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Holidays and Celebrations
Jewish holiday calendar
All holidays start at sunset the day before the date listed, and also end at sundown.
5770
Tu Bishvat: 30 January 2010 (Saturday)
Purim: 28 February 2010 (Sunday)
Passover (Pesach): 30 March 2010 (Tuesday)
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah): 11 April 2010 (Sunday)
Israel Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron): 18 April 2010 (Sunday)
Israel Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut): 19 April 2010 (Monday)
Lag B'Omer: 2 May 2010 (Sunday)
Shavuot: 19 May 2010 (Wednesday)
Tisha B'Av: 20 July 2010 (Tuesday)
5771
Rosh HaShanah: 9 September 2010 (Thursday)
Yom Kippur: 18 September 2010 (Saturday)
Sukkot: 23 September 2010 (Thursday)
Shemini Atzeret: 30 September 2010 (Thursday)
Simhat Torah: 1 October 2010 (Friday)
Hanukkah (Chanukah): 2 December 2010 (Thursday)
Tu Bishvat: 20 January 2011 (Thursday)
Purim: 20 March 2011 (Sunday)
Passover (Pesach): 19 April 2011 (Tuesday)
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah): 1 May 2011 (Sunday)
Israel Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron): 8 May 2011 (Sunday)
Israel Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut): 9 May 2011 (Monday)
Lag B'Omer: 22 May 2011 (Sunday)
Shavuot: 8 June 2011 (Wednesday)
Tisha B'Av: 9 August 2011 (Tuesday)
5772
Rosh HaShanah: 29 September 2011 (Thursday)
Yom Kippur: 8 October 2011 (Saturday)
Sukkot: 13 October 2011 (Thursday)
Shemini Atzeret: 20 October 2011 (Thursday)
Simhat Torah: 21 October 2011 (Friday)
Hanukkah (Chanukah): 21 December 2011 (Wednesday)
Tu Bishvat: 8 February 2012 (Wednesday)
Purim: 8 March 2012 (Thursday)
Passover (Pesach): 7 April 2012 (Saturday)
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah): 19 April 2012 (Thursday)
Israel Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron): 25 April 2012 (Wednesday)
Israel Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut): 26 April 2012 (Thursday)
Lag B'Omer: 10 May 2012 (Thursday)
Shavuot: 27 May 2012 (Sunday)
Tisha B'Av: 29 July 2012 (Sunday)
5773
Rosh HaShanah: 17 September 2012 (Monday)
Yom Kippur: 26 September 2012 (Wednesday)
Sukkot: 1 October 2012 (Monday)
Shemini Atzeret: 8 October 2012 (Monday)
Simhat Torah: 9 October 2012 (Tuesday)
Hanukkah (Chanukah): 9 December 2012 (Sunday)
Tu Bishvat: 26 January 2013 (Saturday)
Purim: 24 February 2013 (Sunday)
Passover (Pesach): 26 March 2013 (Tuesday)
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah): 7 April 2013 (Sunday)
Israel Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron): 14 April 2013 (Sunday)
Israel Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut): 15 April 2013 (Monday)
Lag B'Omer: 28 April 2013 (Sunday)
Shavuot: 15 May 2013 (Wednesday)
Tisha B'Av: 16 July 2013 (Tuesday)
2013-2014 (5774)
Rosh HaShanah: 5 September 2013 (Thursday)
Yom Kippur: 14 September 2013 (Saturday)
Sukkot: 19 September 2013 (Thursday)
Shemini Atzeret: 26 October 2013 (Thursday)
Simhat Torah: 27 October 2013 (Friday)
Hanukkah (Chanukah): 28 November 2013 (Thursday)
Tu Bishvat: 16 January 2014 (Thursday)
Purim: 16 March 2014 (Sunday)
Passover (Pesach): 15 April 2014 (Tuesday)
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah): 27 April 2014 (Sunday)
Israel Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron): 4 May 2014 (Sunday)
Israel Independence Day (Yom HaAtzmaut): 5 May 2014 (Monday)
Lag B'Omer: 18 May 2014 (Sunday)
Shavuot: 4 June 2014 (Wednesday)
Tisha B'Av: 5 August 2014 (Tuesday)
Holiday Chart
Passover
Pesach
Nisan 14 |
Purpose: Remembering the deliverance from Egyptian bondage. An unblemished firstborn male lamb was sacrificed and its blood poured on the altar. A lamb was selected for each family, and four days before the lamb was to be slain it was brought into the home for a four-day examination period.
