time in the (rabbinic)

Jewish calendar

WEEKLY TIME

Sabbath (Shabbat)

literally, "day of rest"

every seventh day (Saturday) is sanctified

ANNUAL (YEARLY) TIME

The Jewish Calendar

Counts from the creation of the world (2005-2006 CE = 5766)

 

solar-lunar calendar (12 lunar months + a "leap month" every few years)

Pilgrimage Festivals

Fall: Sukkot ("Booths")

Spring: Pesach ("Passover")

Summer: Shavuot ("Weeks")

Contemporary Practices

Sukkot: build temporary structures on houses

 

Pesach: ritual meal (seder), ritual stories, prayers, songs (haggadah)

Shavuot: dairy luncheon

Commemoration of:

Sukkot: wandering in the desert after Exodus

 

Pesach: freedom from slavery in Egypt, Exodus

 

Shavuot: reception of the Torah
 

Other "historical" holidays

New Year’s Day & Day of Atonement (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur): birth of the world

Ninth of Ab (Fast for Destructions of the temple)

Hanukkah (Rededication of the temple)

Life Cycle Events in Judaism

birth: circumcision (for males)

puberty: Bar Mitzvah ("son of the commandment")

marriage: Kiddushin ("sanctification")

death: Shiva (seven days of ritualized mourning)