Essential review

Beth Din cheat sheet

The study priorities from your rabbi’s notes: the holiday sequence, when each occurs, why it exists, and how its practices express its meaning.

Months and intervals between holidays are approximate. Hebrew dates and Israel–diaspora differences are preserved; confirm your community’s practice with your rabbi.

1.Rosh Hashanah

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When: September–October; 1–2 Tishrei; two days. It begins the High Holiday season.
Why: The Jewish New Year: reflect on the past year, return to what is right through (repentance), and commit to change.
How and what it means: and express hope for a sweet year; round recalls the cycle of the year.
The , a ram’s horn, is a wake-up call to repentance. The is the prayer book used for the High Holidays.
makes repentance visible by symbolically casting away sins at water. The notes describe bread representing sins; the central idea is leaving wrongdoing behind.

2.Yom Kippur

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When: September–October; 10 Tishrei; one day, with a fast of about 25 hours. It closes the Ten Days of Repentance that begin on Rosh Hashanah.
Why: The Day of Atonement focuses on repentance, forgiveness and repairing wrongs. Wrongs against people require making amends with those people.
How and what it means: Fast when medically safe; health takes priority. Prayer and repentance are still central when someone cannot fast.
opens the evening observance and addresses vows; it does not erase promises or obligations to other people.
is the closing service, evoking the closing gates of repentance. A long blast marks the end of the day and fast.
is the memorial prayer for the dead. In traditional observance it is recited on Yom Kippur, , the last day of Pesach and the second day of Shavuot.

3.Sukkot

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When: September–October; begins 15 Tishrei, five days after Yom Kippur; seven days in both Israel and the .
Why: In the Torah’s story, the Israelites are not yet ready to enter Canaan and spend a generation, forty years, in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. Their temporary shelters recall reliance on God’s protection. Sukkot also celebrates the final ingathering of the year’s harvest.
How and what it means: Eat meals in a , a temporary shelter. Emphasize three walls; a fourth is possible in certain circumstances with an opening indicating that the structure is not permanent.
The temporary roof, s’chach, uses detached material that grew from the ground, such as palm branches or bamboo. It provides more shade than sunlight; ask your rabbi about the practical construction.
Take and wave the : (palm), (myrtle), (willow), and (citron, a lemon-like citrus fruit). The palm, myrtle and willow are held together with the etrog; they connect the observance to the harvest.

4.Shemini Atzeret

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When: September–October; 22 Tishrei, immediately after the seven days of Sukkot. This is the “eighth day” in the sequence, but a separate festival. In the Simchat Torah follows on 23 Tishrei; in Israel they share the day.
Why: A distinct festival of assembly at the close of the Sukkot season; do not count it as an eighth day of Sukkot itself.
How and what it means: Recite the and , the memorial prayers for the dead.

5.Simchat Torah

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When: September–October; 23 Tishrei in traditional observance, the next day after . In Israel it is celebrated on 22 Tishrei with Shemini Atzeret. The diaspora “ninth day” label describes the sequence, not a ninth day of Sukkot.
Why: Celebrate completing and restarting the annual reading of the Torah, the Five Books of Moses.
How and what it means: Read the end of Deuteronomy and begin Genesis again, connecting the end of the Torah to a new beginning.
Dance with the Torah scrolls in seven circuits, called .

6.Chanukkah

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When: Usually around December; begins 25 ; eight days, with lighting on each of the eight nights.
Why: The Seleucid Greek ruler Antiochus IV suppressed Jewish practice and desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem. Mattathias and his sons, the , led the revolt; Judah Maccabee led the military struggle. The Temple was recovered, cleansed and rededicated. “Chanukkah” means dedication.
How and what it means: Distinguish the seven-branched Temple from the chanukiah used today: eight lights plus the , the helper used to light them.
According to tradition, one day’s supply of pure lasted eight days until more could be prepared. Another explanation connects the eight-day celebration to celebrating Sukkot belatedly after wartime disruption; this does not change Sukkot itself into an eight-day holiday.
Light each night, adding one light nightly. Place new lights from right to left and light from left to right, starting with the newest; use the .
Display the lights where they can be seen, such as a window, to publicize the miracle. Dreidel is the traditional spinning-top game; latkes are potato pancakes fried in , recalling the oil tradition.

