CELEBRATING JEWISH HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
AT CONGREGATION EMANU-EL

Our Reform Congregation celebrates and/or observes the many holidays and festivals that make up the Jewish yearly calendar.

NOTE: All of our events and services are open to the non-member public, visitors, families, groups, and anyone new to our community and/or rituals. However, we do require that you call the WJCC office to talk to our Office Administrator and they will put you in touch with a rabbi so you can talk with them to coordinate your attendance.

An introduction to the Jewish Calendar is available here: www.jewfaq.org/jewish-calendar

The dates of the Jewish holidays are here: www.myjewishlearning.com/article/calendar-of-major-jewish-holidays

NOTE: Most of the text content below is copied verbatim from ReformJudaism.org’s website. My Jewish Learning.com is also an excellent non-denominational informational source.

5784 HOLIDAY DATES

  • SELICHOT - September 9, 2023

  • ROSH HASHANAH - 5784 -September 16 - September 17, 2023

  • KOL NIDRE - September 24, 2023

  • YOM KIPPUR - September 25, 2023

  • SUKKOT First Days - September 30 - October 1, 2023

  • SHEMINI ATZERET - October 7, 2023

  • SIMCHAT TORAH - October 8, 2023

  • HANUKKAH -

    • First Candle: December 7, 2023

    • December 8-15, 2023

  • TU B’SHEVAT - January 25, 2024

  • PURIM -

    • Megillah Reading: March 23, 2024

    • Purim: March 24, 2024

  • PASSOVER -

    • First Seder: April 22, 2024

    • Passover: April 23-30, 2024

  • YOM HASHOAH - May 6, 2024

  • YOM HA’ATZMA’UT - May 14, 2024

  • LAG BA’OMER -

  • SHAVUOT - June 12-13, 2024

  • TISHAH B'AV - August 13, 2024


MAJOR HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

Selichot -
Reform congregations have developed beautiful and meaningful programs for the observance of Selichot on Saturday evening prior to Rosh Hashanah. This often includes a study program about the themes of repentance and forgiveness. Often our congregation or community will sponsor a “Scholar in Residence” program of learning, prayer, and introspection.

In addition to the Selichot service, a meaningful ritual of changing the Torah covers to those specifically designed for the High Holidays often precedes the service. The special covers are usually white, representing purity and the wish that, through repentance, our sins will be made white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/rosh-hashanah/what-selichot
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/rosh-hashanah


Rosh Hashanah -
Both a time for great celebration and introspection, Rosh Hashanah recognizes a year concluded and a year began and encourages us to look inside ourselves. While Rosh Hashanah is called "the" Jewish New Year - it is not the only Jewish New Year. Even the timing of the holiday (the first day of the seventh month of the year) is fodder for discussion. 

Our congregation, consistent with North American Reform custom, marks Rosh Hashanah as a one-day occasion. We hold Erev (eve of) and morning Rosh services. We conclude our services with traditional apples and honey and then invite our congregation to join us at the Great Plains Nature Center later that afternoon for another tradition of Rosh Hashanah, Tashlich. 

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/rosh-hashanah
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/rosh-hashanah


Kol Nidre -
The Yom Kippur holiday begins with a Kol Nidre service as the sun sets and prayer services continue the next morning and are held almost continuously until sunset again, culminating in the Neilah service.

www.myjewishlearning.com/article/kol-nidrei
www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-happens-on-erev-yom-kippur-the-night-before-the-holiday


Yom Kippur - In 2022, Yom Kippur begins at sunset on Tuesday, Oct. 4, and ends at sundown on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
An annual day of fasting, atonement, prayer, and repentance, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Reform Jewish year. A day where all observant Jews will recommit their mind, body, and soul to reconcile with G-d. Yom Kippur is also a day when we look at each other, and ourselves, and apologize for our wrongdoings and sins and ask - and, when we can, grant forgiveness to each other and ourselves.

