Hebrew name

Rosh HaShanah

English translation

Head of the Year / Jewish New Year

Date / timing

1–2 Tishrei (falls in September–October); opens the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe)

Length

2 days

Historical reason

Marks the New Year and the annual Day of Judgment opening the Days of Awe.

• Rosh Hashanah means 'Head of the Year' — the Jewish New Year.
• It is the Day of Judgment (Yom HaDin) and the beginning of the Yamim Noraim / Days of Awe.
• The central spiritual work is teshuvah — turning, repentance, return.

• Rosh Hashanah is not built on a single narrative event; it has no historical story behind it the way Sukkot or Chanukkah do — it is the annual moment of judgment, accounting and return.
• The imagery of the season is God as judge and as shepherd, with each person passing before God to be inscribed for the year.

• Chet and teshuvah — sin and return
• The balance of justice and mercy (Avinu Malkeinu)
• The Book of Life as a metaphor for judgment
• God as shepherd counting the flock

• Hearing the shofar: tekiah, shevarim, teruah.
• Selichot — penitential prayers before and during the season.
• Tashlich — symbolically casting sins into flowing water.
• Candle lighting, blessing the children, Kiddush and HaMotzi at home.
• Apples dipped in honey and a festive Yom Tov meal, concluding with Birkat HaMazon.
• Praying from the machzor, the High Holiday prayer book.
• Greeting: L'shanah Tovah Tikateivu — may you be inscribed for a good year.

• The shofar is a wake-up call to the soul — it interrupts routine and calls the listener to teshuvah before the Day of Judgment. Its sound announces the new year.
• The apple is taken from the new fall harvest: something new, dipped in honey so that the newness is sweet — a sweet new year.
• Words of forgiveness are part of the day: we begin asking to be forgiven and forgiving others.
• Tashlich makes repentance physical and visible: what we cast into the water we resolve to leave behind.
• Blessing the children and the festive meal root the new year in family and gratitude.

Shofar

Ram's horn; awakening call to repentance and to judgment — the sound that announces the new year.

Apples

Fruit of the fall harvest; something new taken and dipped in honey.

Honey

That the new year should be sweet.

Book of Life

Metaphor for judgment: who is inscribed and sealed for the coming year.

Flowing water (Tashlich)

Carrying away sin; the possibility of starting clean.

• Machzor — High Holiday prayer book
• Avinu Malkeinu — 'Our Father, our King', appealing to both justice and mercy
• Selichot
• Shofar service

• Apples dipped in honey
• Festive Yom Tov meal
• Challah with Kiddush and HaMotzi

Yamim Noraim

Days of Awe — the ten days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur.

Teshuvah

Repentance; literally turning or returning.

Chet

Sin; missing the mark.

Tekiah / Shevarim / Teruah

The shofar blasts: one long blast, three broken blasts, nine short staccato blasts.

Selichot

Penitential prayers of the High Holiday season.

Tashlich

Casting sins into flowing water.

Machzor

Prayer book used for the festivals and High Holidays.

Yom Tov

A festival day.

L'shanah Tovah Tikateivu

'May you be inscribed for a good year' — the season's greeting.

1. 1Why we sound the shofar and what the blasts are called.
2. 2Why we eat apples and honey.
3. 3What Tashlich is and why we do it.
4. 4What teshuvah means and how the Days of Awe work.
5. 5The home rituals of the Rosh Hashanah table, in order.

Hebrew name

Yom Kippur

English translation

Day of Atonement

Date / timing

10 Tishrei (September–October); the close of the Days of Awe

Length

1 day (a full 25-hour fast)

Historical reason

The annual day of atonement that concludes the Days of Awe.

• Yom means day; Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement — atonement, forgiveness, repentance and confession.
• The first step is to acknowledge the sin: name it honestly before anything else can be repaired.
• It seals the process of teshuvah begun at Rosh Hashanah.

• The day is shaped by liturgy rather than a single narrative — there is no historical event behind Yom Kippur: Kol Nidrei opens it and Neilah closes it.
• The Book of Jonah is read, a story of a reluctant prophet and of a city that repents and is forgiven.

• Repentance, confession, forgiveness, atonement
• Communal responsibility (confession in the plural)
• Human mortality and the urgency of change

• Fasting for the full day.
• Kol Nidrei service at the start of the day.
• Viddui — confession — and the Al Chet litany, recited in the plural.
• Unetaneh Tokef, the great liturgical poem of judgment.
• Yizkor, the memorial service.
• Neilah, the closing service, ending with a single shofar blast.
• Wearing white.
• Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat of Return between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

• Fasting removes ordinary physical distraction so the day can be spent on the soul: we do not eat and do not drink.
• Confession is said aloud and in the plural because the community takes responsibility together.
• Everything is white, and white is the symbol of purity — but also of transition from one world to the next. We dress the dead in a white shroud, so dressing in white reminds us that we are mortal: I dress the way they will put me in the ground.
• Because we are mortal, we do not have all the time in the world to mend relationships — amends cannot wait.
• The concluding shofar blast at Neilah, as the sun sets, is a big sound announcing that judgment is sealed and the fast is over.
• Yom Kippur atones for wrongs between a person and God; wrongs against another person must be repaired directly: acknowledge the sin, confess to the person you wronged and ask forgiveness, fix what you did, and resolve never to do it again.

The color white

Purity, and the transition from one world to the next — the white shroud and our own mortality.

Closing shofar blast

The gates close as the sun sets; judgment is sealed and the fast ends.

Fasting

Affliction of the soul; setting aside the physical — no food, no drink.

• Kol Nidrei
• Viddui (confession) and Al Chet
• Unetaneh Tokef
• Yizkor
• Neilah
• The Book of Jonah

• No food or drink — a full fast
• A pre-fast meal and a break-fast after Neilah

Kol Nidrei

The declaration that opens Yom Kippur evening.

Viddui

Confession.

Al Chet

The alphabetical litany of sins recited in the plural.

Unetaneh Tokef

Liturgical poem describing the day's judgment.

