From Sacred Time to Joyful Celebration - Exploring the Major Categories of Jewish Holidays
1. Biblical Pilgrimage Festivals (Shalosh Regalim)
Passover (Pesach)
Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)
Sukkot (Feast of Booths/Tabernacles)
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2. High Holy Days (Yamim Noraim)
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
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3. Fast Days of National Tragedy
Tisha B’Av (9th of Av)
17th of Tammuz
10th of Tevet
Fast of Gedaliah
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4. Purim-Related
Purim
Shushan Purim
Fast of Esther
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5. Hanukkah-Related
Hanukkah (Festival of Lights)
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6. Minor Festivals
Tu B’Av (Day of Love)
Lag B’Omer (33rd day of the Omer)
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7. New Year Markers (Four Jewish New Years)
Rosh Hashanah (Civil New Year)
Tu BiShvat (New Year for Trees)
Nisan 1 (New Year for Kings & Festivals – rabbinic)
Elul 1 (New Year for Tithing Animals – rabbinic)
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8. Agricultural & Seasonal Festivals
Passover (Spring Barley Harvest)
Shavuot (Wheat Harvest/First Fruits)
Sukkot (Autumn Ingathering)
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9. Historical/Miracle Holidays
Hanukkah (Maccabean victory & miracle of oil)
Purim (Persian deliverance in Esther’s time)
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10. Fast Days Connected to the Temple
17th of Tammuz (Breach of Jerusalem’s walls)
Tisha B’Av (Destruction of Temples)
10th of Tevet (Siege of Jerusalem)
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11. Repentance & Renewal Days
Selichot (pre-High Holy Days prayers)
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
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12. Nature & Creation Celebrations
Tu BiShvat (Trees / ecological awareness)
Sukkot (living in huts under the open sky)
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13. Rabbinic Instituted Holidays
Hanukkah
Purim
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14. Joy & Celebration Days
Purim (costumes, feasting, joy)
Simchat Torah (Torah completion/rejoicing)
Tu B’Av (love, marriages)
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15. Modern Jewish/Israeli Holidays (not biblical/rabbinic but widely observed)
Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)
Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day for Soldiers)
Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli Independence Day)
Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day)