Our congregation starts Yom Kippur with the traditional Kol Nidre service on the eve of Yom Kippur and spends the day of Yom Kippur with morning services, a children's service, and meditation/group discussion, and then an afternoon with various services. The day culminates with our annual BREAK THE FAST - a full meal generously sponsored by our Sisterhood and membership. 

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/yom-kippur
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/yom-kippur


Sukkot-First Days -
Sukkot begins five days after Yom Kippur. Sukkot, a Hebrew word meaning “booths” or “huts,” refers to the annual Jewish festival of giving thanks for a bountiful fall harvest and commemorates the 40 years of Jewish wandering in the desert after the giving of the Torah atop Mt. Sinai. It is observed for seven days by Israelis and many Reform Jews and for eight days by other Jews living outside Israel.

There are two additional symbols associated with Sukkot that are historically based – the lulav and the etrog. Lulav is a Hebrew word meaning “palm branch” and refers to a unique ceremonial object associated with Sukkot. Lulav also is a generic term that describes a three-sectioned holder with a single palm branch in the center, two willow branches on the left, and three myrtle branches on the right. Etrog is a Hebrew word meaning “citron,” and refers to the special lemon-like fruit used together with the lulav in the Sukkot ritual.

As part of the biblical celebration of Sukkot, Leviticus 23:40 commands: “On the first day, you shall take the fruit of a goodly tree [literally, “etrog”], palm branches, myrtle boughs, and willows, and rejoice before Adonai.” With this passage, we know that the use of the lulav and etrog originated in biblical times. Over time, the combination of citron, palm, myrtle, and willow also became known as the arbaah minim (“four species”).

www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/sukkot


Shemini Atzeret - October 17, 2022,Simchat Torah - October 18, 2022
On the eighth day of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret is traditionally a separate festival in its own right. In Reform congregations, which generally observe one day of holidays rather than two, Shemini Atzeret is observed concurrently with Simchat Torah, the festival of “rejoicing in the Torah.”

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/shmini-atzeret-and-simchat-torah
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/shemini-atzeretsimchat-torah


Hanukkah -
Hanukkah (also commonly spelled as Chanukah, Hannukah, Hannukkah, or Channukah) means “dedication” in Hebrew. The festival lasts eight days every year but, because it is based on the Hebrew calendar, is not celebrated on the same dates each year. Hanukkah marks the victory of the Maccabees over the armies of Syria and the liberation of Jews and rededication of the (second) Temple in Jerusalem.

Since the Maccabee triumph in 165 B.C.E., Hanukkah and how it is marked by Reform Jews has evolved. Our Congregation hosts an annual dinner/party and encourages families to recognize the Festival of Lights in their own homes. Hanukkah centers around the lighting of the hanukkiah, a special menorah for Hanukkah; foods prepared in oil including latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts); and special songs and games.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/hanukkah
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/hanukkah


Tu B’shevat -
Tu B’shevat or the "New Year of the Trees" is Jewish Arbor Day. The holiday is observed on the 15th (tu) of the Hebrew month of Shvat. Scholars believe that originally Tu B’shevat was an agricultural festival, marking the emergence of spring. In the 17th century, Kabbalists created a ritual for Tu B’shevat that is similar to a Passover seder and, today, many Jews hold a modern version of the Tu B’shevat seder each year. The holiday also has become a tree-planting festival in Israel, in which Israelis and Jews around the world plant trees in honor or in memory of loved ones and friends.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tu-bishvat
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/more-holidays/tu-bshevat


Purim -
With celebrations including costumes, skits and songs, noisemakers, and gifts of food, Purim is definitely full of fun! Purim is a joyous holiday that affirms and celebrates Jewish survival and continuity throughout history. The main communal celebration involves a public reading, usually in the synagogue, of the Book of Esther (M'gillat Esther), which tells the story of the holiday: Under the rule of King Ahashverosh, Haman, the king's adviser, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of Persia from destruction. The reading of the megillah typically is a rowdy affair, punctuated by booing and noise-making when Haman's name is read aloud.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/purim
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/purim


Passover -
Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is a major Jewish spring festival celebrating freedom and family as we remember the Exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. The main observances of this holiday center around a special home service called the seder, which includes a festive meal, the prohibition on eating chametz, and the eating of matzah.

