Jewish traditions
Jewish traditions have been kept for more than three thousand years in many lands, and include Shabbat, the festivals of Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Hanukkah, the dietary laws of kashrut, and the rites of brit milah, bar and bat mitzvah, marriage and mourning.
Jewish traditions have been kept for more than three thousand years in many lands, and include Shabbat, the festivals of Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Hanukkah, the dietary laws of kashrut, and the rites of brit milah, bar and bat mitzvah, marriage and mourning. The Jewish communities of Ashkenaz, Sepharad, Mizrahi lands, Ethiopia and India each developed their own foods, melodies and customs. These pages describe them as those who keep them do, and note the variety among communities.
Shabbat and the festivals
Shabbat, from Friday evening to Saturday night, is the weekly day of rest with candles, wine, challah and a family meal. The festivals follow the lunar calendar: the autumn High Holy Days, the harvest of Sukkot, the lights of Hanukkah, the carnival of Purim and the freedom story of Passover, with its seder. Each has special foods, readings and customs, and many involve children actively.
Many communities, many customs
Jews from Iraq, Morocco, Yemen, Poland, Ethiopia and Spain have all kept the same faith with differences in food, melody and dress. A Moroccan Mimouna celebration after Passover, a Yemenite henna party or an Ashkenazi cholent on Shabbat all belong to the tradition. The common thread is the study of text, the remembrance of history and the care of community, expressed in rites as old as the faith.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Jewish (faith). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelYom Kippurיוֹם כִּפּוּר
The holiest day in Judaism, dedicated to fasting, prayer and atonementSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇮🇱 IsraelRosh Hashanahרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה
The Jewish New Year marked by shofar horn blasts, prayer and sweet foodsSpiritual
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelSukkotסוכות
A seven-day autumn Jewish festival of temporary booths, harvest prayers and hospitalitySpiritual
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 5 moreTisha B'Avתשעה באב
A solemn fast day in July or August to mourn the destruction of the Jerusalem Temples and other Jewish tragedies.Spiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇵🇱 Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland and 1 moreMarch of the LivingMarsz Żywych (Polish) · מצעד החיים (Hebrew)
An annual two-week journey to Poland ending in a silent walk from Auschwitz to BirkenauCeremony
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelShavuotשבועות
A late-spring Jewish festival of the wheat harvest and the giving of the TorahSpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreMaslenitsaМасленица
A seven-day Eastern Slavic festival of pancakes and bonfires marking the end of winter before Lent.Festival · Breakfast
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreShemini Atzeretשְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת
The eighth day of assembly, kept right after Sukkot with a prayer for rainSpiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelYom HaZikaronיוֹם הַזִּכָּרוֹן
Israel's national day of mourning for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism.Ceremony
🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 2 moreSigdስግድ
An Ethiopian Jewish holiday of covenant renewal, fasting, and longing for ZionSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇪🇬 Cairo, EgyptSham Ennessimشم النسيم
An Egyptian spring festival of picnics, salted fish, green onions and painted eggsSeasonal
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked with fire, feasting and poetrySeasonal
🇨🇱 Santiago, ChileFiestas Patrias
Chile's homeland festivities celebrating national identity with music, dance, and foodCeremony
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreTashlikhתשליך
A Jewish new year rite of casting sins into flowing water, kept by the watersideSpiritual
🇮🇱 Safed, Israel and 5 moreHakafotהַקָּפוֹת
Circling the synagogue platform with the Torah scrolls, at Sukkot and Simchat TorahSpiritual
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreTorah readingקריאת התורה
The public reading of the Torah scroll in synagogue, chanted to a special tuneSpiritual
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreHigh Holy Daysיָמִים נוֹרָאִים
The Jewish year's ten days of repentance, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom KippurSpiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelKiddushקידוש
A blessing over wine or grape juice that marks Shabbat and festivals as holySpiritual · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreHarvest festival
A thanks for the gathered crop, kept with church meals, songs and shared foodSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreSeharane
A Kurdish Jewish festival of campfires, circle dances and shared foodFestival
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelRosh Chodeshרֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ
The start of each Hebrew month, marked by the new moon and kept with prayerSpiritual
🇨🇳 Hong Kong, China and 5 moreLunar New Year
New year festivals dated by the moon, kept from East Asia to the Middle EastFestival
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 1 moreShofarשׁוֹפָר
A ram's horn blown in synagogue to mark the Jewish new year and the end of Yom KippurSpiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelFast of the Firstbornתַעֲנִית בְּכוֹרוֹת
A Jewish fast day kept by firstborns on the eve of PassoverSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast
🇹🇳 Tunisia and 1 moreBsisaبسيسة
A North African grain and oil ritual to unlock blessings for the yearTable custom · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreIsru Chagאסרו חג
A minor Jewish observance extending the joy and sanctity of major pilgrimage holidaysSpiritual
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, IsraelAravahערבה
The ritual waving and beating of willow branches during the festival of SukkotSpiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelTefillat Talתפילת טל
A Jewish prayer for dew, recited on the opening morning of PassoverSpiritual
🇮🇱 Jerusalem, Israel and 2 morePassover sacrificeקרבן פסח
The lamb offering eaten at the start of Passover, from the Exodus storySpiritual · Feasts and festival meals
🇺🇸 Manhattan, United StatesJews and Thanksgiving
An American national holiday kept by most US Jews, and debated by their rabbisFestival · Dinner
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 morePurim costume
The Jewish custom of wearing masks and disguises during the festival of PurimDress
🇮🇱 Israel and 3 moreLeil Selichotליל הסליחות
A night of penitential prayers and poems recited before the Jewish New Year to seek forgiveness.Spiritual
🇮🇱 IsraelEve of Passover on Shabbatערב פסח
Special Jewish calendar customs when the eve of Passover coincides with the SabbathSeasonal · Dinner
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Eve of Passover on Shabbat: בעלת הזכויות - טלי אמתי, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yom HaZikaron: אבישי טייכר, CC BY 2.5, source
- Maslenitsa: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yom Kippur: Maurycy Gottlieb, Public domain, source
- March of the Living: No machine-readable author provided. Efka de~commonswiki assumed (base, CC BY 2.5, source
- Sigd: האגודה הישראלית למען יהודי אתיופיה, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rosh Hashanah: N100a . The original uploader was N100a at Hebrew Wikipedia ., Attribution, source
- Sham Ennessim: Ikonact, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sukkot: Zachi Evenor, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fiestas Patrias: Osmar Valdebenito, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Shavuot: https://www.flickr.com/people/69061470@N05, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tashlikh: Yaakov Saar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shemini Atzeret: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hakafot: Meir624, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tisha B'Av: shlomi kakon, CC BY 2.5, source
- Torah reading: Sagie Maoz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- High Holy Days: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Kiddush: Dimitri, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lunar New Year: Flying Pharmacist, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Harvest festival: High Contrast, CC BY 3.0 de, source
- Passover sacrifice: מפוכח, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rosh Chodesh: beth woodrum, CC BY 2.0, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Jews and Thanksgiving: Executive Committee of Congregation Shearith Israel., Public domain, source
- Fast of the Firstborn: J. M. W. Turner, Public domain, source
- Isru Chag: Jim Padgett, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bsisa: Kamelgazzah, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Purim costume: Flavio~, CC BY 2.0, source
- Leil Selichot: Yael Shilo יעל שילה, CC BY 3.0, source
- Aravah: DRosenbach ( Talk | Contribs ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source