S_WH7+Holidays

Will Hughes Holidays (Home)
Sources: Wikipedia.com and my Mother ||
 * **HOLIDAY** || **Short Definition** || **Long Definition** ||
 * Hanukkah || The Jewish Festival of Light when Jews get together with their families. || According to the religious perspective following the Maccabees victory over the Syrians, the Jewish people restored the great temple. They needed to light the eternal light and they only had enough oil for 1 night.The religious version claims that the oil lasted for 8 long days until they got more oil. That is the religious version, but what really happened is that after the victory over the Syrians they missed Tu B'Shavat so they stuck 8 spears on the ground and burned them and celebrated Tu B'Shavat late that year. The myth of Hanukkah was created in 165 B.C.E ||
 * Tu B'Shvat || The Jewish New Year of trees. || Minor Jewish holiday that is the new year for trees. During Tu B'Shvat Jews eat dried fruits such as raisins and prunes to celebrate the fruit of the tree. This Year Tu B'Shvat is on February 8 and as always the 15th of Shvat. In Israel the end to Tu B'Shvat is the blooming of the almond tree. It is also a tradition to plant a tree and honor all trees. Trees are a symbol of life. The origin of the modern way of celebrating Tu B'Shvat is to plant trees to reforest the land. This became popular because some Jews wanted to like environmentalism to Judaism.
 * Passover || Secular Jews celebrate passover because it celebrates the hard work and cooperation of the Jewish people in hard times. They also celebrate this to learn the moral values taught through this holiday. It also shows the Jews capability to fight back in desperate times and to reenact the suffering we went through in slavery in Egypt. || During Passover Secular and Religious Jews gather with their families to have Passover Seder. At the Seder Secular Jews celebrate the story of the freedom of the Jews. We also celebrate the moral values that the Passover story these moral lessons are; to rely on each other as a community rather individually, use creative thinking, and that there is almost always a peaceful solution to most threats. These relate to Passover because, according to Jewish legend, we worked together as a group to escape Egypt rather than perish individually, we learned (according to our Mythical history) to bake matzoh to stay in front of the Egyptians rather than wait for the bread to rise, and not to fight them rather to run and not take away lives. We believe that we escaped from slavery in Egypt without any help from God or Super Natural powers from Moses. Religious Jews believe that the story of God and Moses is true, but other than that they believe what we believe in the case of moral values. ||
 * Yom Ha'Atzmaot || The Israeli independence day celebrating their independence in 1948. || Yom Ha'Atzmaot is Israel's equivalent to our independence day which is on July 4th. Their independence day is on the 5th day of lyar (or May 14th on our calender). This is celebrated when David ben Gurion declared their independence from the Palestinians. It sometimes is not even celebrated on the 5th day of lyar, maybe 1,2,3 days before. The 5th day of lyar only comes on a Friday or Saturday. In recent years Yom Ha'Atzmaot has come to symbolize your support for Israel's government not just their right to exist. Many secular humanistic Jews don't celebrate it for that reason, but still support Israel's right to exist. ||
 * Shavuos || Secular Jews believe it to be the origins of our heritage. || Religious Jews celebrate Shavous with prayers and religious readings. Secular Jews think of it as a holiday that celebrates the land itself (Israel) and therefore we eat food that Israelis produce and eat commonly such as dried fruits (figs and raisins), grains (we eat bread), and other plants and flowers to symbolize the land's growth throughout time. This holiday is always celebrated 50 days after passover. This Year it is on May 28th at sundown. ||
 * Shavuos || Secular Jews believe it to be the origins of our heritage. || Religious Jews celebrate Shavous with prayers and religious readings. Secular Jews think of it as a holiday that celebrates the land itself (Israel) and therefore we eat food that Israelis produce and eat commonly such as dried fruits (figs and raisins), grains (we eat bread), and other plants and flowers to symbolize the land's growth throughout time. This holiday is always celebrated 50 days after passover. This Year it is on May 28th at sundown. ||