Neilah

The closing service of Yom Kippur.

Yizkor

Memorial service for the dead.

Shabbat Shuvah

The Shabbat of Return, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

1. 1The four steps when you wrong another person: acknowledge the sin, confess to the person and ask forgiveness, fix it, and resolve never to do it again.
2. 2Why we fast and what the fast is for.
3. 3The arc of the liturgy from Kol Nidrei to Neilah.
4. 4Why people wear white.

Hebrew name

Sukkot

English translation

Booths / Huts / Tabernacles

Date / timing

Begins 15 Tishrei (September–October), five days after Yom Kippur

Length

7 days (one day less in Israel), plus Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah

Historical reason

Wandering in the desert for forty years after the Exodus and before Israel, living in temporary huts (sukkot).

Agricultural reason

The final harvest festival of the year, in September–October: the harvest of the fruits and the first fruits of the summer. Each of the Four Species represents a different kind of growth in the Land of Israel, each with its own demand for water and its own texture.

• Sukkot means booths or huts — a tabernacle: the temporary shelter the Israelites lived in.
• It carries two meanings at once: a harvest festival and a remembrance of the wilderness journey after Egypt.

• After the Exodus and before entering Israel, the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years, living in sukkot — temporary huts.
• The sukkah recalls those temporary dwellings of the wilderness years.

• Fragility and dependence on God
• Gratitude for the harvest
• Memory of the wilderness journey

• Building a sukkah and covering it with s'chach.
• Eating meals — and by some, sleeping — in the sukkah; the meal itself indicates celebration, and the food is for everyone.
• Taking and waving the Four Species: etrog (lemon-like citron), lulav (palm branch), hadas (myrtle), aravah (willow).
• Shaking the lulav in every direction — east, south, west, north, up and down.
• Reciting Hallel.
• Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days.
• Hoshanah Rabbah, the seventh day.

• The sukkah is deliberately fragile — its roof of s'chach lets you see the sky — to teach dependence on God rather than on walls; everything is fragile.
• The roof is the most important part: it must be temporary, made of material cut from the ground. The walls can be made of anything, but there must be at least three and never four, and no door — the sukkah stays wide open.
• Eating in the sukkah moves ordinary life outdoors and makes the lesson physical, and the shared meal makes it a celebration.
• Waving the Four Species in every direction expresses that God is everywhere and gathers the harvest's bounty into the blessing.

Sukkah

Temporary dwelling; fragility and dependence on God. Minimum three walls, never four, no door, and a temporary roof.

S'chach

The natural roof covering cut from the ground; temporary, and the sky must be visible through it.

Etrog

Citron, like a lemon — one of the Four Species.

Lulav

Palm branch — one of the Four Species.

Hadas

Myrtle — one of the Four Species.

Aravah

Willow — one of the Four Species.

• Hallel
• Blessings over the lulav and etrog
• Hoshanot on Hoshanah Rabbah

• Meals of all kinds, eaten in the sukkah
• Harvest produce

Sukkah

The booth or hut built for the festival.

S'chach

Natural material used to roof the sukkah.

Four Species

Etrog (citrus), lulav (palm branch), hadas (myrtle) and aravah (willow), waved together.

Chol HaMoed

The intermediate days of the festival.

Hoshanah Rabbah

The seventh day of Sukkot.

1. 1What the sukkah/booth actually is, and why it must be temporary and open to the sky.
2. 2Why there are at least three walls, never four, and no door.
3. 3Name the Four Species and explain what we do with them and which direction we shake them.
4. 4The double meaning of Sukkot: agricultural (final harvest) and historical (forty years in the desert).

Hebrew name

Shemini Atzeret

English translation

Eighth Day of Assembly

Date / timing

22 Tishrei, immediately following the seven days of Sukkot

Length

1 day

Historical reason

A separate festival appended to the close of Sukkot.

• Shemini Atzeret is the Eighth Day of Assembly — the eighth day of the Sukkot season.
• Although it follows Sukkot, it is a distinct festival in its own right.

• It functions as a lingering extra day of closeness at the end of the Sukkot season.
• It is also the turning point in the agricultural year: the time to plant the new seeds, so we assemble and pray for rain.

• Distinctness of the eighth day
• Rain, season and sustenance
• Memory

• We assemble and pray for rain (Geshem).
• Yizkor — memorial prayers, remembering those who have passed on.

• The prayer for rain marks the turn of the season toward the rainy months in the Land of Israel, as the new seeds are planted.
• Yizkor is said four times a year, on the last days of the festivals (Shemini Atzeret, the last day of Pesach, Shavuot and Yom Kippur), because that is when we miss people the most.

Prayer for rain

Turning of the agricultural season and time to plant; dependence on God for sustenance.

• Prayer for rain
• Yizkor

• Festival meals

Shemini Atzeret

Eighth Day of Assembly; a distinct festival after Sukkot.

Yizkor

Memorial prayers for those who have died, said four times a year.

1. 1That Shemini Atzeret is its own festival, not simply the last day of Sukkot.
2. 2Why we assemble and pray for rain, and why Yizkor is said on this day.

Hebrew name

Simchat Torah

English translation

Rejoicing of the Torah

Date / timing

Immediately after Shemini Atzeret

Length

1 day

Historical reason

Marks the completion and renewal of the annual Torah reading cycle.

• Simchat Torah means the Joy or Rejoicing of the Torah.
• We finish the annual Torah reading and immediately begin Genesis again.

• The final verses of Deuteronomy are read and the opening of B'reishit follows at once.

• Joy in Torah
• Continuous, never-ending learning
• Community celebration

• Reading the last chapters of the Torah and then immediately starting all over again with the first chapter.
• Hakafot — circling around the synagogue seven times with the scrolls, the same seven circuits as a bride around the groom.
• Dancing with the Torah scrolls, and a big festive meal.
• Honoring the Chatan Torah (the one who completes the Torah) and the Chatan B'reishit (the one who begins it again).

• Beginning Genesis the moment Deuteronomy ends teaches that Torah learning never finishes.
• Dancing with the scroll expresses joy in Torah with the whole body, not only the mind.

