Jewish holidays

On the 15th of the month of Nissan, we celebrate the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.

Freedom from slavery is a major theme of Passover, and this is reflected by the mitzvoth of the festival. On the first night of Pesach, Jews across the world sit down at the Seder to tell the story of the Exodus and experience it first hand by eating Matzah and Maror, the "Bread of Affliction" and the "Bitter Herbs" respectively.

Called the Feast of Weeks because it falls exactly seven weeks after the first day of Pesach. Jews count the days and weeks during the entire intervening period, which has come to be known as the Omer period.

Purim is somehow connected to Yom Kippur - in the Torah it is called Yom Hakippurim and the play on words is not lost on the Rabbis. They say that in a sense, Yom Kipur is a yom k'Purim, meaning a day like Purim, so in some way Purim is seen as a paradigm of something that Yom Kipur emulates. What's that all about? On the face of it, the two days couldn't be more different. Purim is all body and Yom Kipur is all soul. Click here for a closer look...

Purim is about revealing the hidden Hand Of God in events. God isn't referred to by any name in the Megillah of Esther at all, and only through putting together all the events could his workings be seen.

Hanukkah's basically all about the power of light vs dark. Specifically about your power to create light and all that it stands for. And how that light does battle with darkness and all it stands for.

The Hanukkah story is about how a bunch of Jewish scholars and idealists, seemingly weak and hopeless, did battle with the mighty, invincible armed forces of the Greek Empire. And won.