Passover Passover, or Pesach, is celebrated on the 15th of the Jewish month Nisan (usually in April). It commemorates the deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, as recounted in the biblical Book of Exodus. Passover celebrations focus on a ritual dinner called the seder. The meal involves a number of practices: Matzoh, an unleavened cracker, is eaten, as are charoset (a mixture of fruits, nuts, and wine), and bitter herbs. The unusualness of these practices is quite deliberate: each is intended to commemorate some aspect of the Exodus. These customs are particularly intended to attract the interest of children, who are encouraged to ask their meaning and so be reminded of the Israelites' deliverance. Passover is celebrated over an eight-day period, during which time no hametz (yeast products) are eaten.

Shavuot The Festival of Weeks, celebrated exactly seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot has two functions. In the first place it is a traditional agricultural festival, involving the offering of the first fruits of the harvest to God. In the second place, it commemorates Israel's receiving the Law from God at Mount Sinai.

Rosh Hashanah The Jewish New Year, celebrated on 1 Tishri of the Jewish calendar (in September or October). Rosh Hashanah is the commencement of the High Holy Days, the most important part of the sacred year in Judaism, a time of reflection and repentance. It is said that on Rosh Hashanah the deeds of the good are written in the Book of Life and that the deeds of the wicked are written in the Book of Death. One traditional observance is the blowing of the shofar, a musical instrument made from a ram's horn. According to the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, this is to say, "Awake from your slumbers, you who have fallen asleep, and reflect on your deeds." Another custom is to eat something sweet as a harbinger of a sweet year ahead.

Yom Kippur The Day of Atonement, traditionally held to be the holiest day of the Jewish year, celebrated on the ninth of Tishri, ten days after Rosh Hashanah. It is a day of making amends and of asking forgiveness, both individually and collectively. On Yom Kippur, observant Jews fast and abstain from sex, and even from washing and wearing perfume. In ancient times, Yom Kippur was the day when the High Priest set foot into the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem — a room forbidden to anyone else to enter at any other time.

Sukkot The eight-day Festival or Booths or Tabernacles, celebrated starting four days after Yom Kippur. It is marked by the building of open-air booths (sukkot) decorated with produce and in which families eat and sometimes sleep — a custom that recalls the tents in which the children of Israel dwelt after their deliverance from Egypt. Four types of plant — a palm branch, a sprig of myrtle, a willow leaf, and a citron — are waved by celebrants to acknowledge God's bounty.

Hanukkah The Festival of Lights, celebrated beginning on the 25th of Kislev (in December) and lasting for eight days. It commemorates the purifying of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by Judas Maccabeus in 165 B.C. after its desecration by the Hellenistic monarch Antiochus IV Epiphanes. One of the most familiar observations is the lighting of the Hannukiah, a nine-branched candelabrum. This commemorates a Talmudic story of how a one-day supply of oil miraculously burned in the Temple for eight full days until new oil could be obtained. Gift-giving, card playing, and spinning a top known as a dreidl, are also associated with Hanukkah