Lesson video

Hi, everyone, my name is Rabbi London and today we're going to learn about Jewish festivals.

Before we get started, I'd like you to, to turn off any apps or notifications, and to end any conversations you might be in the middle of if you're able to, and try to find a place where you're going to have the least amount of distractions.

Today we're going to learn about the Jewish festivals.

Mainly, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, and the festival of Passove, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt.

Today you're going to need a pen or pencil and some paper or something to write on and something to write with.

If you don't have these things ready with you, press pause, get what you need, and then press play when you're ready to begin.

So let's start off with the Jewish year.

The Jewish calendar is a Lunar Calendar, meaning that it follows the phases of the moon.

Most Jewish years have 12 months, and each month have 29 or 30 days.

And every few years, there is an extra month so the holidays will always fall around the same time each year.

Jewish holidays are based on the Jewish calendar day, which is why if you look, it might seem like every year the Jewish holidays are in a different day.

Well, that's because they're going by the lunar calendar which changes a little bit differently than the solar calender.

We're going to talk about Rosh Hashanah which happens in the Jewish month of Tishrei.

Tishrei is the first month of the Jewish year.

I like you now to pause for about two minutes and thinking write in full sentences.

What are things you do to celebrate the New Year? And when do you celebrate the New Year? Press play to resume when you're finished.

I'm very curious about what you do to celebrate New Years.

When I think about the new year for myself, I think of many different New Years.

Whether that is January 1, the start of the calendar year, or I think about my birthday, or the start of a school year.

Rosh Hashanah is a another New Year.

It literally means in Hebrew, the head of the year, and it's the Jewish New Year.

It usually takes place sometime between September and October.

As two main ideas.

One, it celebrates and commemorates the creation of the world.

According to many Jewish opinions, and rabbis from the Talmud, this was the day that God created the world or finished creating the world.

And so we're going to remember that.

Another concept of Rosh Hashanah is that it's known as the Day of Judgement.

This means that God judges all humanity on this day.

And it's also known as a day where God considers all the good and bad that a person did in this, in the past year.

And based on that God will decide what the following year is going to look like.

So As much as Rosh Hashanah is a about a happy day, it's also quite a serious day.

It's on Rosh Hashanah that many Jewish people believe God writes, who's going to be put into what's known as The Book of Life.

And it's when God is going to decide what that person's life is going to look like for the upcoming year.

According to many opinions, this book isn't signed by God until Yom Kippur 10 days later, or according to some people, the holiday of Sukkot, which happens 15 days later after Rosh Hashanah.

So what does one do on Rosh Hashanah? Well, Rosh Hashanah for the first part is a two day holiday in most communities.

So for many Jewish people, this is going to look similar to what activities they don't do on Shabbat.

So some people won't ride in a car, or use atronics or cook.

And this will take place also in Rosh Hashanah.

Some families will do those things but only in order to prepare for the holiday or to get to synagogue.

And other families, that is not a restriction that they put on to their lives.

There's a lot, a lot of Rosh Hashanah is spent praying in synagogue.

There's the prayers are much longer than any other day of the year, well minus Yom Kippur.

But any other regular day of the year, the Rosh Hashanah prayers are much longer.

One of the main focuses of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar.

The shofar is a ram's horn and that's made into a horn.

Its sounded on Rosh Hashanaha in some communities 100 times, and the call the already blown the blows, the sounds that come out of the shofer are meant to remind a person to wake up that this is almost like an alarm clock, saying repent.

This is the time that you should think more about what you are doing in the world and how you can do what you already are doing better.

This shofer is sounded in three different sounds.

A tekiah which is a long sound.

A shevarim, which is a broken sound gets said three times and a teruah which is even more broken and it sounds almost like crying.

Each of these sounds is meant to be waking something in a Jewish person's soul.

And for it add meaning into the day.

Another custom on Rosh Hashanah is known as Tashlich.

It's a ritual done by running water.

