Do Jewish people celebrate Easter? Everything you need to know
Easter is a significant event on the Christian calendar. It is essential because it is the yearly day Christians congregate in churches to commemorate Jesus Christ's resurrection. So, who is supposed to observe Easter? And do Jewish people celebrate Easter?
Source: UGC
Jews, also known as Jewish people, are an ethnic or religious group and nation that descended from the Hebrews and Israelites of ancient Judah and Israel. Jewish ethnicity, national identity, and spiritual practice are all intertwined, as Judaism is the Jewish people's cultural religion, though adherence ranges from stern to none.
Do Jewish people celebrate Easter?
Jews do not observe Easter. Easter is a Christian holiday commemorating Jesus' awakening from the dead and victory over death and evil. Jews do not celebrate this memorial because they do not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah or believe in the narratives of his resurrection.
However, the Christian holiday of Easter frequently coincides with Passover, a prominent Jewish celebration. They overlap because, as a Jew, Jesus commemorated the Passover dish with his disciples during the final night of his life. He had arrived in Jerusalem one week before the Jewish celebration and had assembled for the Passover feast with the rest of the Jews.
What is the Jewish equivalent of Easter?
What do Jewish people celebrate on Easter? Passover, known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is one of Judaism's three pilgrimage carnivals. The other two are Shavuot or Pentecost, also referred to as the Feast of Weeks, which overlaps with the Christian commemoration of Pentecost, and Sukkot, also recognized as the Feast of Tabernacles.
Throughout these carnivals, all Jews who could afford it would journey to Jerusalem to commemorate at the Temple. During Passover, Jews tell the tale of their slavery to the Egyptians and God's deliverance. The narratives of Moses' confrontations with Pharaoh and the ten plagues are told repeatedly.
Today, Jews observe Passover with the Seder, an extremely ritualized family repast with recommended liturgical readings, favourite foods, and prayers. It has a fixed date based on the Jewish lunar calendar. It always starts on the 15th of Nisan, the Jewish calendar's seventh month.
What holidays do Jews celebrate?
Source: UGC
Jewish holidays are religious holidays observed by Jews all across the Hebrew calendar. They contain religious, ethnic, and national components from rabbinic mandates, biblical mitzvot "commandments," and Jewish and the State of Israel heritage.
1. Shabbat – The Sabbath
In Judaism, Shabbat is the seventh day of the week or Saturday. On this day, religious Jews commemorate the biblical narratives of the formation of heaven and earth in six days, along with the dismissal from slavery and the Exodus from Egypt, and look ahead to a prospective Messianic Age. Shabbat commences in the evening of Friday on the legal calendar because the Jewish religious calendar considers days from daylight to twilight.
2. Rosh Chodesh – The new month
Rosh Chodesh is a minor holiday celebrated in the Hebrew calendar at the start of each month, commemorating the new moon's arrival. It is celebrated for one or two days, based on whether the prior month had 29 or 30 days.
3. Rosh Hashanah - The Jewish New Year
Yom Teruah is the biblical name for this holiday. It is the very first of the Jewish high holy days. Rosh Hashanah initiates a ten-day duration of repentance that culminates in Yom Kippur, along with the rotation of autumnal religious carnivals that continues through Sukkot and concludes with Shemini Atzeret.
4. Tzom Gedalia - Fast of Gedalia
The Fast of Gedalia is observed from daylight to twilight to mourn the murder of Gedaliah, the virtuous governor of the once-great Kingdom of Judah. After the First Temple razing and King Zedekiah's drop, his death effectively ended Jewish independence.
5. Yom Kippur - Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur is the sacred day in Samaritanism and Judaism. It occurs every year on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. The day's commemorations are mainly focused on expiation and repentance and include total fasting and austere behaviour, in addition to focused prayer and sin confessions.
6. Sukkot - Feast of Booths or Tabernacles
Sukkot is a Torah-commanded festival observed for seven days starting on the 15th of Tishrei. It's part of the Three Pilgrimage Carnivals, during which all Israelites who might travel to the Temple in Jerusalem were instructed.