On the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, Jews gather with family and friends in the evening to read from a book called the Haggadah, meaning "telling," which contains the order of prayers, rituals, readings, and songs for the Passover seder. The Haggadah helps us retell the events of the Exodus, so that each generation may learn and remember this story that is so central to Jewish life and history.

Passover is celebrated for either seven or eight days, depending on family and communal custom. In Israel and for most Reform Jews around the world, Passover is seven days, but for many other Jews, it is eight days.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/passover
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/passover


Yom HaShoah -
Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, occurs on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan. Shoah, which means “catastrophe” or “utter destruction” in Hebrew, refers to the atrocities that were committed against the Jewish people during World War II. This is a memorial day for those who died in the Shoah. The Shoah is also known as the Holocaust, from a Greek word meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Holocaust was the largest manifestation of antisemitism in recent history. Yom HaShoah reminds us of the horrors that Jews and other persecuted groups faced: forced labor, starvation, humiliation, and torture, which often resulted in death. It was a systematic effort to wipe out an entire population from the face of the earth.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/yom-hashoah
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/more-holidays/yom-hashoah


Yom HaZikaron, Yom Ha’atzma’ut -
Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, four new holidays have been added to the Jewish calendar – Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day), Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day), and Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day, which celebrates the reunification of the city in 1967). In Israel, these days are observed as national holidays; around the world, they are observed in various ways by Jewish communities. The Israeli Knesset (parliament) established the day that precedes Yom HaAtzmaut as Yom HaZikaron, a day to memorialize soldiers who lost their lives fighting in the War of Independence and subsequent battles, as well as a day to remember civilian victims of terrorism.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/yom-hazikaron-yom-haatzmaut
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/more-holidays/yom-hazikaron
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/more-holidays/yom-haatzmaut


Lag BaOmer -
Lag BaOmer is a minor festive holiday that falls on the 33rd day of the seven-week period between Passover and Shavuot, a period of time is known as the Omer. (The numerical value of the Hebrew letter lamed is 30, and the value of gimel is three; lamed and gimel together are pronounced “lahg.”) The Omer has both agricultural and spiritual significance: it marks both the spring cycle of planting and harvest, and the Israelites’ journey out of slavery in Egypt (Passover) and toward receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai (Shavuot). An omer (“sheaf”) is an ancient Hebrew measure of grain. Biblical law forbade any use of the new barley crop until after an omer was brought as an offering to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Book of Leviticus (23:15-16) also commanded: “And from the day on which you bring the offering…you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete.” This commandment led to the practice of the S’firat HaOmer, or the 49 days of the "Counting of the Omer,” which begins on the second day of Passover and ends with the celebration of Shavuot on the 50th day.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/lag-baomer
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/more-holidays/lag-bomer


Shavuot -
The festival of Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and encourages us to embrace the Torah’s teachings and be inspired by the wisdom Jewish tradition has to offer. Shavuot is the Hebrew word for “weeks,” and the holiday occurs seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot, like many other Jewish holidays, began as an ancient agricultural festival that marked the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. In ancient times, Shavuot was a pilgrimage festival during which Israelites brought crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, it is a celebration of Torah, education, and the choice to participate actively in Jewish life.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/shavuot
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/shavuot


Tishah B'Av -
Tishah B'Av, observed on the 9th (tishah) of the Hebrew month of Av, is a day of mourning the destruction of both ancient Temples in Jerusalem. Liberal Judaism never has assigned a central religious role to the ancient Temple, so mourning the destruction of the Temple may not be particularly meaningful to liberal Jews. In modern times, many Jews understand Tishah B'Av as a day to remember many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people throughout history and to reflect on the suffering that still occurs in our world.

www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tishah-bav
www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/more-holidays/tisha-bav