People, many people in the community will walk to a lake or a stream or a river, and they'll either throw bread or what's left in their pockets into the water.

The idea of Tashlich is to physically be giving up one sins from the past year, or any of the things that someone was doing that they're not proud of, or things that they want to give away.

This way, they're able to start the new year literally on a clean slate, not just in terms of how God is judging them, but also in what they're personally carrying with them.

There's also a lot of customary foods that are eating on Rosh Hashanah.

A few are, eating apples and honey.

This is meant to represent that we should have a sweet New Year.

Some people will also eat pomegranates.

There's a Jewish tradition that says there are 613 seeds within a pomegranate, which equates the 613 mitzvot, the 613 commandments that God commanded the Jewish people.

And one will eat this so that they should be blessed to do as many mitzvot as they possibly can.

And some people will eat the head of a fish.

This comes from a blessing that was said that one should become like the head and not like the tail.

And so people eat the whole the head of the fish and some people eat a whole fish.

There's actually a number of communities, and this comes from us Friday idea to eat lots of different foods that are represented in many different blessings.

Usually the blessings are play on word based on the food.

Similar to an apple and honey because honey is sweet, and so if we eat something sweet, we'll be able to have something sweet to start the year off on.

So many communities and many people have the custom of adding foods, so that they add blessings into their upcoming year.

Okay.

Let's go over what we've learned about Rosh Hashanah.

What does Rosh Hashanah mean? The Day of atonement, the head of the year, the day of rest or a commandment? The head of the year, Rosh Hashanah means the head of the year.

What do some Jewish people believe God is doing on Rosh Hashanah? Judging people on how they behaved during the past year, playing board games, doing nothing or giving the Torah? Judging people on how they behaved during the past year.

Some Jewish people believe God is judging people on Rosh Hashanah.

What is the name of the horn sounded on Rosh Hashanah? Trumpet, a Challah, a shofer or a siddur? A shofer, a shofer is the native name of the horn sounded on Rosh Hashanah.

Many Jewish people will eat apples and honey because it is a commandment from the Torah.

It tastes really good.

It represents the fall and wish to have a long life or they want to have a sweet New Year.

They want to have a sweet New Year.

Many Jewish people will eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah because they want to have a sweet New Year.

The Jewish calendar is based on what type of calendar, a solar or a lunar calendar? A lunar calendar, the Jewish year is based on the lunar calendar.

So 10 days after Rosh Hashana is the holiday known as Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is known as the day of atonement, or a place where a day of forgiveness.

The days of between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur these 10 days are known as the 10 days of repentance.

Many Jewish people will have the custom of have trying to focus in on themselves of what they've what how they want to become better in the upcoming year.

They'll also take this time to ask forgiveness from any person that they feel they need to ask forgiveness from.

On Yom Kippur itself, Yom Kippur is a 25 hour fast, meaning that many people won't eat or drink for 25 hours.

Most of the day is spent in synagogue for services are very long.

Prayers go from confession prayers, through ritual prayers, that what some of the prayers are listing things that a person might be confessing for.

What's interesting is that the prayers are not in the singular, they're actually in the plural.

And So there's this feeling that all Jewish people are, are praying on behalf of all other Jewish people.

Then there's time of personal reflection, whether that's during the silent prayer parts, or during other parts where a person wants to take a break or think for themselves.

There's time to ask for forgiveness from God.

And many Jews believe that this is when God signs The Book of Life at the end of the 25 hours.

At the very end of this day, which is for many people, a very spiritually meaningful or sometimes heavy day, the shofar again is blown, sealing the day sealing The Book of Life culminating this extremely intense and powerful and for some very spiritual day of Prayer.

Yom Kippur is meant to be a day where one is able to focus on connecting with God.

And so for many people they will take on some costumes so that they're not really needing to focus on anything other than praying and connecting with God.

Many people won't eat or drink or wear leather shoes or put makeup on or have intimate relations.

