflect on how we have acted towards others. We look for and offer forgiveness in preparation for Yom Kippur.  We spend the days between Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur trying to repair broken relationships.

Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement is a day of fasting, introspection and communal prayer.  This is our opportunity to look at those things we did (or didn’t do) for which we are sorry.  We humbly ask forgiveness in the warmth of community and in the privacy of our hearts.  When the day ends, we are cleansed, ready for new beginnings.  It is customary to break the fast with family and friends.

Sukkot:  One of the three Shalosh Regalim (Pilgrimage Festivals) Sukkot ceebrated the final harvest, as well as the end of the Days of Awe and Wonder. We once again contemplate the frailty of life as we “live” in the sukkot, the temporary dwellings our biblical ancestors used. We use the lulav and etrog, we sing Hallel, and we rejoice in the blessings we have once again been given.

Simchat Torah:  We celebrate the end and immediate beginning of the Torah reading cycle. We take this moment to celebrate the Torah, tying the beginning of the new year to the beginning of the Torah. This is one of the most joyful times of the year: we parade and dance with the Torah and with each other.

Chanukah: The Festival of Lights is a celebration of the miraculous, as well as resistance to tyranny and oppression.  We celebrate the victory of Jews who fought back and won against the Seleucid Greek empire, bent on assimilating the Jews to its way of life.  We recall the miracle of the cruse of oil that burned for eight days, as well as the rededication of the Holy Temple. During the eight nights of Chanukah, we eat latkes and jelly donuts. We also sing and we pray with gratitude and joy.  We light candles on each of the eight nights, beginning with one candle and ending up with a full menorah of eight blazing candles.

Purim: Jewish Carnival!  We celebrate Haman’s foiled attempt to wipe out the Jews of Sushan, as well as Esther and Mordechai’s heroism. We chant Megillat Esther, parade in costumes, and generally have a loud and fun time. We eat hamentaschen, a delicious three-cornered pastry with fruit filling, as well as giving gift baskets for our friens, mishloach manot, and giving charity, tzedakkah, to the poor.

Pesach:  One of the three Pilgrimage festivals, Pesach celebrates the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.  For eight days, we don’t eat anything made with yeast or any other leavening.  Moreover, prior to Pesach, we clean our homes of all leavened products.  We are commanded to eat Matzah, the unleavened bread that reminds us of the bread of affliction our ancestors ate when they were slaves in Egypt.  During the Seder, the ritual Pesach meal, we retell the story of the Exodus, and each of us focuses on how we have been personally freed from slavery.

Shavuot: One of the three Pilgrimage Festivals.  When the Temple stood, this was the holiday of the first fruits of the harvest which were offered as sacrifices to God.  Today, Shavuot celebrates the revelation of the Torah at Har Sinai.  Traditionally, we stay up all night learning Torah. During morning services, we read, as part of the Torah portion, the Aseret haDibrot (also known as the Ten Commandments).  Shavuot meals are traditionally dairy meals eaten with family and friends.