Messianic Significance: Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who died for our sins. On Nisan 14 at the exact time the lamb was to be slain, Jesus was slain. Jesus also had a four-day examination period before the religious leaders and was found without blemish. |
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Unleavened Bread
Nisan 15
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Purpose: Leaven symbolizes sin. Unleavened Bread speaks of sanctification. God told the Jews to cleanse all leaven from their homes and eat only unleavened bread, matzah, for seven days, symbolizing a holy walk with Him.
Messianic Significance: Jesus is the "Bread of Life" without sin. Born in Bethlehem. In Hebrew, Bethlehem means house of bread. Just as matzah is striped and pierced, so was the Messiah. This Feast falls on the day Jesus was buried. |
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Day of Firstfruits
Nisan 17 |
Purpose: The first of the barley harvest was brought as an offering to the priest in the Tabernacle/Temple. The priest would present the first of the harvest unto the Lord by waving them back and forth. This reminded the Hebrews that God gave them the land, and the harvest belonged to Him.
Messianic Significance: Jesus is the Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Jesus' resurrection marked the beginning of the harvest of souls. John 12:23-24,32 shows Jesus was likened to a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying to produce a great harvest. Jesus arose on Firstfruits. |
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Feast Of Weeks
Pentecost
Shavuot |
Purpose: Fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits, two loaves of leavened bread are presented to God. Also a reminder that the Jews were slaves to Egypt (Deut. 16:9-17). The giving of the Torah to Moses on Sinai took place this day. Three thousand were killed that day.
Messianic Significance: Fifty days after Jesus arose, a group of Messianic Jews received the Holy Spirit. Jesus said "Unless I go, the Holy Spirit will not come. But when I go (Firstfruits- His resurrection) I will send the Holy Spirit unto you." God wrote the law (Torah) on the hearts of the believers. Three thousand souls were saved. |
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Feast of Trumpets
Rosh Hashanah
Tishri 1 |
Purpose: The Jewish New Year begins the high Holy Days in the Jewish month of Tishri (corresponding to September or October.) A celebration of the spiritual birthday of the world or creation. Blowing of the trumpets and coronation of the King.
Messianic Significance: Possibly depicts the rapture of the church, a regathering of believers at the sound of the trumpet (1 Thess. 4:16-18; Rev. 19) and judgment of the wicked, or possibility is that this is the day of the second coming. Jesus will be King of earth. |
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Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur
Tishri 10 |
Purpose: The holiest day in the Jewish year is spent in fasting, prayer, and confession. This was one gracious day a year given by God that each individual could receive forgiveness. The high priest entered the holy of holies to make atonement for the nation by sacrificing animals including two goats. It is a celebration of second chances and new beginnings.
Messianic Significance: Christ our Messiah was displayed as our sacrifice. We can use this as a time of self-searching, repentance, and recommitment to God. The goats represent Jews and Gentiles. Possibly points to the day of the Messiah's physically returning to earth. Or it is possible this is the Judgment Day. |
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Feast of Tabernacles
Sukkoth
Tishri 15 |
Purpose: God told the people they should live in booths for seven days so that the generations would know that His people lived in booths when He brought them out of Egypt. Each Sukkoth, the Jews build and dwell or eat in booths or temporary dwellings for seven days. A joyful celebration!
Messianic Significance: Christ is our tabernacle or dwelling place (John 14:14). May represent the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth. Many believe Jesus was born during this Feast because He was born in the late fall in a "booth". Or this is possibly when we tabernacle (dwell) with God in heaven. |
Q: Aren't the biblical holidays only for the Jews?