Hakafot

Seven circuits with the Torah; joy carried around the community.

Chatan Torah / Chatan B'reishit

Ending and beginning honored together — Torah study is continuous.

• Torah reading of the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis

• Festive meals and celebration

Hakafot

The seven circuits with the Torah scrolls.

Chatan Torah

The honoree who completes the Torah reading.

Chatan B'reishit

The honoree who begins Genesis again.

1. 1Why we begin Genesis immediately after finishing Deuteronomy.
2. 2What hakafot are and how many circuits there are.

Hebrew name

Chanukkah

English translation

Dedication / Rededication

Date / timing

Begins 25 Kislev (late November or December, sometimes running into January)

Length

8 nights

Historical reason

The Maccabean revolt against Antiochus IV and the Greeks, and the cleaning and rededication of the desecrated Temple over eight days.

• Chanukkah means dedication, or rededication — and the chanukkiyah (hanukkiah) is the lamp of that dedication.
• It marks the rededication of the Temple after its desecration.

• The Greeks tried to take away the Temple and forbid Judaism, turning the Jews into a Greek nation; under Antiochus IV, Hellenization pressed hard on Jewish life and some Jews — the Jewish Hellenists — embraced Greek culture.
• Antiochus suppressed Jewish practice: Shabbat, the festivals, circumcision and Temple worship were forbidden.
• The Temple was turned into a pagan temple: pigs were brought in and it was desecrated and profaned. The eight days of Chanukkah are the days of cleaning and rededicating it.
• Mattathias and his son Judah Maccabee led the Maccabean revolt against the Greeks — Judah was the soldier.
• In one episode, Jews who refused to fight on Shabbat were massacred; afterward the decision was made that Jews may fight defensively on Shabbat.
• The revolt succeeded and the Temple was cleansed and rededicated.

• Religious freedom
• Jewish identity and the pull of assimilation
• Publicizing the miracle

• Lighting the chanukkiyah: on the first night one candle to mark the day plus the shamash you use to light it; on the second night the shamash, then the candle of that night, then the candle of the night before — adding lights from left to right.
• Placing the chanukkiyah where it can be seen — pirsum ha-nes, publicizing the miracle.
• Eating foods fried in oil: latkes and doughnuts.
• Playing dreidel and giving gelt.

• Increasing the lights night by night expresses growing light and growing publicity of the miracle.
• The shamash is used to kindle the others so that the eight lights themselves are only for looking at.
• Oil foods recall the oil of the Temple menorah; potatoes were what grew and were available, so fried potatoes — and anything fried — became the food of the holiday.
• The dreidel is a symbol of fun and playing.

Chanukkiyah / menorah

Eight-branched lamp plus shamash; the rededicated Temple light.

Shamash

The servant light used to kindle the others.

Oil

The Temple menorah oil; recalled through latkes, doughnuts and anything fried in oil.

Dreidel and gelt

Fun and playing; the holiday's customs of play and giving.

• Blessings over the Chanukkah lights
• Hallel

• Latkes
• Sufganiyot
• Foods fried in oil

Pirsum ha-Nes

Publicizing the miracle.

Chanukkiyah

The eight-branch Chanukkah lamp with a shamash.

Shamash

The helper candle used to light the others.

Kislev

The Hebrew month in which Chanukkah begins.

Hellenization

The spread of Greek culture and its pressure on Jewish life.

Maccabees

Mattathias, Judah and their followers who led the revolt.

1. 1Tell the Chanukkah story historically: Antiochus IV, Hellenization, the Maccabean revolt, rededication.
2. 2What the shamash is and why the lights increase each night.
3. 3Why the Shabbat massacre changed the ruling about defensive fighting on Shabbat.
4. 4Why Chanukkah is really about religious freedom and Jewish identity.

Hebrew name

Purim

English translation

Lots / Lottery

Date / timing

14 Adar (usually March)

Length

1 day

Historical reason

The deliverance of the Jews of Persia from Haman's decree, whose date he chose by lottery.

• Purim means 'lots' or 'lottery': when Haman wanted to kill the Jews, he cast lots to pick the day.
• Nobody saw it coming — and if it were not for Esther and Mordechai it would have been a disaster.

• In Shushan, King Achashverosh removes Queen Vashti and Esther becomes queen.
• Mordechai, Esther's cousin, refuses to bow to Haman.
• Haman plots to destroy the Jews and casts lots for the day — but he never tells the king that what he wants is to kill the Jews.
• Everyone is hiding: Esther conceals that she is a Jew, as if wearing a mask.
• Esther finally tells the king that she is Jewish and that Mordechai is her cousin, and Haman's mask comes off.
• The king sobers up and decides to hang Haman — who had wanted to be king — and his sons as well.
• The decree is overturned and the Jews are saved.

• The precariousness of Jewish existence in the Diaspora
• Political influence and advocacy
• Prejudice and antisemitism

• Reading the Megillah out loud.
• Sounding the grogger (gragger) — anything that makes noise — whenever Haman's name is heard.
• Wearing costumes and masks.
• Sending mishloach manot — gifts of food.
• Eating hamantaschen (hamentashen).

• Drowning out Haman's name enacts the blotting out of those who would destroy the Jewish people.
• Costumes and masks echo the theme of hidden identity — everyone in the story was hiding, and Esther conceals and then reveals that she is a Jew.
• Mishloach manot turn rescue into communal generosity.

Costumes and masks

Everyone was wearing a mask and hiding that they were Jewish; Esther's concealment and revelation.

Grogger / gragger

Anything that makes noise, sounded to blot out Haman's name.

Hamantaschen

The holiday's three-cornered pastry.

Mishloach manot

Gifts of food; communal solidarity.

• Megillat Esther (the Megillah reading)

• Hamantaschen
• Mishloach manot food gifts
• Festive Purim meal

Megillah

The scroll of Esther.

Grogger

Noisemaker used during the Megillah reading.

Mishloach manot

Gifts of food sent to friends on Purim.

