Many people assume that Hanukkah is the most important holiday for Jewish people because it usually occurs at the same time (or very close to) Christmas. The truth is that Hanukkah is a fun holiday, but the holiest holidays for the Jewish Community involve Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and it usually falls during the spring months. Yom Kippur is called the Day of Atonement. The days between them are called the Ten Days of Repentance. The basic story is this: Starting on Rosh Hashanah Jewish people are supposed to take a look at their lives and make their peace with the wrongs they have committed over the past year. Over the next ten days they are supposed to make peace and ask forgiveness from the people that they have wronged. On Yom Kippur they humble themselves before God and ask that he forgives them for the wrongs they have committed.
Rosh Hashanah is a day that is filled with challah bread which is dipped in honey which symbolizes the Jewish peoples’ hopes for a good year in the year to come. Three sets of prayers are said during the morning Rosh Hashanah services which address God’s sovereignty and present the God who remembers peoples’ past actions and before whom everyone stands in nervous anticipation of the year to come. Each prayer is begun with the sounding of the shofar as the shofar blast reminds the community of the relationship between God and Israel and reminds them that they must carry messages of hope, continuity and sacrifice. One of the most popular Rosh Hashanah traditions is the throwing of pieces of bread or crumbs into flowing water, which symbolizes the washing away of sin.
Yom Kippur is a day of fasting. This is the day in which Jewish people come together and ask for forgiveness for their communities. The entire community repents for wrong doings that community members have committed over the past year. This is the most serious day of the year for Jewish people. The day came to be known as a day of abstinence and mourning during the Second Temple Period. Today the Jewish Community views Yom Kippur as the day that they sever themselves from the rest of the world in their minds and hearts and spends the whole day communing with God. This communion is manifested in fasting and, in some circles, dressing in white. The services held on Yom Kippur are the longest and most involved services of the year.
In some ways the Christian New Year has the same idea—remembering what has happened during the previous year and promising to do better during the next one. The Jewish people are very serious about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days that come between them as they are the holiest days of the Jewish calendar. It is during this time that God inscribes the Jewish community members’ fate for the next year.
John Parks
http://www.articlesbase.com/spirituality-articles/the-jewish-high-holy-days-754463.html
January 15th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
How many Christians are Aware of Jewish High Holy Days:?
Shouldn’t We also Examine Ourselves and the Things We have done
this past Year?
January 16th, 2010 at 4:29 am
432,156
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:31 am
432,156 Christian scholars and laymen have bothered to learn. Many more are aware, but in a dim way.
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:33 am
Yes we should ..
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:35 am
There are many who are aware of it. And yes, examining ones actions is healthy .
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:37 am
Well, I think we should do that daily
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:39 am
No. Jews do that and are no better for it.
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:41 am
I don’t think anyone is aware of Jewish High Holy Days outside of being Jewish. lol
Practicing Shaman… quantum physics rocks.
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:43 am
These are not "Jewish" days, please read Levitiucs 23, these days belong to someone much more important than the Jews.
And we should celebrate them.
http://www.coghomeschool.org/site/cog_archives/booklets/Pagan%20Holidays%20Or%20Gods%20Holy%20Days%20Which.htm
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:45 am
yes
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:47 am
How about the things we have done today, or not done?
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:49 am
I am NOT Jewish and Their holy days are theirs NOT mine…
And we are to examine OURSELVES DAILY…NOt just on some day a man chooses to claim as to do this or that…..
Hbr 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden Not your hearts……
Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day [alike]. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth [it] unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard [it]. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
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Gods Real Word
January 16th, 2010 at 4:51 am
I think most Christians are aware of Jewish Holy days, but have not been taught to participate in them.
Actually their feasts apply more to Christians than most of the days we celebrate in a secular manner.
You can do a search on Jewish Holy days and find a lot of information.
Christians are to confess their sins immediately upon committing them. If we waited until the end of the year we would never remember them.
jj~
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:53 am
Quite a few of us actually. We examine ourselves constantly in the light of Jesus. Thanks for asking.
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:55 am
I’m aware of Jewish Holidays because I have many friends that are of the Jewish faith, because they usually invite me to their dinner parties… New Year is coming up… Rosh Hashanah New Year 5770 – is that right?
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:57 am
No i am not aware of the jews high holy days,,BUT i am aware of Gods High Holy Days!
Lev 23:2 Speak to the children of God, and say to them, Concerning the Feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My Feasts.
Yes we should examine ourselves for the past year, and i will be on Gods High Holy Day coming in about 9 days or so, called the Day of Atonement,
Lev 23:27
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January 16th, 2010 at 4:59 am
I am aware of God’s Holy Days. I need to no more about them.
Yes we should examine ourselves.
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