And some people are also going to wear white.

All these things are meant to help a person focus on connecting with God.

I would like you to pause the video to complete the following task.

Please write in full sentences.

One, in what ways are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur connected? Two, what are some customs that Jewish people do on Yom Kippur? Press pause to complete this task and press resume when you're finished.

Let's go over the answers together.

Rosh Hashanah is the day of judgement and Yom Kippur is the day of atonement.

On Rosh Hashanah, some Jewish people will begin to reflect on their past actions to then ask for forgiveness on Yom Kippur.

One Jewish idea is that on Rosh Hashanah God writes in The Book of Life and on Yom Kippur God at signs what was written.

On Yom Kippur for many Jewish people will fast for 25 hours.

That means no eating or drinking.

Many people will also not wear leather shoes or wear makeup.

Much of the day is spent in synagogue praying.

Yom Kippur is meant to be a day connecting with God A number of months later seven months later to be exact, is the holiday of Passover.

This holiday happens generally in the Solar calendar in month of April, but sometimes March and in the Jewish month of Nissan.

The holiday of Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt, they're leaving from Egypt.

And this holiday is eight days long in the diaspora.

In Israel, it will be seven days.

The first two nights of Passover are different than all the other days of Passover.

Many Jewish families will have what's called a Seder, it's a very special festive meal and the word see means order.

Now I'll go into a little bit of what that's going to look like.

The main purpose of the Seder is to retell the story of Exodus.

And it's done by getting people to ask questions.

The night is going to look different than all other nights.

That's actually one of the main questions in one of the main songs that get sung.

Is why is this night different than all other nights? Noticing that there's going to be different number of cups being drunk or foods that are going to be eaten and foods have special symbolism on Passover.

The four main things we're going to look at are what is Matzah, what is a Haggadah, what is the Seder plate, and what do four cups of wine or grape juice have to do with this holiday? Let's start with Matzah.

Matzah is unleavened bread.

That means that it didn't rise.

matzah tends to be flat, hard and crunchy.

And it's only made with wheat and water.

So flour and water.

According to most a Jewish tradition is that it can't be baked for more than 18 minutes, which is why it never gets bigger or fluffier.

The commandment from the Torah is not to eat anything that is leavened over Passover.

These leavened foods are known as chametz.

So many Jewish people will not eat what's known as chametz over Passover, meaning bread or biscuits that are that have a chance to rise.

One eats matzah as a reminder of when the Jews were taken out of Egypt.

According to the Torah they got the Jews left fled Egypt very quickly and there wasn't enough time to pack or to bake.

And so they gathered what they had and what they were able to make was matzah.

Matzah is eaten both at the Seder and throughout all eight days of Passover.

During the eight days of Passover in general, it's not, it's eaten because you one is not allowed to have leavened bread.

So you eat matzah instead.

The Haggadah.

The Haggadah is a the book that's used for the Seder.

In it are all the blessings of the night and the stories and songs that one could traditionally sing or say.

It'll have a retelling of the story of Exodus bringing in verses from the Bible, as well as stories from the rabbis of the Talmud, in the ways they were discussing what happened in Egypt or in leaving Egypt.

Many people today have the custom of adding in their own portions to the Haggadah, adding in what are their understandings of what happened during the time of Exodus.

Or how do they see their lives today, fitting into the story of Exodus.

One big thing is that people are encouraged to ask questions.

Sometimes the holiday of Passover is known as the night of questions.

Because it is about asking, why do we do these different things, why is there, why are we eating matzah, why is someone going to be singing the song or in general what is the purpose of celebrating this holiday? There are many symbolic foods that are eaten, and we're going to go over those shortly.

And the end of the Haggadah, there's a full meal.

So in addition to the, the symbolic foods, one's going to have a normal dinner.

And at the very end, there are songs of praise of God that are either said or Sung.

Because one of the ideas of the Passover Seder and is that one is supposed to see as if they themselves left Egypt.