Shushan

The Persian capital where the story takes place.

1. 1Tell the Purim story with its characters: Esther, Mordechai, Haman, Achashverosh, Vashti.
2. 2What the name Purim means, and how Haman chose the day.
3. 3Why costumes and the grogger are part of the day.
4. 4How the story ends: Esther reveals herself, the king sobers up, and Haman and his sons are hanged.

Hebrew name

Pesach

English translation

Passover

Date / timing

Begins 15 Nisan (March or April)

Length

8 days (7 in Israel)

Historical reason

The Exodus from Egypt and liberation from slavery.

Agricultural reason

A spring festival at the start of the barley harvest season.

• Pesach marks the Exodus from Egypt and liberation from slavery.
• In class it was called 'The Master Story' — the narrative through which Jews understand themselves.

• Exodus chapters 1–20 in broad outline: a new Pharaoh oppresses the Israelites.
• Shifrah and Puah, the midwives, defy Pharaoh's order.
• Moses is born, raised in Pharaoh's house, and called to lead.
• The plagues fall on Egypt; the Israelites go out from Egypt into freedom.
• The journey leads to Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments.

• Human dignity and freedom
• Midah k'neged midah — measure for measure
• Citizen responsibility
• Redemption and the Messianic idea

• Bedikat Chametz — searching for leaven before the festival.
• Removing chametz and eating matzah.
• The Seder, conducted with the Haggadah.
• The Four Cups, the Four Questions, the Four Children, the afikomen and Elijah's cup.
• Maot Chittim — providing for the needy so they too can celebrate.
• Shabbat HaGadol, the Shabbat before Pesach.

• Seder means 'order' — the evening is a structured retelling so that each generation experiences the Exodus as its own.
• Matzah is the bread of affliction and of haste; chametz, which rises, is removed.
• The Four Questions put a child at the center so the story is transmitted by teaching.
• Elijah's cup expresses hope for redemption still to come.

Matzah

Bread of affliction and of the hurried departure from Egypt.

Shank bone (zeroa)

The Passover offering.

Karpas

Green vegetable of spring, dipped in salt water for the tears of slavery.

Charoset

The mortar the Israelite slaves used in building.

Egg (beitzah)

The festival offering; the cycle of life.

Maror

Bitter herb; the bitterness of slavery.

Four Cups

Four expressions of redemption.

Afikomen

The hidden piece of matzah that concludes the meal.

Elijah's cup

Anticipation of future redemption.

Six items sit on the plate (matzah usually sits beside it, covered on its own plate). Being able to point to each and say what it means is the classic Beth Din question.

1.Zeroa — shank bone

The Passover offering brought in the Temple; the lamb whose blood marked the Israelite doorposts. Not eaten.

2.Beitzah — roasted egg

The festival offering, and the round cycle of life; also read as a sign of mourning for the destroyed Temple.

3.Maror — bitter herb

Usually horseradish. The bitterness of slavery; we taste it rather than only talk about it.

4.Chazeret — second bitter vegetable

Often romaine lettuce, sweet at the tip and bitter at the root — slavery began gently and turned harsh. Used for the Hillel sandwich.

5.Charoset — apple, nut, wine paste

The mortar the Israelite slaves used to make bricks. Sweet, because even bitter labor is remembered with hope of freedom.

6.Karpas — green vegetable

Parsley or potato, the green of spring and new life, dipped in salt water for the tears and the sea.

7.Salt water

The tears of the slaves and the waters of the Sea of Reeds that the Israelites crossed.

8.Three matzot (beside the plate)

The bread of affliction and of haste. The middle one is broken; the larger half becomes the afikomen.

Recited in order at the Seder. We spill or remove a drop of wine for each one: our cup of joy cannot be full when other human beings suffered. Midah k'neged midah — measure for measure — the plagues answer the way Egypt treated the Israelites.

1.Dam — blood

The Nile turns to blood; the river Pharaoh drowned Israelite babies in becomes undrinkable.

2.Tzfardeya — frogs

Frogs overrun Egypt, even Pharaoh's own house.

3.Kinim — lice / gnats

The dust of the land turns to biting insects.

4.Arov — wild beasts / swarms

Swarming creatures invade homes and fields.

5.Dever — cattle disease

Egypt's livestock — its wealth and labor — dies.

6.Sh'chin — boils

Painful sores on the Egyptians themselves.

7.Barad — hail

Hail mixed with fire destroys the crops.

8.Arbeh — locusts

Locusts eat whatever the hail left.

9.Choshech — darkness

Three days of darkness so thick no one could see or move — the darkness of a society that cannot see its neighbor.

10.Makat Bechorot — death of the firstborn

The final plague; the Israelite homes are 'passed over', which is what Pesach means.

The Haggadah imagines four children asking about Pesach, and answers each differently. The teaching: you meet every learner where they are.

1.The wise child (chacham)

Asks about the details and laws. Answer fully — give this child the depth they are asking for.

2.The wicked or defiant child (rasha)

Asks 'what does this mean to you?' — standing outside the story. We answer that had they been in Egypt with that attitude they would not have been redeemed; the lesson is that belonging requires including yourself.

3.The simple child (tam)

Asks plainly, 'what is this?' Answer plainly and warmly: with a strong hand God brought us out of Egypt.

4.The child who does not know how to ask

You open the conversation for them. The Seder exists so that no one is left out of the story.

Four cups of wine mark four expressions of redemption in Exodus 6:6–7; a fifth cup is poured for Elijah and left undrunk.

1.First cup — V'hotzeiti (Kiddush)

'I will bring you out' — sanctifying the day and beginning the story.

2.Second cup — V'hitzalti (Maggid)

'I will deliver you' — drunk after telling the story and the plagues.

3.Third cup — V'ga'alti (after the meal)

'I will redeem you' — drunk after Birkat HaMazon, grace after meals.

4.Fourth cup — V'lakachti (Hallel)

'I will take you to be My people' — drunk with the songs of praise at the end.

