Jewish Holy Days to be Incorporated in Christian Liturgy

The M+G+R Foundation

Definition of Key Jewish Holy Days

and

Those Which Are to Be Incorporated in the Christian Liturgical Observances

Originally published on December 16th, 2018

Definition of Key Jewish Holy Days

Rosh Hashanah

Sometimes translated as the Feast of Trumpets is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah. It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days. (1)

Passover or Pesach

Is an important biblically derived Jewish festival. The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. (2)

Yom Kippur

Also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25 hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue services. (3)

Sukkot

Also known as Feast of Tabernacles, is a biblical Jewish holiday commemorating the Exodus and the dependence of the People of Israel on the Will of God. (4)

Shavuot

Also known as the Feast of Weeks and as Pentecost in Ancient Greek, is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the anniversary of the day God gave the Torah to the entire nation of Israel assembled at Mount Sinai, although the association between the giving of the Torah and Shavuot is not explicit in the Biblical text. (5)

Those are the five Jewish Holy Days which were or should have been observed in pre-Babylonian Judaism. The observance of some of them were commanded by God, others, like Sukkot and Shavuot, whose observance should have been so logical that they did not need to be commanded by God for a faithful Jew to have observed them.

There is one more, a post-Babylonian and post-Greco Jewish Holy Day (yet, pre-Christian) which best symbolizes the Judaism-Christianity link:

Chanukah / Hanukkah

Also known as the Festival of the Lights. According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication of the Temple there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. (6)

Traditional Key Jewish Holy Days Which Are to Be Incorporated in Christian Liturgical Observances

The Jewish Holy Days which are to be incorporated into the current Christian calendar, after making the appropriate corrections for their hinging on the start of the Essene Year, are:

Period of the Unleavened Bread

Is to be observed now from the sundown on the Tuesday of the Passover Meal until sundown of Holy Saturday (Resurrection).

Yom Kippur (atonement and repentance)

Is to be observed from sundown on the Tuesday of the Passover Meal until 3 PM of Holy Friday, when Yeshua expires on the cross for the salvation of humanity.

Sukkot (the freedom from slavery)

Are the seven days from sundown of Holy Saturday (Resurrection) until the sundown of the following Saturday - the Saturday prior to Sunday of Divine Mercy. In this period the Exodus is memorialized.

Shavuot (the delivery of the Ten Commandments by God to Moses)

Should be celebrated 50 days after Holy Saturday - on Pentecost Sunday.

Chanukah (when the oil for rededicated Temple's Menorah lasted eight days)

Should be celebrated on December 25th as we observe the dawn of the Light of the World - Jesus Christ. The celebration is to last for eight days which in Christianity is called the Christmas Octave.

Finally, as a reference point, and not necessarily as a religious celebration, the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) also deserves to be fixed in its proper place:

Rosh Hashanah

It makes perfect sense that "Rosh Hashanah", meaning "New Year", be celebrated at the beginning of the Essene year, which is in March - regardless of the fact that it goes against the custom of the adulterated post-Babylonian calendar, which celebrates the new year in September.

NOTES

(1) Rosh Hashanah

(2) Passover

(3) Yom Kippur

(4) Sukkot

(5) Shavuot

(6) Chanukah/Hanukkah