Jewish Practices and Holy Days

What guides Jewish practice?

Traditional Jewish practice is guided by halakhah, the legal side of Judaism, which the Encyclopaedia Judaica says covers all its practices and observances.¹ Rabbinic tradition counts 613 commandments, called mitzvot, in the Torah.² Conservative Judaism's 1988 statement of principles defines halakhah as the norms taught by the Jewish tradition, how one is to live as a Jew.³

The movements differ on how binding the law is. The Orthodox Union teaches that the 613 commandments bind the Jewish people.⁴ The Rabbinical Assembly says Conservative Judaism combines fidelity to inherited tradition with the courage to integrate necessary change.⁵

Reform's 1999 statement commits Reform Jews to ongoing study of the whole array of mitzvot and to keeping those that address them. Its 1885 platform, since replaced, had accepted only the Torah's moral laws as binding.⁶⁷ Reconstructing Judaism teaches that, in learning from tradition, the past has a vote, not a veto.⁸ Pamela Nadell writes that Kaplan treated the commandments as folkways that answer human needs.⁹ Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities keep some customs differently; see the Branches page.¹⁰

How do Jews keep Shabbat?

Shabbat, the Sabbath, is the seventh day of the week, a day of rest and abstention from work. For ritual purposes the Jewish day begins at sunset or the end of twilight.¹¹¹² The Torah gives two reasons. In the Ten Commandments in Exodus, the day recalls creation: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11)¹³ In Deuteronomy's version, it recalls God's bringing Israel out of slavery in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15).¹³

The Orthodox Union teaches that God conferred holiness on the day and commanded that it be a day of oneg, delight.¹⁴

In traditional practice, candles are lit before Shabbat and three festive meals are eaten. Kiddush, a blessing of sanctification, is said over wine, and havdalah, a blessing that separates Shabbat from the weekday, marks the day's end.¹² The Mishnah lists 39 main kinds of work forbidden on Shabbat, among them sowing, baking, and kindling a fire.¹⁵ According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Orthodox Judaism forbids travel by car on Shabbat and Reform Judaism permits it. Conservative Judaism has differing views but generally permits driving solely to attend synagogue.¹² Reform's 1999 statement calls Shabbat a day of holiness, rest, and joy.⁶

What is kashrut?

Kashrut is the body of Jewish dietary law, which sets out which foods are kosher, or fit to eat. The Torah permits land animals that chew the cud and have fully split hooves, and fish with fins and scales. Under halakhah, meat must come from an animal killed by shehitah, ritual slaughter, and then be salted or roasted to remove the blood.¹⁶

The Torah does not explain these laws but links them with holiness: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy (Leviticus 11:44)¹³. The Encyclopaedia Judaica adds that the Pentateuch classifies them as hukkim, divine statutes whose reasons the text does not give. It quotes the Conservative writer Samuel Dresner that the goal of kashrut is holiness.¹⁶

Meat and milk are kept apart. A rule found three times in the Torah reads: Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. (Deuteronomy 14:21)¹³ Rabbinic law reads it as forbidding cooking, eating, or benefiting from such a mixture, and observant homes keep separate dishes.¹⁶

The movements differ here too. The Encyclopaedia Judaica reports that by the late twentieth century Reform Judaism had grown more positive toward kashrut, and many Reform synagogues keep kosher kitchens.¹⁶ The Conservative law committee has ruled on particular questions, such as permitting sturgeon and swordfish.¹⁶

How do Jews pray?

Jewish law sets prayer three times a day: morning, afternoon, and evening. The Encyclopaedia Judaica notes that this obligation is considered rabbinic, not biblical.¹⁷

Two prayers stand at the center. The Shema, recited morning and evening, is named for the first word of Deuteronomy 6:4, which declares that God is one.¹⁸ The Amidah, or "standing" prayer, is said standing at each daily service; on weekdays it has 19 blessings.¹⁹

In rabbinic practice, the Torah's command to write its words on the doorposts of the home (Deuteronomy 6:9) is kept with the mezuzah, a small scroll on the doorpost. The nearby verse about binding the words on the hand is kept with tefillin, leather boxes worn at weekday morning prayer.²⁰²¹

What happens in a synagogue service?

A synagogue service combines the statutory prayers with the reading of the Torah. On Sabbaths and festivals the scroll is read in public, in a yearly cycle of 54 weekly portions that became the usual practice. A portion from the Prophets, the haftarah, follows.²²²³ In many synagogues a cantor, the hazzan, has led the chanting of the service since the Middle Ages; some Hasidic and Reform congregations do not use one.²⁴ The Ark holding the scrolls is oriented toward Jerusalem or the east.²⁵

The Mishnah requires a minyan, a quorum of ten, for public prayer and for reading the Torah aloud.²⁶ Traditionally the quorum is ten men; the Encyclopaedia Judaica reports that in Reform, Reconstructionist, and most Conservative practice early in the twenty-first century, women were counted.²⁷ It adds that American reforming congregations introduced mixed seating in 1851 and most Conservative synagogues adopted it. In Israel, where most synagogues are Orthodox, the traditional partition between the main hall and the women's gallery prevails in all of them.²⁵

What other duties do Jews keep?

