Judaism: Celebrations

Created by: tidgywidgy
Created on: 05-04-18 15:35

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Rosh Hashanah
- Judaism: Festivals
  - Yom Kippur
    - origins + meaning
      - day of atonement - holiest day in the calendar
      - Leviticus 16:30 "atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you of all your sins"
      - Gods judgements finalised on this day = last chance to repent sins
    - Observance
      - Attending services in the synagogue
        focus on asking god to forgive sins = restore relationship
        
        take part in general confession as a community
        
        During the final service, jews are given one last chance to confess - doors of the ark closed = Gods judgement sealed
      - Observing other rituals
        Jews fast for 25 hours and do no work
        
        wear white = purity
        
        Bathing, wearing leather shoes + sex = forbidden
  - Pesach
    - Origin
      - celebrate Jews' escape from egypt
      - remembers the final plague that God sent to egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the jews
        Killed the firstborn son of the Egyptians but "passed over" the houses of jewish slaves
    - Importance
      - Celebrates the escape from egypt to create the birth of the jewish nation
      - Jews give thanks to God for their redemption + feel empathy for those still under opression
    - Preparations
      - remove leaven (yeast) from the home = recalls how the jews did not have time to let their bread rise as they fled egypt
      - After cleaning, parents hide bread crumbs to find + burn = leaven removed
      - some firstborn males fast = thanks escape from death
    - The Passover Seder
      - First evening of Pesach = families celebrate with a meal
      - during the meal, the youngest member asks 4 Qs about the meaning of rituals so, the story of the escape is told from the Haggadah
      - Red wine
        a reminder of the lambs blood on the doorpost which saved children from the plague
        
        4 glasses of wine are blessed = the 4 freedoms God promised in Exodus 6:6-7
      - Unleavened bread
        fulfils Gods command to celebrate the escape from erupt by eating the bread 7 days of the year (Exodus 12:15)
        
        some of the bread is hidden for the children to hide
      - On the Seder Plate
        a green vegetable to dip in salt water = new life in the promised land + tears shed in slavery
        
        two bitter herbs = bitterness of slavery
        
        Charoset (a sweet paste) = the mortar jews had to use when slaves, but now life is sweeter
        
        an egg + and lamb bone = the sacrifices made in the Temple of Jerusalem
- Origins + Meaning
  - remembers Gods creation of the world
  - a day of judgement: God weights up a persons actions over the last year, deciding their fortune of the year to come
  - anniversary of the day in which God created humans
- Observance
  - Improving Gods judgement
    - Gods judgement can be influenced by behaviour during the festival
    - they pray, do charity work, in order to make up for any mishaps over the past year
  - Celebrating at home
    - the day before, families prepare
    - the evening of Rosh Hashanah,families share a meal
    - symbolic foods e.g. apples dipped in honey = sewn year
  - Attending services at the synagogue
    - at the evening service, prayers are said asking God to continue being the king of the world
    - Next morning: rams horn blown 100 times followed by a longer service with special prayers

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Judaism: Celebrations

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