5. The Jewish Year: Shabbat and Feasts

The Jewish calendar alternates between secular time (chol) and sacred time (kodesh). The seventh day of the week, Shabbat – literally ‘cessation’ – is ‘sanctified’ by ceasing all activities. Beginning on Friday evening, it recalls God’s resting after the six days of Creation, as recounted in the Bible.

The most important festivals originated in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, traditionally considered the ‘divine law’ revealed to Moses.

1st Tishrei, the New Year (Rosh Hashanah), begins a solemn period known as the ‘Days of Awe’ (yamim nora’im) or High Holidays. Devoted to repentance and judgment, it ends ten days later with the fast of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), at the end of which Jews are (or are not) inscribed in the
‘Book of Life’.

Three festivals celebrate stages of the foundational narrative of the wanderings of the Hebrews from Egypt to the Promised Land. They are called ‘pilgrimage festivals’ because in Antiquity, the Jews went to Jerusalem at these times to offer a sacrifice in the Temple in connection with the cycle of the harvests. In the spring, from 15 to 21 Nisan, Passover (Pesach) commemorates the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt and their liberation from slavery. Seven weeks later, on 6 Sivan, (Shavuot) celebrates the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the autumn, from 15 to 21 Tishrei, the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) recalls the divine protection granted to the Jews during the forty years they wandered through the desert.

Other holidays, called ‘historical’, appeared over the course of time, celebrating the resilience of the Jewish people. For eight days, from 25 Kislev to 2 or 3 Tevet, the festival of the Rededication of the Temple (Chanukah) commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greeks in the 2nd century BCE. On 14 Adar, the Feast of Lots (Purim) celebrates the foiling of a plot to exterminate the Jews of Persia in the 4th century BCE, as related in the Book of Esther.

All of these holidays are celebrated in the synagogue but – most of all – around the family table, traditional dishes constituting for many Jews their only link to the religion of their ancestors.

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Further information

Pilgrimage festivals

On the occasion of Passover (Pesach), which falls in early spring, Pentecost (Shavuot), in early summer, and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot), in early autumn, adult men travelled from all the cities of Israel and the Diaspora to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, present offerings and engage in revelry.

Painting to mark the east (mizrah), Eastern Europe, 2nd half 19^th century

Passover (Pesach)

According to tradition, the Jewish Passover (Pesach) celebrates the liberation of the Hebrews from the slavery to which they had been subjected in Egypt. On the eve of their departure, they sacrificed a lamb, which they ate with bitter herbs. They smeared its blood on the lintels and doorposts of their doors to designate their homes for divine protection, while death fell on the first-born of the Egyptians. Then, led by Moses, they left in a hurry, carrying bread whose dough had not had time to rise. The festival begins on the 15th of the month of Nissan and lasts seven days. On the eve of the first day, a well-ordered ceremony, the seder, brings the family together to hear the story of the exit from Egypt (Haggadah). Bitter herbs are eaten as a reminder of the misery and harshness of slavery; for the duration of the festival, only unleavened bread (matzah) and unleavened products are eaten. Passover also marks the beginning of spring and gives rise to festivities linked to this season.

Pentecost (Shavuot)

On the 6^th of the month of Sivan, at the end of a seven-week period, we commemorate Pentecost (Shavu'ot ), the divine revelation on Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law (matan Torah) to Moses. The night is devoted to studying the Torah, and the next day the Ten Commandments ('asseret ha-dibrot) are read in a synagogue decorated and adorned with flowers. Pentecost is also the harvest festival, greeted in Israel by agrarian processions reminiscent of those of the ancient Israelites, who marched in processions to Jerusalem to offer the first-fruits of their harvest to the Temple.

The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Sukkot)

The Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot, celebrated from the 15^th of the month of Tishri - the first month of the Jewish year - lasts one week. It recalls the forty years the Israelites spent in the desert after leaving Egypt, before reaching the Promised Land. Huts are built in courtyards, on balconies or terraces. Ephemeral or demountable structures, their roofs are made of foliage, allowing a glimpse of the stars. Meals are eaten there (at least once a day) in an atmosphere that evokes the precariousness of human existence. In the synagogues, bouquets made up of four specific species (arba'ah minim) are waved: a palm branch (loulav), three sprigs of myrtle (hadass), two branches of willow ('aravah) and an aromatic lemon, the citron (etrog). The bouquet is waved towards the four cardinal points in succession. On the seventh day of the festival, Hosha'na Rabbah, the faithful form processions and the bouquet of the four species is replaced by willow branches, the leaves of which are rubbed on the ground. The eighth day, dedicated to the Joy of the Torah (Simhat Torah), concludes the annual cycle of reading the Torah and begins a new one. All the scrolls of the Law are taken out of the ark and carried by the faithful in seven rounds around the platform.

Hut for the feast of tabernacles (sukkah)

Ph. Giovanni Ricci-Novara

The ‘historic’ festivals

Festival of Lights (Chanukah)

Laurence Salzmann, Chanukah, Radauti Roumanie.jpg

Laurence Salzmann (Philadelphia, 1944), Chanukah, Radauti, Romania, 1974-1976

It commemorates the historic victory of the Maccabees over the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, kings of Syria and Palestine, in 165 BC. Mattathias the Hasmonean and his sons led the Jewish revolt against King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had desecrated the Temple of Jerusalem; victorious, they rebuilt an altar, a large candelabra and several items of sacred furniture. The restoration of Jewish worship was celebrated with great festivities.