5.Elijah's cup

Poured but not drunk; the door is opened for Elijah, herald of a redemption that has not yet come.

6.Mah Nishtanah — the Four Questions

Why is this night different: we eat only matzah; we eat bitter herbs; we dip twice; we recline. A child asks so that the adults must teach.

Seder means 'order'. Knowing the order lets you narrate the whole evening.

1.Kadesh

Kiddush over the first cup.

2.Urchatz

Washing hands without a blessing.

3.Karpas

Green vegetable dipped in salt water.

4.Yachatz

Breaking the middle matzah; the larger half is hidden as the afikomen.

5.Maggid

Telling the story: Four Questions, Four Children, the plagues, Dayenu.

6.Rachtzah

Washing hands with the blessing, before eating.

7.Motzi Matzah

Blessings over bread and over matzah; eating matzah.

8.Maror

Eating the bitter herb, usually dipped in charoset.

9.Korech

The Hillel sandwich: matzah with maror and charoset together.

10.Shulchan Orech

The festive meal.

11.Tzafun

Finding and eating the afikomen — the last taste of the night.

12.Barech

Birkat HaMazon and the third cup.

13.Hallel

Psalms of praise and the fourth cup.

14.Nirtzah

Closing: 'Next year in Jerusalem.'

1.'In every generation'

B'chol dor vador: each person must see themselves as personally going out of Egypt. The Seder is re-experience, not just recitation.

2.Reclining

We lean to the left like free people at a banquet — the body learns freedom, not only the mind.

3.Dayenu

'It would have been enough' — gratitude counted step by step, so redemption is never taken for granted.

4.Hiding the afikomen

Keeps children awake and invested; the story is transmitted through play as well as text.

5.Bread of affliction, door open

'Let all who are hungry come and eat' — freedom obliges us to feed others; hence Maot Chittim before the festival.

6.The Hillel sandwich

Bitter and sweet eaten together: slavery and freedom are held in the same mouthful.

• The Haggadah
• Hallel
• The Four Questions (Mah Nishtanah)

• Matzah
• Maror
• Charoset
• Karpas
• Egg
• Seder meal

Seder

Order — the structured Passover meal.

Haggadah

The book that tells the Exodus story at the Seder.

Chametz

Leaven, removed before Pesach.

Bedikat Chametz

The search for leaven before the festival.

Afikomen

The hidden matzah eaten at the end of the meal.

Nisan

The Hebrew month of Pesach.

Maot Chittim

Funds so that the needy can observe Pesach.

Shabbat HaGadol

The Great Shabbat, before Pesach.

Midah k'neged midah

Measure for measure.

Mah Nishtanah

'Why is this night different?' — the Four Questions.

Eser HaMakot

The Ten Plagues.

Arba'ah Banim

The Four Children of the Haggadah.

Zeroa

Shank bone on the Seder plate; the Passover offering.

Beitzah

Roasted egg; the festival offering and the cycle of life.

Maror

Bitter herb; the bitterness of slavery.

Chazeret

Second bitter vegetable, usually romaine, used for the Hillel sandwich.

Charoset

Apple, nut and wine paste; the mortar of slave labor.

Karpas

Green vegetable dipped in salt water for spring and for tears.

Yachatz

Breaking the middle matzah; the larger half becomes the afikomen.

Maggid

The telling of the Exodus story at the Seder.

Korech

The Hillel sandwich of matzah, maror and charoset.

Tzafun

Eating the hidden afikomen.

Dayenu

'It would have been enough' — a song of step-by-step gratitude.

Nirtzah

The closing of the Seder: 'Next year in Jerusalem.'

B'chol dor vador

In every generation — each person sees themselves as leaving Egypt.

1. 1Walk through a Seder and explain each item on the Seder plate.
2. 2Name the Ten Plagues in order and explain why we spill a drop of wine for each.
3. 3Describe the Four Children and what each one teaches about how we teach.
4. 4Explain the Four Cups and the four expressions of redemption.
5. 5Tell the Exodus story from oppression to freedom, including Shifrah and Puah.
6. 6Explain matzah versus chametz and Bedikat Chametz.
7. 7Explain why Pesach is called the Master Story.

Hebrew name

Shavuot

English translation

Weeks

Date / timing

6 Sivan, at the end of the Counting of the Omer

Length

1–2 days

Historical reason

The giving of the Torah at Sinai.

Agricultural reason

First fruits — the early summer harvest offering.

• Shavuot celebrates the gift of the Torah.
• It also has an agricultural dimension as the festival of first fruits.

• Revelation at Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments.

• Revelation
• The structure of the Bible / Tanakh
• The ongoing interpretation of Torah after Sinai

• Counting of the Omer from Pesach to Shavuot, with Lag B'Omer along the way.
• Tikkun Leil Shavuot — study through the night.
• Reading the Ten Commandments and the Book of Ruth.
• Eating dairy foods.

• Counting the Omer links liberation at Pesach to revelation at Shavuot: freedom leads to Torah.
• Studying all night expresses eagerness to receive Torah.
• Ruth is read as the story of one who joins the Jewish people and accepts Torah.

Ten Commandments

The revelation at Sinai.

First fruits

Gratitude for the harvest.

Dairy foods

Customary food of the festival.

• Reading of the Ten Commandments
• Book of Ruth

• Dairy foods
• Cheesecake and blintzes

Omer

The counted period between Pesach and Shavuot.

Lag B'Omer

The 33rd day of the Omer count.

Sivan

The Hebrew month of Shavuot.

Tikkun Leil Shavuot

All-night study on Shavuot.

Tanakh

The Hebrew Bible: Torah, Prophets, Writings.

1. 1Both meanings of Shavuot: Torah and first fruits.
2. 2What counting the Omer connects.
3. 3Why the Book of Ruth is read.

Hebrew name

Tisha B'Av

English translation

The Ninth of Av

Date / timing

9 Av

Length

1 day (fast)

Historical reason

Destruction of the First and Second Temples.

• Tisha B'Av mourns the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem.