A: The biblical holidays were commanded to the Hebrew people in Leviticus. Notice these are not "Jewish" holidays. God said they were His feasts.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say to them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein."
Paul explains in Galatians that, because of God's grace, Gentiles who came to salvation were not required to keep the feasts. The Gentiles were not raised keeping the Jewish commands and were not expected to keep the 613 laws that identify the Jews as God's chosen people. They were expected to give up idolatry and obey the seven Noahide laws (see Appendix F: Law for the Noahide laws.). They were glad to be a part of God's family. The Gentile had the freedom to celebrate the holidays and did sometimes at the risk of persecution. In the year 339, it was considered a criminal offense to convert to Judaism. Several decades later, the Synod of Laodicea ruled against Christians feasting with Jews, classifying those that did as heretics.
God's mercy and grace through Christ's death and resurrection saves the Jews and Gentiles then and now.
Q: Are Believing Gentiles Part of Israel?
1. It is explained in Romans 2 that a born-again Gentile, one who has come to faith in the God of Israel through trusting Jesus the Messiah, is a Jew inwardly because his heart is circumcised even though his flesh is not; he is a true God-worshiper, whose praise comes from God in many senses a real Jew. Some Gentiles claim Jews are no longer the chosen peoples they don't need to celebrate.
“...Do not boast against the branches...remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” –Romans 11:18. And Romans 11:12 tells us, “Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!”
2. Romans 2 has been used to prove Gentiles are commanded to keep the holidays because believers are Jews and God commanded the holidays to be kept forever.
3. Romans 2 has also been used to say Gentiles are not commanded to keep the holidays because Gentiles do not need to be circumcised.
It has also been argued that just as certain Scripture (Exodus 13:2; Deuteronomy 21:15-17) is given only to the "first-born, the holidays are only for the Jews. Others believe because we are grafted into God's family (Romans 11), we are accountable for all of God's commands. Does God have different rules for His children? He has different commands for priests, for women, and for men. To whom much is given, much is required.
Q: Isn't it True there is No Longer Jew nor Greek in Christ?
A: Galatians 3:28 says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. This secluded verse has been twisted to say a Jew must give up his culture. There are differences between male and female, a slave and a free man. According to this verse, all should be treated as equals, thus fulfilling Jesus' command to love others as yourself. Jewish and Gentile believers (male or female, slave or free) are all equals before God. Continue reading the rest of Galatians 3. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Again, look at Romans 3:25: Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also..."
The law (guidance) was given for the people's sake, not for God's sake. It was a gift, a treasure, as explained all through Psalm 119. Jesus never condemned the law. He only rejected what the legalistic men had turned it into. For example, the Sabbath was made for all to benefit. The law specifically said the slaves, domestic workers, and even animals were not to work. It was to be a rest for all, for the benefit of the entire community. Jesus was criticized for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus said, "Man was not made for the Sabbath but Sabbath for the man." He was recapturing the original point of the law the spirit of the law for man's benefit. Jesus summed up all of the laws in two commands, loving God with all we have and loving others as ourselves. On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets. (Matt. 22:34-40).
Q: Didn't Christians Replace the Jews as the Chosen People?
A: The Jews are the chosen people of God. They were chosen because they accepted God when other peoples rejected Him. Some religions believe the Jews lost that promise. Other groups claim that they/Christians are now God's chosen people and that is called 'The Replacement Theology'.
Replacement theology is a false belief that another group of people have replaced the Jews because the Jews gave up the opportunity to believe in Christ. We must remember the entire first church was completely Jewish. Hundreds of thousands of Jews accepted Christ. Peter and Paul took the gospel to the Gentiles and, praise God, many Gentiles accepted Christ. But remember also, many Gentiles rejected Christ! If someone feels the Jews gave up the right to be God's people that person believes that works not even personal works, but works of a race save us! We all fall short; all our righteousness are as filthy rags. The Jews are God's chosen people because of God's covenant to Abraham. God never broke His promises to the Jews. Revelation is full of references to the Israelites during the end time.
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