The Jewish holidays are an essential part of Jewish spiritual life.  Therefore, at Beth Emunah, we recognize the value and beauty of the Jewish holidays and create services that celebrate them in dynamic and meaningful ways.

Upcoming Holiday Services

Shavuot:  Sunday, June 8th at 11:00am here at the synagogue

 The Core Jewish Holidays

Shabbat is the weekly Sabbath, and is known as an "island in time."  It is a day of rest in which we focus our attention on God and the completion of Creation.

Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish civil New Year and commemorates the themes of creation, recognizing God as our King, and the need for redemption.  It is also known as the Feast of Trumpets.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, the most holy day on the Jewish calendar.  It is a day set apart for reflection and repentance.

Sukkot is known as the Feast of Booths.  It is an eight day commemoration of when teh Jewish people wandered in the desert for forty years.  During that time we did not have a permanent place to live and had to live in temporary shelters (sukkot).  Every year during the festival of Sukkot we continue to dwell in temporary shelters (sukkot) to remind us of the temporal nature of our lives.  At any time we could be forced to live again in "temporary shelters," and lose all of our possessions.  Sukkot reminds us that everything we have in life is from God, and to be thankful for everything God provides.

Simchat Torah is a lively celebration that occurs at the end of Sukkot and brings to conclusion (and restarts) the yearly Torah reading cycle.

Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian-Greek army in the 2nd century B.C.E.

Tu B'Shvat is also known as the New Year for Trees, and celebrates our connection to our agrarian past and to our need to be environmentally conscious today. 

Purim commemorates the annulment of the decree against the Jewish people in ancient Persia (Late 6th century B.C.E.).

Passover commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery and of the Exodus from ancient Egypt.

Yom Hashoah is the Holocaust Memorial Day in remembrance of the 6 million Jews and others killed by the German Nazi regime and their collaborators.

Yom HaAtzmaut is Israel's Independence Day and commemorates the Declaration of Independence of the modern State of Israel in 1948.

Shavuot is the Feast of Weeks, and is a celebration of spiritual renewal and of the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai over 3,000 years ago.

Tisha B'Av is a day of fasting and mourning the destruction of both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem and of the Jewish dispersion.