So it's not just a retelling of the, of history that happened to someone's ancestors.

But for some Jewish people, it's a retell, it's seen as a retelling of their own story, something that they lived in the past.

The Seder plate is one of the focal points of the Seder and something that really does ask questions.

Seder plate has symbolic foods on it throughout the Seder, it's going to sit on the table.

One of the foods is a shank bone.

It's a roasted chicken bone or shank bone if you're, if one is able to get.

And this is in remembrance of the Passover sacrifice that was done during the time of the temple.

There, there's a roasted egg that is also supposed to symbolise one of the temple sacrifices, or in some opinions springtime.

There's a green vegetable representing spring.

And then there's salt water representing the tears of the Jewish slaves before the Exodus.

At what point during the Seder, the green vegetable is dipped in the salt water and everyone sitting around the table will eat that.

There's a bitter herb in some places, some homes this will be a horseradish And this is supposed to represent the bitterness of being in Egypt.

And again this horseradish or bitter herb will be eaten during a part of the Seder.

And finally, there's charoset which is a mixture of apples and nuts, or in some community nuts and ceylon or other fruits and nuts every community and every family has their own custom of what is actually inside charoset.

But the goal is for it to represent the mortar, the what was used to build the bricks in Egypt, and it tends to be on the sweet side.

So the golf charoset is that it looks like cement but tastes delicious.

The charoset is also eaten during the Seder.

It's usually mixed a bit with the bitter herbs.

In addition to the symbolic foods that get eaten, traditionally there are four cups of wine or grape juice they get drunk.

The rabbi say that there are four cups because they represent four different words that are used in the Torah to talk about the redemption that of God.

Drinking wine is also a sign of freedom, as the holiday of Passover is known as the holiday of celebrating the Jewish people's leaving from Egypt into freedom.

And one custom that many people have is to act as if they are free So they might sit on very comfortable chairs, or in some homes, they'll lean every time they're drinking.

There's actually a fifth cup of wine or grape juice that gets poured.

And this would be for Elijah the prophet.

According to Jewish tradition, Elijah the prophet goes to every single Seder around the world.

The family will open the door welcome him in and make sure there's a little bit of wine for, for him to drink.

So true or false, Passover celebrates the receiving of the Torah? False, Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt.

On Passover many Jewish people will not eat chametz.

True, on many, on Passover many Jewish people will not eat chametz, or foods that are leavened or not kosher for Passover.

Many Jewish people have a fifth cup of wine for Elijah the prophet, true or false? True, many Jewish people have a fifth cup of wine at the Seder for Elijah the prophet.

The Seder is a special prayer service on Passover.

True or false? False.

The cedar is a special meal with a special order that's done on Passover.

What I'd like you to do now is to pause the video and complete the following task.

You can write it down in bullet points.

One, what is on the Seder plate? And what does each item represent? What is being celebrated on Passover? And what are the some ways that is shown? So pause the video to complete this task and resume when you're finished.

Let's go over the answers together.

On the Seder plate, one can find a shank bone which is in remembrance of the Passover sacrifice, a roasted egg, a green vegetable which represents the spring salt water which represents the tears of the Jewish slaves before the Exodus.

Bitter herbs representing the bitterness of being in Egypt, and haroset a mixture of apples and nuts to represent the mortar that's used to build the bricks in Egypt.

The Passover celebration is to celebrate the Exodus from Egypt.

It's also known as a festival of freedom.

Some customs of the holiday are eating Matzah during the Seder and the eight days reading the Haggadah retelling the story of the Exodus of Egypt asking questions, leaning or sitting on cushions and drinking four cups of wine.

You did a wonderful job, we learned a lot today.

We learned about some of the Jewish festivals.

We learned that Jewish year is a lunar calendar.

And we learned about the holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover.

I'd like you to take a moment to write down three things that you learned today.

And feel free to share those things with your parent or carer, or friend or teacher.

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I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and happy learning.