Upcoming Holidays

Rosh Hashanah

Sundown, Sept. 22 – Nightfall, Sept. 24, 2025
(Eve of 1 Tishrei – 2 Tishrei, 5786)

The Jewish New Year

Birthday of the world
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is hearing the shofar (ram’s horn) blown on the first and second day of the new year.
Rosh Hashanah feasts traditionally include a round challah, apples dipped in honey, and other foods that symbolize our wishes for a sweet year.

Fast (Tzom) of Gedaliah

September 25, 2025 (3 Tishrei 5786)
Commemorating the tragic death of Gedaliah ben Achikam,
the governor of Judea in 422 BCE, who led the Jews who remained in Jerusalem after the Babylonians destroyed the Holy Temple.

Yom Kippur

Before Sundown, Wed. Oct. 1 – Nightfall, Oct. 2, 2025
(9 Tishrei – 10 Tishrei, 5786)

Photo by Menachem Weinreb, Jerusalem, Israel
Courtesy of Unsplash.com

Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur is a fast day – the holiest day of the year.
On this day we are closest to G-d and to our own souls.
“For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you,
that you be cleansed from all your sins before G-d” (Lev. 16:30)
On this day we “afflict our souls”
* Abstain from food and drink
* Do not wash or anoint our bodies
*Do not wear leather footwear
*Abstain from marital relations
* And other Chag rules
Yizkor is recited.

Sukkot

Sundown Oct. 6 – Nightfall Oct. 13, 2025 (Tishrei 15 – 21, 5786)

The Festival of Booths

Also known as Chag HaAsif, Sukkot is the harvest festival.
Chag HaSukkot commemorates the temporary dwellings G-d made to shelter our ancestors on their way out of Egypt.
For seven days and nights we should eat all our meals in the sukkah, and some even sleep in it.
The sukkah must be made up of at least three walls, a roof of natural vegetation (bamboo, pine boughs or palm branches), called a sechach, which is not secured by nails or tied with any wire or other metal object.
Your sechach must provide shade during the day, and with gaps so you can see the sky at night.

The Four Kinds
An Etrog (citron), lulav (palm frond), three hadassim (myrtle twigs)
and two aravot (willow twigs).
Each day during Sukkot (except on Shabbat) we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing, bring them together, and wave them in six directions:
right, left, forward, up, down, and backward.

Chol Hamoed Sukkah Restaurant List 2024

Dr. Sandwich
9113 W. Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills 90212
7475 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90036
Fish Grill
7229 Beverly Bl., Los Angeles
9618 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles
La Brea Bagel
7308 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90036
Mensch Bakery
7122 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90036
The Milky Way
9108 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 90035
Next Door
7475 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90036
Pizzamark
1708 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles 90035
Pizza World
365 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles 90036
Shalom Grill
7340 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 90035
Sushiko
9340 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035
Tierra Sur (Herzog Winery)
3201 Camino de Sol, Oxnard 93030

Plus many synagogues are offering a catered dinner in their Sukkah.
If you know of another Kosher restaurant with a Sukkah, please let us know!

Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah

October 13 – 15, 2025

In the diaspora, this is a two day holiday

Shemini Atzeret is the the biblical name for the last day of Sukkot. It is considered a “bonus” day – after seven days of celebrating Sukkot, God asked the Jewish people to stay for an additional day.
It is a time to wind down from the intensity of the High Holidays,
and gather our energy for the coming year.
A prayer for rain (Tefilat Geshem) is recited.
There are no blessings recited for being in the Sukkah, and Yizkor is recited.

Simchat Torah

The “Joy of Torah,” when we complete the annual reading of the Torah and begin anew, marching and dancing with the Torah around
the reading table, in circles (hakafot) in the synagogue. On this day it is customary that every person taking part in the celebration receive an aliyah.
After the final aliyah, we immediately begin a new cycle, starting to read the beginning of Genesis from a second torah.