7.Purim

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When: Usually March, sometimes late February; 14 Adar (Adar II in a leap year); one day. Purim is 15 Adar in traditionally walled cities.
Why: In the Book of Esther, Haman plots to destroy the Jews of Persia. Queen Esther has kept her Jewish identity hidden, with her cousin Mordechai’s guidance. Esther and Mordechai act to save their people; Esther reveals her identity and appeals to the king. The original decree cannot be revoked, so a second decree permits Jewish self-defense.
How and what it means: Read the , the ten-chapter Book of Esther, and make noise with a when Haman’s name is read.
The four mitzvot are hearing the , sending food gifts to friends, giving to people in need, and sharing a festive meal. are traditional pastries; are a later custom.

8.Pesach / Passover

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When: March–April; begins 15 ; eight days in traditional observance and seven in Israel. In the diaspora the Seders are on the first two nights; in Israel on the first night.
Why: Retell the Exodus from slavery in Egypt and the journey toward Mount Sinai. The ten plagues culminate in the death of Egypt’s firstborn; in the Exodus account the Israelites’ marked doorways signify protection.
How and what it means: The is the book that guides the , the ordered meal and retelling. Eat and avoid : leavened products of wheat, barley, spelt, rye or oats. Kitniyot are a separate custom to discuss with your rabbi.
of wine recall four expressions of redemption. invite children to ask why this night differs; the Four Children remind us to teach each person at their own level.
Elijah’s cup expresses hope for redemption and peace and is not drunk. The is a piece of set aside, often hidden for children to find, and eaten at the end of the meal.
(bitter herbs) recalls slavery’s bitterness. , a sweet fruit-and- mixture, recalls the mortar used by enslaved workers.
is a or, in some families, potato; dip it in to recall tears. Salt water is served alongside the plate.
The roasted bone (), often lamb, chicken or turkey, recalls the Passover offering. Connect it to the lamb and the protection of Israel’s firstborn in the Exodus story; it is a symbolic item, not the meal.
The () recalls the festival offering and renewal. Distinguish the symbolic on the plate from eggs that may be served during the meal.

9.Yom HaShoah

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When: April–May; nominally 27 , about a week after Passover ends in the ; one day. The observance can shift around Shabbat.
Why: Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the genocide of six million Jews, principally in Europe, by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.
How and what it means: Participate in memorial ceremonies, hear survivor testimony, and remember the people and communities destroyed.

10.Yom HaAtzmaut

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When: April–May; nominally 5 Iyar, roughly a week after Yom HaShoah; one day. The observance can shift to avoid conflicts with Shabbat.
Why: Israel Independence Day marks the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948 and Jewish self-determination in the ancestral homeland. David Ben-Gurion declared independence on May 14, 1948. is the movement for Jewish national self-determination in that homeland.
How and what it means: Celebrate Israel’s independence and connect it to the history of Jewish peoplehood and sovereignty.
Know the names and milestones in the notes: David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister; Golda Meir, a later prime minister; the Six-Day War (1967); and the Yom Kippur War (1973). These are historical review topics, not rituals of the holiday.

11.Lag B’Omer

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When: 18 Iyar, usually May; the 33rd day of counting the between Passover and Shavuot; one day.
Why: A traditional explanation remembers the end of a plague among Rabbi Akiva’s students. The notes place this remembrance in the period of conflict with Rome; present the plague account as tradition, not as a precisely dated historical event.
How and what it means: Picnics and outdoor celebration mark this joyful day during the count. It belongs between Yom HaAtzmaut and Shavuot in this review sequence.

12.Shavuot

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When: May–June; seven weeks after Passover; 6–7 , two days in traditional observance, and 6 Sivan, one day, in Israel.
Why: The Feast of Weeks celebrates receiving the Torah and the at Mount Sinai, and the and harvest of the season. Passover takes us out of Egypt; Shavuot brings us to Sinai.
How and what it means: Read the and the Book of Ruth. Ruth freely joins the Jewish people and their God; her story is a model for conversion: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Study Torah, traditionally through the night, and eat . These observances connect learning and celebration to receiving the Torah.

13.Tisha B’Av

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When: July–August; 9 Av; one day, with the fast deferred if the ninth falls on Shabbat.
Why: Mourn the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem and the loss of Jewish sovereignty: the First Temple by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, the Second by the Romans in 70 CE.
How and what it means: Fast when medically safe and read the Book of (), giving words to mourning and destruction.

The connection between the stories

Passover: leaving Egypt. Shavuot: receiving the Torah at Sinai. Sukkot: forty years in temporary shelters under God’s protection. Purim: surviving Haman’s plot. Chanukkah: resisting suppression and rededicating the Temple. Tisha B’Av: mourning both Temples and the loss of sovereignty. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur focus on our own repentance and actions.