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)