Hebrew Holidays

Concise References

         Leviticus 23                                 The feasts

         Leviticus 25                                 Sabbatical and Jubilee Years

         Exodus 23                                    Sabbath

         Numbers 28-29                            What sacrifices for which holidays

         Deuteronomy 16                          A review

Annual Festivals

      Trumpets             Rosh Hashanah             New Year         Sept. 21, 2017

      Atonement         Yom Kippur                  Fast         Sept. 30, 2017

      Tabernacles         Booths                          Ingathering      Oct. 5 – 11, 2017

      Passover                                                           Mar. 31, 2018

      Unleavened Bread                                             Apr. 1 – 7, 2018

      Pentecost             Harvest                         First Fruits         May 20, 2018

The lunar calendar of Israel drifts in relation to our solar calendar.  The most current correlation may be found many places.  One of them is Jewish Holiday List – Jewish Federation of St. Louis (jfedstl.org)

Required attendance for all males at Passover (Unleavened Bread), Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Exodus 23:17, Deuteronomy 16:16).

Seven days were set aside like Sabbaths (no work), as “convocations” to the Lord: Unleavened Bread days 1 and 7, Tabernacles days 1 and 8, Pentecost, Trumpets, and Yom Kippur.

The festivals were designed to celebrate certain things:

Passover                       The Exodus

Unleavened Bread       The haste with which they left Egypt

                                    Barley harvest

                                    No new growth could be eaten before the first sheaf was presented

                                             on that Sunday

Pentecost                     Remember you were a slave, but now harvest in the promised land.

                                    Wheat harvest, new grain offering

Tabernacles                 Wilderness wanderings

                                    General harvest

Other Holidays

Hanukah                       Feast of Lights              Dec. 13 – 20, 2017

                                    Rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees

Purim                           Esther’s victory

Nicanor                        Victory by Nicanor over Syria (1 Maccabees 7:49)

Fast days in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (Zech 7:3-5, 8:19)