Source: UGC
Aside from its harvest origins, the holiday has spiritual significance due to its rejection of materialism in favour of national identity, faith, and hospitality, with this concept underlying the building of a sukkah, a momentary, nearly nomadic layout.
7. Hanukkah - Festival of Lights
Hanukkah is a celebration memorializing the recapture of Jerusalem and successive recommitment of the Second Temple in the second century BCE, at the start of the Maccabean Revolt in opposition to the Seleucid Empire.
8. Tu Bishvat - New Year of the Trees
Tu BiShvat is a holiday celebrated on the 15th of Shevat, the Hebrew month. In modern Israel, the day is environmental awareness, with trees planted in commemoration.
9. Purim - Festival of Lots
Purim is a celebration commemorating the rescue of Jewish individuals from destruction at the hands of an Achaemenid Empire official called Haman, as narrated in the Book of Esther.
10. Pesach – Passover
Passover, or Pesach, is a significant holiday commemorating the Bible narrative of the Israelites' flee from slavery in Egypt. It is observed on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which typically falls on a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday during the initial month of spring or Aviv.
11. Sefirah - Counting of the Omer
Sefirah is the 49-day time frame amidst the biblical pilgrimage festivals of Shavuot and Passover. According to the Torah, this duration is tallied in weeks and days. The initial day of this duration is the day of the New Year's crop's initial grain giving, an omer of barley.
12. Shavuot - Feast of Weeks
Shavuot, also identified as the Feast of Weeks in English, is a festival celebrated on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan. Shavuot was the biblical date for the beginning of the harvest season in the Land of Israel.
What holidays do Jewish not celebrate?
Source: UGC
Jews and Christians observe different religious holidays. Some of the Christian religious holidays that Jews do not observe include:
1. Christmas
Jews do not observe Christmas as a religious festival. Christmas day commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, whose death and birth are central to Christian theology. The confinement of Jesus of Nazareth is not considered significant in Judaism.
2. Easter holidays
For a variety of reasons, Jews do not commemorate Easter. The most severe issue is that Jews do not regard Jesus as the Messiah. They trust that he has not accomplished specific prophecies, implying he's unable to be the one who was predicted.
Do Jewish people celebrate thanksgiving?
As opposed to other holidays, such as Halloween, halacha does not forbid Jewish involvement in thanksgiving since the holiday has secular rather than religious roots and undercurrents. The Torah forbids Jews from participating in "gentile customs," a restriction obtained from Leviticus 18:3; many people do not deem thanksgiving to fall into this category.
FAQs
- Is Easter a Jewish holiday? No. Jews do not commemorate Easter, which is a major Christian holiday.
- Is Passover and Easter the same? Passover and Easter have numerous parallels because they occur at the exact moment of the year, and some elements of their festivities are comparable. However, they are two very different celebrations. Easter is a Christian celebration, while Passover is a Jewish festival.
- What is Holy week? Holy Week, the week amidst Palm Sunday and Easter in the Christian church, is observed with unique dignity as a moment of dedication to Jesus Christ's Passion.
- Do Jews do anything for Easter? Jesus is not regarded as the Messiah in Judaism. As a result, most Jews, both Secular and Orthodox, do not commemorate Easter.
- What is the biggest celebration for Jews? Yom Kippur is the sacred day in the religious group's calendar. Its central theme is penance and reconciliation.
- What are the four major Jews holidays? Their four significant holidays include; Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Yom Kippur, and Passover.
- Why is Easter celebrated with eggs? Eggs symbolize new life and rebirth, and it is believed that this historic practice became an aspect of Easter celebrations.
Do Jewish people celebrate Easter? No. Easter is a Christian holiday commemorating Jesus' resurrection from the dead and victory over death and evil. Jews do not celebrate this memorial because they do not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah or believe in the narratives of his resurrection.
Yen.com.gh recently featured exciting facts about why the International Day of Happiness is celebrated. The International Day of Happiness is a yearly celebration that seeks to increase global awareness of the importance of happiness.
What is the significance of the International Day of Happiness? The movement's main objective is to raise awareness that expansion entails more than just boosting economic growth and enhancing financial results. It also entails improving everyone's well-being and cheerfulness.
Source: YEN.com.gh
