Hebrew name means “Weeks” because it was traditional to count the weeks between Passover and Shavuot. 

What’s it about? Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. It was a pilgrimage holiday when the Temple was standing in Jerusalem, when farmers brought the first fruits of their four-year-old trees. It’s a one day holiday in the land of Israel and in the Reform tradition; Orthodox and Conservative Jews in the diaspora keep it for two days. 

Foods: Dairy foods are traditional on Shavuot, like blintzes and cheesecake.

Activities: One of the traditional texts for Shavuot is the Book of Ruth. Reform Judaism therefore chose Shavuot as the holiday on which to hold Confirmation ceremonies, when teenagers reaffirm their Jewish beliefs. Some follow the mystical custom of an all-night study session, called a Tikkun Leil Shavuot, on the eve of Shavuot.

Symbols: Tablets, blintzes. Greeting: “Chag Sameah” or “Happy Holiday.”

Hebrew name means the eighth day, or extra day following Sukkot/Hebrew

name means “Rejoicing in the Torah.” 

What’s it about? Celebrated on the same day in Israel and by US Reform groups, and as two days in Conservative and Orthodox communities in the diaspora. We celebrate finishing the reading of the Torah for the year and starting it again. 

Foods: More big sumptuous meals. 

Activities: This is a synagogue holiday with a long service, and in the middle of it, people get up, process through their building with the Torah scrolls and dance with them. It is a chance to honor people by calling them up to make blessings on the Torah, because there is a reading from the end of the croll—the death of Moses—and another from the beginning–the creation of the world. In some congregations, the assembled people unroll the Torah scroll and stand in the middle of the parchment before they start the cycle again. 

Symbols: The Torah scroll, flags that children carry, dancing people. 

Greeting: “Chag Sameah” or “Happy Holiday!”

Hebrew name means “Ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av”. What’s it about? This fast day commemorates the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. In the medieval period, Jews began attaching other calamities to the day, including the expulsion from Spain in  492. 

Foods: A fast day with no food or later. 

Activities: Though this is a major fast day with no food, water or washing, it is a minor holiday in the sense that there is no requirement to abstain from work. The main activity is the chanting of the Book of Lamentations by candlelight in the synagogue, during which it is traditional to sit on the floor.