Jewish Holidays in 2021

Jewish Holidays and Festivals. Explanations, observances, study, guide and multimedia to all major and minor Jewish holidays and fast days.

 

 
Work should be avoided.
Consult a Rabbi if this is not possible.
Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from the wicked Haman in the days of Queen Esther of Persia.
 

 
No work permitted on March 28 – 29 and April 3 – 4. Work is permitted only on March 30 – April 2 with certain

restrictions

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Yizkor is recited on Passover, Sunday, April 4
Passover (Pesach) celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Our Passover megasite has tools, guides, insights, stories, inspiration—and just about everything you need to celebrate Passover. (But bring your own wine.)
 

 
Work permitted
Thirty days ago we cleaned our homes and souls of leaven, and matzahed our way through the week-long festival of Passover. And now, Pesach Sheni—a second Passover experience!
 

 
Work permitted
Lag BaOmer is a festive day on the Jewish calendar, celebrating the anniversary of the passing of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar. It also commemorates the end of a plague that raged amongst the disciples of the great sage Rabbi Akiva. On Lag BaOmer the dying ceased.
 

 
No work is permitted
Yizkor is recited on Shavuot, Tuesday, May 18
Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments are read in synagogues, just as they were in the desert on Mt. Sinai over 3,300 years ago.
 

 
Work permitted, except Shabbat
The “Three Weeks” and Tisha B’Av are designated as a time of mourning over the destruction of the Holy Temple and the galut (exile).
 

 
No work is permitted.
Our sages proclaimed the 15th of Av as one of the two greatest festivals of the year, yet they ordained no special observances or celebrations for it . . .
 

 
No work is permitted.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, and a day of judgment and coronation of G‑d as king.
 

 
No work is permitted.
Yizkor is recited on Yom Kippur, Thursday, September 16
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year—the day on which we are closest to G‑d and to the quintessence of our own souls. It is the Day of Atonement—“For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d” (Leviticus 16:30).
 

 
No work permitted on September 21 – 22. Work is permitted on September 23 – 24 and September 26 – 27 with certain

restrictions.

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The seven days of Sukkot—celebrated by dwelling in the sukkah, taking the Four Kinds, and rejoicing—is the holiday when we expose ourselves to the elements in covered huts, commemorating G‑d’s sheltering our ancestors as they traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Four Kinds express our unity and our belief in G‑d’s omnipresence. Coming after the solemn High Holidays, it is a time of joy and happiness
 

 
No work is permitted
Yizkor is recited on Shemini Atzeret, Tuesday, September 28
Following the seven joyous days of Sukkot, comes the happy holiday known as Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah.
 

 
Work permitted, except Shabbat
Chanukah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after a group of Jewish warriors defeated the occupying mighty Greek armies.
 

 
Work permitted
On Asarah B’Tevet, the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tevet, in the year 3336 from Creation (425 BCE), the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. Asarah B’Tevet (this year, December 25, 2020) is observed as a day of fasting, mourning and repentance.