* PAST HOLIDAYS *

Hanukkah

Wed. Dec. 25, 2024 – Thurs. Jan. 2, 2025 (25 Kislev – 2 Tevet, 5785)

Tu BiShevat

Thursday, Feb. 13th (15 Shevat) 2025
New Year of Trees

* Remember the importance of caring for the environment
* Plant a tree
* Tu Bi’Shvat Seder: eat fruits, nuts and spices that are grown in Israel
[TuBishvat Seder Program]
* Participate in crafts and activities relating to nature

Purim

Thurs. March 13th (eve) – Fri. March 14th (14 Adar 5785)

Feast of Lots
* Hear the Megillah, by night and by day
* Give tzedakah
* Exchange gift baskets
* Enjoy a feast
* Wear extravagant costumes

Purim Megillah Limericks (by Rina Wolfson z”l)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1agqQkuUjTe3v6dEEu71uEtX9IzQSW2sf5LhUS5zhcF4/edit?usp=sharing

Passover

Sunday, April 12 (eve) (15 Nisan)
through
Sunday, April 20 (22 Nisan)
Celebrates the freedom of the Israelites
from slavery in Egypt.

Observances

* Ridding home of chametz (spring cleaning)
* Seder meals that include 4 cups of wine
* Eat unleavened bread (matzah)
* Retelling the Passover Story

Remembering the Martyrs and Heroes

26-27 Nisan 5785 April 24, 2025

“If we wish to live and to bequeath life to our offspring, if we believe that we are to pave the way to the future, then we must first of all not forget.”
Prof. Ben Zion Dinur, Yad Vashem, 1956

The Counting of the Omer

Begin Omer Count on Sunday night, April 13,
end counting at nightfall on Sunday, June 1.

“And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day on which you bring the Omer offering, seven complete weeks they shall be; until the morrow of the seventh week, you shall count fifty days…” (Leviticus 23:15)

The 49-day “Counting of the Omer” retraces our ancestors’ seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Mt. Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer. The 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the
Giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.

Check out the Homer Omer Calendar!!
https://homercalendar.net/Welcome.html

Lag B’Omer (33rd Day of the Omer)

According to the Talmud, a plague killed thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students because they did not treat one another respectfully. Thus, the Omer period is a time of semi-mourning, when weddings and other celebrations are forbitten, and as a sign of grief, observant Jews do not cut their hair.
Lag B’Omer celebrates the end of the plague, interrupting the sadness of the Omer period for 24 hours. This is a day for picnics, children playing outdoors with bows and arrows, in Israel the planting of trees, and weddings. It is customary to light bonfires to symbolize the light Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai brought into the world (author of the Zohar, containing mystic interpretations of the Torah, and chief source of the Kabbalah)

A Fire Teaching for Lag B’Omer

Shavuot (Feast of Weeks)

Monday, June 2, 2025 (6 Sivan)
The Torah reading for the 1st day of Shavuot is from Exodus 19-20, which recounts the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and includes the “Ten Commandments” proclaimed at Sinai that encapsulate the entire Torah. This holiday also commemorates the harvest festival, particularly of wheat.
* Reading the 10 Commandments and the Book of Ruth
* It is customary to engage in all-night Torah study
* Dairy foods, particularly cheesecake, blintzes and ice cream
* Decorating with flowers
* This day is a chag (yom tov) and work is prohibited

The Three Weeks

We mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple
July 12 – August 3, 2025

17th of Tammuz (Fast Day – dawn to nightfall)
Five tragic events:
** Moses broke the tablets
** Babylonian siege of Jerusalem
** Apostamos burned the holy Torah
** An idol was placed in the Holy temple
** The Walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans in 69 CE

The Nine Days – First nine days of Av
Do not eat meat or drink wine

9th of Av- Tisha b’Av (Fast day – sunset the previous day to nightfall)
** Read the book of Lamentations
** Restrictions like Yom Kippur
** During morning hours, sit on the floor or on low stools