With Hanukkah celebrated beginning next week, ThinkFives thought it would be an ideal time to provide valuable insights about a few Jewish holidays you can share with your students.
Jewish holidays are celebrated throughout the year, and many are connected to significant events in the history of the Jewish people.
We have listed five holidays in chronological order beginning this month, and going through the year. We have also included resource links for teachers to learn more.
Fun Facts that many of you may already know:
- Jewish holidays begin at sunset the day before they’re listed on the calendar since Jews believe sunset is the start of the day.
- The dates of the holidays are based on the Hebrew (lunar) calendar and can move by two to three weeks in any given year.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah is the New Year in the Jewish calendar, the first day in the month of Tishri. This holiday usually occurs in September or October.
During this period, Jewish people review their relationships with God and commemorate the creation of the world.
Holiday 2025: Sept. 22, 2025 – Wed, Sept. 24, 2025
Other Names: Jewish New Year
Celebrations and Traditions:
- Rosh Hashanah is associated with the blowing of the shofar (a ram’s horn)
- Customary foods like honey cake or apples dipped in honey are eaten to symbolize the coming of a sweet new year
- Challah, a special bread eaten every Friday night for Shabbat, has a different shape for Rosh Hashanah. It’s round and will often have raisins inside.
Yom Kippur is a Somber Day of Atonement
Rosh Hashanah’s 10-day period of introspection and repentance culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is when Jews are meant to personally atone for any wrongdoings to their friends and family. During Yom Kippur, the community comes together to ask God for forgiveness of all sins. The three tenants of Yom Kippur are repentance, prayer and charity.
The celebration of Rosh Hashanah is ten days long and culminates in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Jews seek to expiate their sins during this holiday and achieve reconciliation with God. The purpose of Yom Kippur is to effect individual and collective purification by the practice of forgiveness of the sins of others and by sincere repentance for one’s own sins against God.
Holiday 2025: Oct 1, 2025 – Thu, Oct 2, 2025
Other Names: Day of Atonement
Celebrations and Traditions:
- Abstention from food, drink, and sex during the holiday
- Many Jews spend the entire day in prayers and meditation
- It’s customary to bring a charitable donation, often food for a local food pantry, as part of the observance of the holiday
- Fasts are usually broken by a big family feast.
Sukkot is a Feast of Thanksgiving
Sukkot is the one of three major festivals in Judaism. It is both an agricultural festival and one of thanksgiving that takes place five days after Yom Kippur. The Jews recall the days when the Israelites lived in huts (sukkot) during the 40 years spent wandering in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. The holiday lasts for seven days.
Holiday 2025: Oct 6, 2025 – Mon, Oct 13, 2025
Other Names: Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths
Celebrations and Traditions:
- A sukkah is constructed in a special way, and all meals are meant to be eaten within it during Sukkot
- The sides of the sukkah are covered with vegetables and fruits, while the roof must be constructed so you can see the sky through it. Common roof covers are reeds, corn stalks or evergreen branches.
- Tradition requires you take an etrog (citron) and lulav (a bouquet of palm, myrtle, and willow) and shake them together in all directions within the sukkah. This is to send out a blessing to all creation.
Hanukkah is The Festival of Lights
Hanukkah reaffirms the ideals of Judaism and commemorates bravery of the Maccabees. According to Jewish history, a small army of Jews, known as the Maccabees, rebelled against invaders who destroyed holy buildings and forced the people to flee for their lives. After forcing the invaders out there was only enough oil to keep the alight for one day to make repairs, but the flame stayed alight for eight days until new oil could be found. This is considered a miracle that’s honored by the lighting of the menorah.
Holiday 2025: Dec 14, 2025 – Mon, Dec 22, 2025
Other Names: Feast of Dedication, Festival of Lights, Feast of the Maccabees
Celebrations and Traditions:
- A menorah has a total of nine candles. The shamash sits higher or set to the side and is used to light all the other candled. One candle of the Menorah is lit every evening until all eight candles are lit on the last day. During the lighting, blessings are offered.
- For some, the holiday includes festive meals, songs, games, and gifts for children.
- Children often play with a special spinning top called a dreidel. Every time it’s your turn, spin the dreidel, and depending on the side it lands on, you give or get game pieces from the pot.
- Latkes and jelly donuts called sufganiyot are the traditional foods of Hanukkah.
Passover Celebrates Liberation from Slavery
Passover is a holiday that commemorates the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt. This occurred after 10 plagues were visited upon the Pharaoh and the land of Egypt including the death of the first born. The angel of death though “passed over” Jewish homes and spared the children there.
An important part of Passover is the Seder, a religious dinner and service where participants eat, pray, drink wine, and sing, using a special prayer book called a Haggadah.
Holiday 2026: Apr 1, 2026 – Thu, Apr 9, 2026
Other Names:: Festival of the Unleavened Bread
Celebrations and Traditions:
- All leavening is prohibited. Only matzah, unleavened bread, is allowed, symbolizing the Jewish people’s haste with which they left Egypt in the course of the exodus.
- The Hebrew word “Haggadah” means “telling,” and the Haggadot date back to the Middle Ages.
- On the Seder plate, each food is symbolic of an aspect of Passover. A roasted shank bone represents the Passover sacrifice, an egg represents spring and the circle of life, and bitter herbs represent the bitterness of slavery. Charoset (an diced apples with wine, nuts and cinnamon) represents the mortar used by the Jews in Egypt, and karpas (or greens, often parsley) represent spring.
How do you share the Jewish holidays with your students?
Resources
- https://18doors.org/jewish_holidays_cheat_sheet/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rosh-Hashana
- https://jewishmuseum.org.uk/schools/asset/the-four-species-of-sukkot/#:~:text=Thesespecies are lulav (palm,book%20of%20the%20Torah%2C%20Leviticus.
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sukkoth-Judaism
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Yom-Kippur
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Passover
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hanukkah
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Purim
- https://www.bimbam.com/downloads/category/jewish-holidays/page/2/
- https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/curricular-resources/
We definitely share the different December holidays with students. 🎄🕎
So glad to read about these!