The Mishnah lists Torah study among the things with no fixed measure and says it is equal to honoring parents, acts of lovingkindness, and making peace together. It sets fifteen as the age for the study of Talmud.²⁸²⁹ The Encyclopaedia Judaica calls charity one of the cardinal mitzvot in the view of the rabbis of all ages.³⁰

What are the Jewish rites of passage?

Traditionally, a boy is circumcised on the eighth day after birth in the brit milah, the covenant of circumcision, which Jewish tradition traces to God's command to Abraham: And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations (Genesis 17:12)¹³. The rite is postponed if the child is unwell, and it is performed by a mohel, who in most modern communities has been specially trained.³¹

In some communities a girl is named in the synagogue when her father is called to the Torah, a custom the Encyclopaedia Judaica traces to the 16th and 17th centuries. Many families now hold a ceremony called Zeved ha-Bat or Simchat Bat.³²

A boy becomes bar mitzvah, responsible for the commandments, at thirteen, the age the Mishnah names; in traditional law a girl comes of age at twelve.²⁹³³ The best-known early bat mitzvah was held in 1922, and egalitarian ceremonies matching a boy's are documented from 1940. By the 1970s many Orthodox Jews also sought ways to mark a bat mitzvah within Jewish law.³³

At a wedding, the couple stands under the huppah, a canopy, and the ketubbah, a document setting out the husband's financial obligations to his wife, is read. Seven blessings are recited.³⁴³⁵ In most rites the groom crushes a glass, which over the ages has been understood as a sign of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem. Egalitarian weddings may use reciprocal wording in the ketubbah, and women may officiate.³⁴

Mourning moves in stages. Shivah, seven days of mourning, follows the burial; sheloshim lasts until the thirtieth day; and, for a parent, some restrictions last through the first year.³⁶ Mourners say the Kaddish, a prayer of praise, for eleven months and on each anniversary of the death.³⁷

What are Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?

Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, falls on the first of Tishri, the seventh month, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on the tenth.³⁸¹¹ The Torah sets the first: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation. (Leviticus 23:24)¹³ The Orthodox Union calls Rosh Hashanah the Day of Judgment for all individuals and nations. The shofar, a ram's horn, is sounded, and in the prayers Jews accept God's kingship.³⁹⁴⁰

Of Yom Kippur the Torah says: it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. (Leviticus 23:28)¹³ The Orthodox Union calls it the holiest day and the climax of the Ten Days of Repentance. The rabbis define its self-denial as five abstentions, from eating and drinking, washing, anointing, leather shoes, and marital relations.⁴¹⁴²

What are the other holy days and fast days?

The Torah sets the three pilgrim festivals, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. The Book of Esther describes Purim as instituted by Mordecai, though historians debate its origin. Hanukkah dates from the second century BCE, and the prophet Zechariah mentions the fasts for the Temple's fall.^38434445

Holy day	When	What it marks
Pesach (Passover)	From 15 Nisan, in spring in Israel, for seven days (Leviticus 23:6)1311	The Orthodox Union calls it the festival of redemption from slavery in Egypt.46 At the seder, a festive meal whose ceremonies follow a set order,47 the Mishnah requires naming the Passover offering, matzah, and bitter herbs48
Shavuot	6 Sivan, the fiftieth day of a count that begins at Passover	A harvest festival in the Torah; in rabbinic tradition, the giving of the Torah at Sinai49
Sukkot	From 15 Tishri, for seven days (Leviticus 23:34)13	Dwelling in booths, with the four species: citron, palm branch, myrtle, and willow50
Simchat Torah	22 Tishri in Israel, 23 Tishri in the Diaspora	The end and new start of the yearly cycle of Torah readings51
Hanukkah	From 25 Kislev, for eight days	The rededication of the altar after the Maccabees' victory over Antiochus; in the Talmud's account, a day's oil lasted eight nights, and lights are kindled each night44
Purim	14 Adar	Deliverance from Haman's plot in the Book of Esther, with gifts of food to friends and the poor43
Tisha B'Av	9 Av	A fast recalling the destruction of both Temples, among other calamities52

How is the Hebrew calendar set?

The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar: its months follow the moon and its years follow the sun. A common year has 353 to 355 days, and a leap year, which adds a second month of Adar, has 383 to 385.¹¹ Seven leap years fall in each 19-year cycle, making up the roughly seven months by which 19 solar years exceed 19 lunar ones.¹¹

The Encyclopaedia Judaica reports that in ancient times the high court in Jerusalem declared each new month after two witnesses reported seeing the new moon.⁵³

Outside Israel, an extra day is added to the biblical festivals except Yom Kippur, a practice that began when distant communities could not be sure which day the court had declared. Rosh Hashanah is kept for two days even in Israel. The Encyclopaedia Judaica reports that some Conservative communities make the second day optional and that Reform Judaism has abolished it.³⁸