Holidays

The Jewish holidays are our opportunity to mark and infuse our lives with the potential of holiness and meaning.

  • The Passover story and the Exodus from Egypt holds the deepest truth that Judaism makes about human beings in the world: the eternal possibility that individuals and even entire nations can move from slavery to freedom, from mourning to celebration, from degradation to dignity. It should not be possible to come out of the Passover Seder the same people we were before we went in.

  • We mark with reflection, the recounting of survivor testimonies, and in Israel, a two-minute siren that stops commerce and conversation across the State.

  • Commemorates the 40 years that Jews spent in the desert in huts (sukkot) after escaping slavery in Egypt. These huts reflect life’s impermanence and life’s invitation to embrace and celebrate the now.

  • Jewish Environment Day. The day we give thanks and remember our duty to care for the natural world.

  • Life is serious. Our lives are ephemeral. Everything can change in an instant. And so we have Purim. One day a year to remind us not to take our lives too seriously. It’s an important secret to our survival.

  • Israel’s Memorial Day, to honor its fallen soldiers.

  • Simchat Torah is the grand finale, the High of Highs, the culmination of this intense, challenging, inspiring High Holiday season. Every prayer and prostration, moment of reflection and point of connection has led us here, to a night of few words and tremendous spirit.

  • The ancient harvest festival of thanks is blended with the celebration of receiving the Torah - the inspiring, challenging, poetic text of the Jewish people.

  • A celebration of the formal establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

  • The 8-day festival of lights that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple is an affirmation that we can fix things that are broken, we can heal, and we can rebuild.