Jewish Observances and Rituals

Daily and Life-Cycle rituals

Circumcision (covenant of Abraham)
Adulthood: Bat-mitzvah, bar mitzvah
Menstrual purification (Mikvah--purification bath)
Marriage
Death and Mourning:
- Belief in bodily resurrection requires burial; cremation and embalming prohibited.
  Importance of communal burial societies.
  "Purification" (cleansing) of corpse, covering it in simple white shroud.
- Recitation of "Kaddish, affirmation of faith in God.
- Successive phases of mourning, decreasing in intensity:
  1. Until funeral
  2. First seven days (shivah)
  3. First month
  4. First year
- Annual commemoration of date of death of close relative
Dietary laws (Kosher foods):
- Definitions of permissible species,
- Separation of meat and dairy foods, slaughter and removal of blood from meat
Daily prayer: Morning, afternoon and evening.
- Synagogue, quorum of ten (minyan)
- Ritual objects: Phylacteries (t'fillin), fringed garment (talit)

Festivals:

Name	Main Symbols and Observances	Historical Significance	Natural or Social Significance
Sabbath:	Observed every Saturday: Refraining from labour; prayers; festive meals	Liberation from Egyptian Slavery	God ceased from the six days of creation
New Years (Rosh Hashanah) and Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur):	Sounding of "Shofar" (ram's horn) on Rosh Hashanah Judgment, repentance and forgiveness Click on the Shofar in the picture to hear its sound. (If your browser does not handle client-side image maps, then try clicking here instead.)	to hear the sound of the Shofar
Tabernacles (Sukkot):	Living in temporary booth Procession with "four species": palm frond, myrtle and willow branches, citron	Wanderings of Israelites' in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land	Ingathering of the crops In the Oral tradition:The beginning of the rainy season
Sh'mini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly), Rejoicing of the Law (Simhat Torah)	8th-9th days of Tabernacles Simhat Torah is celebrated by singing and dancing with Torah scrolls	Simhat Torah marks the conclusion and beginning of the annual cycle of reading the entire Torah

Hanukkah (feast of dedication):	Lighting of lamps	Commemorates the victory of Jews over Seleucid religious persecution, and the rededication of the Temple after its defilement
(15th of Shevat, "Arbour Day")	Tree planting		Celebrates trees and the fruits of the Holy Land
Purim (Feast of Esther):	Reading of the Biblical Scroll of Esther Feasting Gifts and charity Carnival atmosphere: drinking, carousing, masquerade, parodies		Commemorates the Jews' rescue from a plot to murder them in the ancient Persian empire, as described in the Book of Esther
Passover (Pessach)	Refraining from leavened bread Seder (symbolic ceremonial meal), Telling and reliving the story of the Exodus from Egypt eating unleavened bread (matzah)	Commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt	Spring
Modern commemorations: Holocaust Memorial Day; Israeli Independence Day; "Jerusalem Liberation Day"	"Civil" holidays Memorial and thanksgiving prayers	Commemoration of central events in recent Jewish history
Feast of Weeks (Shavu'ot): Preceded by counting of the fifty days of the "'Omer"		Commemoration of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai	First fruits Grain harvest
Fast Days (especially the "Ninth of Av")	Fasting and refraining from pleasures Recitation of Book of Lamentations and poetic dirges	Commemoration of the destructions of the Jerusalem Temples and other national disasters