The Jewish High Holy Days

The Jewish High Holy Days, called the Yamim Noraim, are strictly the holidays connected with Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the former, a family and friend time for celebrating and welcoming in the Jewish new year, the latter, being a day purely for abstinence and repentance. Activities in synagogue during this period all emphasise the ‘personal, reflective and introspective’ aspects of this period

With only one exception, these minor fasts were all inaugurated by the Sages. While one fast is coincident with remembering victims of the Holocaust, these minor fasts are all to commemorate some major national tragedy as outlined in biblical times

It is without doubt one of the oldest and most joyous of all the Jewish holidays and in days gone by, marked the conclusion of the harvest season for ancient Jews. Religious Jews will take their meals during the eight days in a lightly-constructed roofed booths (a ‘Sukkah’) to recall the flimsy shelters their ancient forefathers had to use when wandering in the wilderness. The final days of Sukkoth celebrates the annual conclusion of readings from the Torah in synagogue, when they again return to the start of Genesis

The Chief Rabbi’s Office in Israel declared Jerusalem Day should be a minor religious holiday to thank God for victory in the Six-Day War and for answering the 2,000-year-old prayer, recited at the end of most Jewish religious services, of, "Next Year in Jerusalem". The day includes state ceremonies, parades, singing and dancing, memorial services for soldiers who died in the battle as well as the reciting of special prayers and blessings in synagogues. There are also academic lectures on Jerusalem-related topics as well as special programmes on television

The Jewish New year is also called the ‘Feast of the Trumpets’. The blowing of this ram's horn, called a ‘shofar’, announces the arrival of the New Year and originally summoned Jewish people to religious services in the synagogue. However, in practical terms, this call to prayer does not happen nowadays, except in the most religiously observant communities. However, the ram’s horn will indeed be blown at some stage during the actual synagogue service

The Jewish calendar is based on moon cycles, so while Jewish holy days fall on the same day of the Jewish calendar each year, they fall on a different day each year according to the secular calendar. This is very much like the Christian festival of Easter or the Muslim festival of Eid which never fall on the same date during the secular year

The new year for trees is not a fast and celebrates the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in Israel emerge from their winter ‘slumbers’ and begin a new fruit-bearing season

It is observed for eight nights and days, but is not a restrictive “Sabbath-like” Jewish festival in as much as Jews can go about their daily lives without the restrictions on work normally placed upon them by other major Jewish festivals. There are no religious reasons, for example, for schools to close. Celebrates the use of candles for festivals throughout the Jewish year

Passover is an eight-day festival that recognises the freeing of the Israelites, the ancient Jewish people, from slavery in Egypt. It is dated biblically at about 1,446 BC (some 3,500 years ago)

Observant Jewish people hold a very short ceremony called Havdalah, ("Separation") which is held as the first three evening stars appear on Saturday evening at dusk. This “closing” ceremony is to separate the spiritual time of Sabbath from the routine week of workdays that follow. This small ceremony involves lighting a special candle with several wicks, blessing a cup of wine and smelling sweet spices