• The Beit Mikdash — the Temple — was destroyed; Jeremiah and Ezekiel speak to and from that catastrophe.
• Tradition attributes the destruction in part to sinat chinam, baseless hatred.
• Masada stands in memory of the last resistance.
• Yochanan ben Zakkai secured Yavneh, where Judaism was rebuilt around study and prayer.

• Mourning the destruction of the Temples and the loss of independence
• The fragility of our world — a glass house that can be wiped out
• From sacrificial cult to prayer
• From priestly (Kohen) leadership to rabbinic, scholarly leadership
• Baseless hatred and its consequences

• Fasting.
• Reading Eichah, the Book of Lamentations.
• Practices of mourning.

• Reading Lamentations gives national grief a voice.
• The fast keeps historical catastrophe present rather than abstract: we mourn the destruction of the Temples and the loss of Jewish independence, and the tragedies that have fallen on the Jewish people.
• The day represents the fragility of our world — we live in a glass house, and even a strong house can be wiped out. There is a lot of broken glass in the world.

Eichah / Lamentations

The voice of mourning over Jerusalem.

Beit Mikdash

The Temple whose loss is mourned.

• Eichah (Lamentations)
• Kinot / mourning liturgy

• A fast day — no food or drink

Eichah

The Book of Lamentations.

Sinat chinam

Baseless hatred.

Beit Mikdash

The Temple in Jerusalem.

Yavneh

The academy established by Yochanan ben Zakkai.

1. 1What Tisha B'Av mourns and what is read.
2. 2How Judaism changed after the Temple: prayer replaces sacrifice, rabbis replace priests.
3. 3Who Yochanan ben Zakkai was and why Yavneh matters.

Hebrew name

Yom HaShoah

English translation

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Date / timing

27 Nisan

Length

1 day

Historical reason

Remembrance of the Holocaust.

• Yom HaShoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

• The day is devoted to memory of the Shoah and to understanding how antisemitism operates.

• Memory as obligation
• The forms and persistence of antisemitism

• Memorial ceremonies and communal remembrance.

• Memory is a communal obligation; remembering resists erasure.

Memorial candles and ceremonies

Communal remembrance of the victims.

• Memorial prayers and readings

Shoah

The Holocaust.

Religious antisemitism

Hatred of Jews on religious grounds.

Nationalistic antisemitism

Hatred of Jews framed as national disloyalty.

Economic antisemitism

Hatred of Jews expressed through economic stereotypes.

Folk antisemitism

Popular, folkloric forms of anti-Jewish hatred.

Racial antisemitism

Hatred of Jews defined as a race.

1. 1Name and distinguish the five forms of antisemitism: religious, nationalistic, economic, folk and racial.
2. 2What Yom HaShoah commemorates.

Hebrew name

Yom HaAtzmaut

English translation

Israel Independence Day

Date / timing

5 Iyar

Length

1 day

Historical reason

The founding of the modern State of Israel.

• Yom HaAtzmaut is Israel Independence Day.

• Zionism sought Jewish return to Eretz Yisrael after long centuries of Diaspora and Galut.
• David Ben-Gurion led the founding of the state; later leaders include Golda Meir, Menachem Begin and Yitzchak Rabin.
• Major wars: the War of Independence, the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, and the ongoing question of the territories.

• Jewish peoplehood and nationhood
• Return from exile
• Modern Israeli history

• Celebrations, communal gatherings, singing Hatikvah.

• The day expresses that Jews are a peoplehood and a nation, not only a religion.

Hatikvah

'The Hope' — the hope to be a free people in the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

• Hatikvah
• Prayers for the State of Israel

• Israeli festive foods

Zionism

The movement for Jewish national return to Eretz Yisrael.

Diaspora

Jewish communities living outside the Land of Israel.

Galut

Exile.

Eretz Yisrael

The Land of Israel.

Hatikvah

'The Hope' — Israel's national anthem.

1. 1What Hatikvah means and what it expresses.
2. 2Name key leaders and the major wars.
3. 3Explain Zionism, Diaspora, Galut and Eretz Yisrael.

Hebrew name

Shabbat

English translation

The Sabbath

Date / timing

Friday evening through Saturday night

Length

Roughly 25 hours

Historical reason

Recalls Creation and the Exodus from Egypt.

• Shabbat rests on two foundational meanings: Creation (Ma'aseh B'reishit) and the Exodus (Zecher L'Tziat Mitzrayim).
• Shabbat is about resting, and about remembering that we are not slaves — freedom from constant work and constant technology.
• It creates a sense of family and community.
• Heschel described Shabbat as a sanctuary in time; kadosh means to sanctify and to separate.

• Shabbat recalls God's rest at Creation and Israel's liberation from Egyptian slavery — rest as both cosmic pattern and freedom.

• Holiness in time rather than space (Heschel)
• Dignity of the person and dignity of labor
• Family and community
• Freedom: we are not slaves

• Home: candle lighting — traditionally reserved for the women of the household — Shalom Aleichem, Kiddush over wine, HaMotzi over two challot, the festive meal, and Birkat HaMazon.
• Synagogue: reading the parsha, the weekly Torah portion.
• Havdalah at the close: wine, spices and a multi-wick candle.
• Shabbat observance is recognized even outside Jewish life — some insurers give a discount to Shabbat observers, who drive less.

• Two challot recall the two portions of manna — the matter from heaven — that the Israelites had to collect before Shabbat in the wilderness.
• Candle lighting marks the entry into sacred time.
• Havdalah marks separation between Shabbat and the ordinary week: the spices carry the sweetness of Shabbat into the days ahead, and putting out the candle marks that Shabbat is over.

Shabbat candles

Entry into sacred time; lighting is reserved for the women of the home.

Two challot

The two portions of manna the Israelites collected before Shabbat.

Kiddush wine

Sanctification of the day.

Havdalah spices

Carrying Shabbat's sweetness into the week.

Multi-wick Havdalah candle

The separation of Shabbat from the week; when it goes out, Shabbat is over.

