A Guide to Jewish Studies: Jewish Calendar & Holidays

"As we move from season to season, Paul Steinberg shares with us a rich collection of readings from many of the Jewish greats—Maimonides, Rashi, Nachmanides, Shlomo Carlebach, Marge Piercy, Elie Wiesel, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Arthur Green, and others—and he guides us in discovering for ourselves the many treasures within each text. The readings teach us about the history of each holiday, as well as its theological, ethical, agricultural, and seasonal importance and interpretation; others give us inspiration and much food for thought. These stories, essays, poems, anecdotes, and rituals help us discover how deeply Jewish traditions are rooted in nature’s yearly cycle, and how beautifully season and spirit are woven together throughout the Jewish year." - from the publisher

"Jewish Days takes the reader through the year, interpreting and illustrating the most significant dates on the Jewish calendar, including Jewish holidays, important historical dates, and biblical events to which tradition has assigned dates. Throughout the book, each month is introduced by a discussion of its zodiac sign in terms of the kabbalists’ worldview. Francine Klagsbrun has drawn on legends, traditional teachings, and modern scholarship in the almost one hundred essays presented, and Mark Podwal’s elegant paintings and witty drawings are the perfect complement to her text." - from the publisher

Editor's Note: "Rosh Ha-Shanah," Volume 17, pp. 463-466.

"The High Holy Days--Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur--are for many Jews the highlight of the Jewish year. The liturgy for the Days of Awe are the longest and most complex of the year, leaving a large number of attendees without a complete understanding of the occasion's significance. Entering The High Holy Days provides historical background and interpretation of the ideas, practices, and liturgy and lends them contemporary relevance to today's Jews." - from the publisher

"The Sukkot and Simhat Torah Anthology offers new insight into the Festival of Ingathering, celebrating the harvest in the land of our ancestors, and the Festival of Rejoicing in the Law, marking the new cycle of public Torah readings, by elucidating the two festivals’ background, historical development, and spiritual truths for Jews and humankind. Mining the Bible, postbiblical literature, Talmud, midrashim, prayers with commentaries, and Hasidic tales, the compendium also showcases humor, art, food, song, dance, essays, stories, and poems—including works by Chaim Weizmann, Elie Wiesel, Herman Wouk, S. Y. Agnon, Sholom Aleichem, H. N. Bialik, and Solomon Schechter—truly a rich harvest for the 'Season of Our Rejoicing.'" - from the publisher

"Sukkot, the festival of the harvest and thanksgiving, culminates the fall cycle of Jewish holidays. Build and decorate a sukkah, eat and sing in it under the stars, and remember the temporary shelters that the Jews built in the desert. Learn about the beautiful traditions of lulav and etrog as observed in the home and synagogue. Immediately following is Simhat Torah, when Jews complete the reading of the Torah for the year and begin the cycle again. Learn the history and customs of the joyous processional - hakafor - in synagogues around the world." - from the publisher

"The Purim Anthology recounts the origins of the first Purim, then examines festival observances in different eras throughout the world, laws and rites, and finally provides plays and poems, stories and songs. This treasury includes “The Origin of Purim” by Solomon Grayzel, “The Esther Story in Art” by Rachel Wischnitzer, “Purim in Music” by A. W. Binder (including an extensive compilation of Purim songs), “The History of Purim Plays” by Jacob Shatzky, Purim celebrations in Tel Aviv by Mortimer J. Cohen, and Purim in humor by Israel Davidson—all together a thoughtful and fun-filled literary feast." - from the publisher

"The Shavuot Anthology elucidates Shavuot’s teachings, customs, stories, and lore for a modern generation. In this in-depth compendium, writings by Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria, Talmud and midrash, medieval literature by Moses Maimonides, poetry by Judah Halevi and Abraham ibn Ezra, prose by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Ahad Ha’am, and stories by Martin Buber and Sholom Aleichem appear alongside art and dramatizations, arts and crafts, culinary arts and humor, children’s stories and games, and programs and projects." - from the publisher

"Drawing on Jewish creativity from hundreds of sources--the Bible, postbiblical literature, Talmud, midrashim, prayers with commentaries, Hasidic tales, short stories, poems, liturgical music--and describing Yom Kippur observances in various lands and eras, The Yom Kippur Anthology vividly evokes the vitality of this holiday throughout history and its significance for the modern Jew. Literary works by prominent authors S. Y. Agnon, Martin Buber, Meyer Levin, I. L. Peretz, Franz Rosenzweig, Sholom Aleichem, Elie Wiesel, and Herman Wouk also illuminate the spiritual grandeur of the holiday." - from the publisher

Editor's Note: "Shemini Azeret," Volume 18, pp. 604-605.

"The ways in which Hanukkah was reshaped by American Jews reveals the changing goals and values that emerged among different contingents each December as they confronted the reality of living as a religious minority in the United States. Bringing together clergy and laity, artists and businessmen, teachers, parents, and children, Hanukkah has been a dynamic force for both stability and change in American Jewish life. The holiday's distinctive transformation from a minor festival to a major occasion that looms large in the American Jewish psyche is a marker of American Jewish life. Drawing on a varied archive of songs, plays, liturgy, sermons, and a range of illustrative material, as well as developing portraits of various communities, congregations, and rabbis, 'Hanukkah in America' reveals how an almost forgotten festival became the most visible of American Jewish holidays." - from the publisher

"It's that time of year again--Sara's family's big Chanukah party. All the while she longs for Christmas lights and carolers in department-store windows. What she gets is a shiny gold dreidel from Tante Miriam and a warning to be careful, for it is no ordinary dreidel. Sara soon discovers that the dreidel is an entranced princess in disguise. Swept into a magical world, Sara must solve riddles and defeat demons in order to save the princess in this enchanting fantasy novel." - from the publisher

"Every year at Passover, Jews around the world gather for the seder, a festive meal where family and friends come together to sing, pray, and enjoy traditional food while retelling the biblical story of the Exodus. The Passover Haggadah provides the script for the meal and is a religious text unlike any other. It is the only sacred book available in so many varieties―from the Maxwell House edition of the 1930s to the countercultural Freedom Seder―and it is the rare liturgical work that allows people with limited knowledge to conduct a complex religious service. The Haggadah is also the only religious book given away for free at grocery stores as a promotion. Vanessa Ochs tells the story of this beloved book, from its emergence in antiquity as an oral practice to its vibrant proliferation today.

Ochs provides a lively and incisive account of how the foundational Jewish narrative of liberation is remembered in the Haggadah. She discusses the book's origins in biblical and rabbinical literature, its flourishing in illuminated manuscripts in the medieval period, and its mass production with the advent of the printing press. She looks at Haggadot created on the kibbutz, those reflecting the Holocaust, feminist and LGBTQ-themed Haggadot, and even one featuring a popular television show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Ochs shows how this enduring work of liturgy that once served to transmit Jewish identity in Jewish settings continues to be reinterpreted and reimagined to share the message of freedom for all." - from the publisher