“After the Babylonian captivity the Feast of Tabernacles began to be strictly and generally kept, and more minute definitions and more expanded applications of the concise Pentateuchal injunction were imperatively demanded, in order to secure uniformity of practice, as well as to infuse devotion and joy into the celebration.”
Read More“In Lev 23:23-25 the first day (new moon) of the seventh month is set apart as a solemn rest, ‘a memorial of blowing of trumpets’ (the Hebrew leaves ‘of trumpets’ to be understood), signalized further by ‘a holy convocation,’ abstinence from work, and the presentation of ‘an offering made by fire’.”
Read More“Also called Feast of Lights, or Feast of the Maccabees, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication in 165 B.C.E. of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, which had been desecrated three years earlier by Syrian king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in his efforts to wipe out the Jewish religion."
Read More“Shavuot occurs on the sixth of the Hebrew month of Sivan.The name Shavuot (‘weeks’) derives from its celebration seven weeks (a week of weeks) after Pesach. In the Torah it is also designated by the names Chag Hakatsir, the Harvest Festival (Exodus 23:16), and Chag Habikurim, the Feast of First Fruits (Exodus 34:22).”
Read More“SHROVE TUESDAY is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Its name came from the old custom of confessing (being shriven) on that day. Shrove Tuesday is a time of rejoicing in many countries and communities. It is the last day of the carnival season of southern Europe, and corresponds to the Mardi Gras of the French and the Pancake Tuesday of the English.”
Read More“Since Talmudic times, Purim has been the day when the usual restraints against excessive drinking of intoxicating beverages were relaxed. ‘A person is required to drink on Purim until he does not know the difference between ‘cursed be Haman’ and ‘blessed be Mordechai’’
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