• Candle lighting blessing
• Shalom Aleichem
• Kiddush
• HaMotzi
• Birkat HaMazon
• Havdalah

• Two challot
• Wine for Kiddush
• Shabbat festive meals

Ma'aseh B'reishit

The work of Creation — one foundation of Shabbat.

Zecher L'Tziat Mitzrayim

Remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.

Kadosh

Holy; to sanctify and to separate.

Parashah

The weekly Torah portion.

Havdalah

The ceremony separating Shabbat from the week.

Challah

The braided Shabbat loaf; two are used.

1. 1Explain why Shabbat matters, using both Creation and the Exodus.
2. 2Walk through the Friday night home ritual in order.
3. 3Describe synagogue observance and the weekly parashah.
4. 4Describe Havdalah and explain each of its three items.
5. 5Explain Heschel's idea of a sanctuary in time and the meaning of kadosh.

Hebrew name

Kashrut

English translation

Jewish dietary laws

Date / timing

Daily practice

Length

Ongoing

• Kashrut governs which foods are permitted and how they are prepared and separated.
• It is a daily discipline that shapes Jewish identity and holiness in ordinary acts.

• Kashrut is part of the official Beth Din review sheet alongside the holidays, Shabbat and lifecycle.

• Kedushah and separateness
• Jewish identity through daily practice
• Discipline and self-restraint
• Degrees of observance
• Hechsher Tzedek and ethical kashrut

• Shechitah — ritual slaughter.
• Separation of meat (fleishig) and dairy (milchig); pareve foods are neutral.
• Removal of blood; blood is prohibited.
• Following the criteria for kosher animals and kosher fish.
• Supervision by a mashgiach and reliance on a hechsher.

• Shechitah and Tza'ar Ba'alei Chayim reflect concern to avoid causing suffering to animals.
• The prohibition of blood expresses reverence for life.
• Separating meat and dairy builds daily discipline and distinctiveness — kedushah as separateness.

Hechsher

Certification mark showing a product is kosher.

Separate dishes

The visible discipline of meat and dairy separation.

• Blessings before and after eating, including Birkat HaMazon

• Kosher meat and fish
• Pareve foods
• Separated meat and dairy meals

Kosher / Kasher

Fit; permitted according to Jewish dietary law.

Treif

Not kosher.

Fleishig

Meat.

Milchig

Dairy.

Pareve

Neutral — neither meat nor dairy.

Mashgiach

Kashrut supervisor.

Shechitah

Ritual slaughter.

Tza'ar Ba'alei Chayim

The prohibition against causing suffering to animals.

Hechsher Tzedek

Ethical certification extending kashrut concern to how workers and animals are treated.

1. 1Define kosher, treif, fleishig, milchig and pareve.
2. 2Explain shechitah and Tza'ar Ba'alei Chayim.
3. 3Explain the separation of meat and dairy and why blood is prohibited.
4. 4Explain what kashrut does for Jewish identity and discipline.

Hebrew name

Chayei Yehudi

English translation

The Jewish Lifecycle — womb to tomb

Date / timing

From birth to death and mourning

Length

A lifetime

• Jewish life is marked by rituals that sanctify each stage from birth to death.
• Each moment binds the individual to family, community and covenant.

• Birth: P'ru U'rvu, be fruitful and multiply, frames the beginning of Jewish life.
• Brit Milah (bris): the covenant of circumcision when the baby is eight days old, performed by a mohel, with a sandek holding the baby — human partnership with God. Seven days are God's creation; on the eighth day we take over. The bris is postponed if the baby is not medically ready.
• Baby naming: Mi Sheberach, an aliyah l'Torah and Shehecheyanu.
• Pidyon HaBen: redemption of a firstborn son, traditionally on the 31st day where applicable, involving Kohen, Levi and Yisrael.
• Bat Mitzvah at 12 for girls and Bar Mitzvah at 13 for boys: assuming religious responsibility — and Jewish education continues well beyond the ceremony.
• Marriage: aufruf, ketubah, bedeken, the bride circling the groom seven times, chuppah, kiddushin, the Sheva Brachot — seven blessings recited over the cup of wine — yichud and the seudat mitzvah, with chatan and kallah, and mikveh.
• Divorce: the get (gett), given after the civil divorce is complete.
• Illness: Bikkur Cholim, Mi Sheberach, and Ayn Somchim al ha-Nes — do not rely on miracles; passive and active euthanasia and suicide were curriculum discussion topics.
• Death and mourning: taharah and tachrichim by the Chevra Kadisha, keriah, burial right away — within about 48 hours — in the ground in a Jewish cemetery, then sitting shiva for seven days, sheloshim, Kaddish, Yahrzeit, Yizkor, the grave marker and its unveiling, and El Malei Rachamim, with belief in the World to Come and T'chiat HaMetim.

• Covenant marked in the body and in time
• Community accompanies the individual at every stage
• Dignity of the body in life and in death
• Structured grief keeps mourners connected

• Brit Milah when the baby is eight days old (postponed if not medically ready) with a mohel and sandek.
• Baby naming with Mi Sheberach, aliyah l'Torah and Shehecheyanu.
• Pidyon HaBen on the 31st day where applicable.
• Bat Mitzvah at 12, Bar Mitzvah at 13.
• Wedding: bedeken, the bride circles the groom seven times, chuppah, kiddushin, ketubah, the Sheva Brachot — seven blessings over the cup of wine — breaking the glass, yichud, seudat mitzvah.
• Get for divorce, after the civil divorce.
• Bikkur Cholim and Mi Sheberach in illness.
• Taharah, tachrichim, keriah, burial within about 48 hours in the ground in a Jewish cemetery, shiva for seven days, sheloshim, Kaddish, Yahrzeit, Yizkor, grave marker and unveiling.