The festival instituted by the rabbis of the Talmud begins on the 25th of the month of Kislev. Tradition has it that Judah the Hasmonean found only a vial of undefiled oil in the Temple to light the lamps of the great candelabra; this oil burned miraculously for eight days, the time needed to make new quantities of oil.

For eight days, at nightfall, the Jews light the eight lights of the Chanukah lamp, adding one light each day. The lamp must be placed in front of a window where everyone can see it. Since the Middle Ages, Chanukah has been a very popular festival, with a variety of customs: people play spinning tops or cards, and in the Western world, children are given presents.

Lamp of the Reconsecration from Algeria or Tunisia

Lamp of the Reconsecration of the Temple (hanoukkiyyah), Algeria or Tunisia, 19th-20th century

There is a huge variety of Chanukah lamps, all of which have eight lights and often an additional ‘servant’ light (shammash) to light them. In the Middle Ages, the old Roman type, a flat oil lamp with compartments, or a terracotta lamp with multiple spouts, was followed by small bronze lamps with a triangular back, designed to be hung on a wall. This model spread throughout Europe and North Africa, and was decorated with a wide range of motifs: flowers, biblical scenes, mythological figures and architectural motifs. From the 16^th century onwards, they were fitted with four legs, while the candlestick shape developed, better suited to synagogal use and the use of candles.

Although we are more familiar with lamps made from durable materials (silver, copper, bronze) and with elaborate decoration, it should be remembered that they were the property of members of the wealthy classes. Modest or poor Jews made and used much more rudimentary containers (terracotta, dried earth, hollowed-out stones or even vegetables) for ephemeral use, which subsequently generated a particularly imaginative form of folk art.

Feast of Lots (Purim)

Illuminated Esther scroll, attributed to Shalom Italia (Mantua, circa 1619 - Amsterdam, circa 1655), Amsterdam, circa 1641

The Feast of Lots (Purim) is celebrated on the 14^th of Adar. It commemorates the deliverance of the Jews from a plot to exterminate them. The story of this episode, which takes place in the ancient city of Susa in the 5^th century BC, is handed down to us in the biblical book of Esther (megillat Ester). Haman, the vizier of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Ahashverosh, identified with Xerxes I), decided to kill all the Jews, ‘young and old, children and women’, and cast lots (in Accadian for - from which the word Purim is derived) for the date on which he would carry out his plan: 13 Adar. At the request of her uncle Mordechai, a descendant of King Saul, Queen Esther intervened with her husband Ahasuerus to foil the plot. The Jews fought a victorious battle and Haman and his sons were hanged.

The rabbis instituted a day of fasting on 13 Adar; 14 Adar was a day of celebration. In the fortified cities of Antiquity, the festival was postponed until the following day and was known as ‘Purim of Susa’ (Shushan Purim). On the eve and morning of the festival, the Book of Esther is read from a calligraphic parchment scroll in the synagogue: the megillah. The audience tries to cover up the name of Haman, the enemy of Israel, each time it is spoken, by waving clappers or rattles. A feast brings the party to a close, and the guests are invited to drink so much wine that they confuse the names Haman and Mordecai. Food and pastries are offered to friends, and gifts to the poor. The festival gives rise to a carnival and theatrical performances.
Illuminated megillot for private use appeared after the Renaissance; some were decorated by hand, others were printed. All of them feature repetitive engraved decoration - figures and ornamental motifs - that leave space between columns and cartouches for calligraphic text. Italian scrolls are marked by the influence of commedia dell'arte.

Jerusalem

Around 1000 BC, King David, anxious to ensure the unity of the twelve Israelite tribes under his rule, established his capital in a small independent town in the Judean mountains and installed the Ark of the Covenant (Aron ha-'Edout, literally “Ark of the Testimony”), where the Tables of the Law (Louhot ha-Brit, literally “Tables of the Covenant”) were kept. His successor, King Solomon, built a temple here, completing the sealing of the covenant between Jerusalem and God. Destroyed for the first time by the Babylonians (in 585 BC), the city was restored by the priest Ezra (Ezra the scribe) and Nehemiah, the reforming governor sent to Judea by Artaxerxes II in the first half of the 4^th century BC. Later, King Herod (40-3 BC) rebuilt the temple to make it one of the splendours of Antiquity. Jerusalem became a major place of sacrifice and pilgrimage, a spiritual centre where people discussed God and his Law, and pursued the salvation of mankind. But it was destroyed a second time by the Romans (in the year 70) and its defenders were scattered outside their homeland. From then on, these exiles never ceased to cherish the dream of restoring the city, cultivating in their collective and individual memories the image of a heavenly Jerusalem, and hoping for its fulfilment in the earthly Jerusalem. They now saw it as the navel of the world, destined to receive the Messiah and become a ‘city of justice’, a ‘city of beauty’, a ‘city of truth’ and a ‘city of God’.

In their homes and synagogues, the Jews point to Jerusalem and turn to it in their prayers; in their thanksgiving, they ask for it to be rebuilt, tirelessly repeating the famous verse from the Psalms: ‘If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget me’ (137:5). They mark no less than three days of fasting each year to mourn her loss, and they do not conclude the Passover ceremony or the service on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) without declaring: ‘Next year in Jerusalem’. For centuries, when they had the chance, they chose to die in Jerusalem and be buried on the Mount of Olives, at the foot of which the resurrection of the dead was to take place and towards which all the nations of the earth were to converge.