• Brit Milah enacts covenant in the body and expresses partnership with God: God creates for seven days, and on the eighth day we take over.
• The chuppah symbolizes God's protection and the new Jewish home the couple is building.
• The ketubah sets out the marriage's obligations in writing.
• Seven blessings — the Sheva Brachot — are recited over the cup of wine, moving from the creation of the world to the joy of this couple: the wedding sits inside the whole story of creation.
• The bride circles the groom seven times, matching the seven days of creation: the couple is building a new world together, and she encircles the home they are making.
• The breaking of the glass recalls the destruction of the Temple — brokenness remains present even at the height of joy.
• Prompt burial and taharah honor the dignity of the body.
• Shiva, sheloshim, Kaddish, Yahrzeit and the grave marker give grief a structure and keep mourners inside community.

Chuppah

The new Jewish home the couple builds together.

Breaking the glass

Temple destruction; brokenness even in joy.

Ketubah

The marriage document and its obligations.

Seven circles

The bride circles the groom seven times for the seven days of creation — a new world built together.

Sheva Brachot

Seven blessings over the cup of wine, from the creation of the world to the joy of this couple.

Keriah

The tear in the garment; grief made visible.

Tachrichim

Simple shrouds; equality in death.

• Mi Sheberach
• Shehecheyanu
• Sheva Brachot
• Kaddish
• Yizkor
• El Malei Rachamim

• Seudat mitzvah — the celebratory meal after a wedding or lifecycle mitzvah

Brit Milah

Covenant of circumcision, on the eighth day when medically safe.

Mohel

The one who performs the circumcision.

Sandek

The one who holds the baby at the brit.

P'ru U'rvu

Be fruitful and multiply.

Pidyon HaBen

Redemption of the firstborn son, traditionally on the 31st day.

Aufruf

Being called to the Torah before the wedding.

Ketubah

The Jewish marriage document.

Bedeken

The veiling of the bride.

Chuppah

The wedding canopy; the new Jewish home.

Kiddushin

The betrothal/sanctification portion of the wedding.

Sheva Brachot

The seven wedding blessings, recited over the cup of wine.

Hakafot (seven circles)

The bride circling the groom seven times, for the seven days of creation.

Yichud

The couple's private time after the ceremony.

Chatan / Kallah

Groom and bride.

Mikveh

Ritual bath.

Get

The Jewish divorce document.

Bikkur Cholim

Visiting the sick.

Ayn Somchim al ha-Nes

We do not rely on miracles.

Taharah

Ritual washing and purification of the body.

Tachrichim

Plain burial shrouds.

Chevra Kadisha

The burial society.

Keriah

The tearing of a garment by mourners.

Shiva

The first seven days of mourning.

Sheloshim

The first thirty days of mourning.

Kaddish

The mourner's prayer.

Yahrzeit

The annual anniversary of a death.

Unveiling

The dedication of the grave marker.

T'chiat HaMetim

Resurrection of the dead.

1. 1Take me through the Jewish lifecycle from womb to tomb.
2. 2Explain Brit Milah: when, who, and what it means.
3. 3Explain the wedding step by step and what the chuppah and breaking glass mean.
4. 4How many blessings are said at a Jewish wedding, and why does the bride circle the groom seven times?
5. 5Explain the stages of mourning: keriah, burial, shiva, sheloshim, Kaddish, Yahrzeit, unveiling.
6. 6Explain Bikkur Cholim and Ayn Somchim al ha-Nes.

Hebrew name

Musar / Middot

English translation

Jewish Ethics and Values

Date / timing

Ongoing

Length

Ongoing

• Jewish ethics begins with B'tzelem Elohim — every person is created in the image of God.
• Obligation is expressed through mitzvah and halakhah, and lived through deeds of loving-kindness.

• Judaism organizes itself around God, Torah and Israel, with the idea of a chosen people understood as chosen for obligation.

• B'tzelem Elohim and the sanctity of life
• Love your neighbor
• God, Torah and Israel
• Chosenness as obligation
• Free choice and responsibility

• Tzedakah — righteous giving.
• Gemilut chasadim — acts of loving-kindness.
• Talmud Torah — the study of Torah.
• Tikkun olam — repair of the world.

• Because every person bears the image of God, ethical obligation is not optional but structural.
• Tzedakah is justice, not charity: it is owed.
• Study leads to action.

Tzedakah box

Giving as a regular obligation, not an impulse.

• Blessings and study of ethical texts

B'tzelem Elohim

In the image of God.

Tzedakah

Righteous giving; justice.

Mitzvah

Commandment; obligation.

Halakhah

Jewish law; the way one walks.

Gemilut chasadim

Acts of loving-kindness.

Tikkun olam

Repair of the world.

Talmud Torah

The study of Torah.

Pikuach nefesh

Saving a life, which overrides almost all other commandments.

Lashon hara

Evil speech; harmful talk about others.

Kavod habriyot

Human dignity.

Hakarat hatov

Recognizing the good; gratitude.

Dina d'malchuta dina

The law of the land is the law.

Chesed / Rachamim

Loving-kindness and compassion.

1. 1Explain B'tzelem Elohim and what follows from it.
2. 2Explain tzedakah as justice rather than charity.
3. 3Explain pikuach nefesh and lashon hara.
4. 4Explain tikkun olam and Talmud Torah.

Hebrew name

Tashmishei Kedushah

English translation

Ritual Objects

Date / timing

Daily and weekly practice

Length

Ongoing

• Ritual objects make Jewish commitment tangible in the body and in the home.

• These four objects appear across daily prayer and the Jewish home.

• Tangible reminders of covenant
• Practice in body and home

• Wearing a tallit for prayer.
• Laying tefillin.
• Wearing a kippah.
• Affixing a mezuzah to the doorpost.

• The objects serve as constant physical reminders of covenant and obligation.
• The mezuzah marks the Jewish home at its threshold.

Tallit

Prayer shawl.

Tefillin

Worn for weekday prayer.

Kippah

Head covering.

Mezuzah

Affixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home.

• Blessings for donning tallit and tefillin
• Blessing for affixing a mezuzah

Tallit

Prayer shawl.

Tefillin

Worn on the arm and head for weekday prayer.

Kippah

Head covering.

Mezuzah

Affixed to the doorpost of a Jewish home.

1. 1Name and describe the tallit, tefillin, kippah and mezuzah.