Tag: Holidays
According to many in the Jewish community, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving have much more in common this year than just a calendar date. They both celebrate gratitude, community, and religious tolerance. More
“If Thanksgivukkah can be a spark that allows us to bring a little bit of the Hanukkah light into a Jewish person’s Thanksgiving table, then that’s a gift.” More
Maha Kumba Mela or Big Pitcher festival commemorates a story that describes the god Vishnu’s fight with demons to gain possession of a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality. During the battle, some drops fell to the earth on the pilgrimage sites. More
“The rabbis going back to Maimonides and earlier felt that the lights of the Hanukkah lamp were sacred,” and if you couldn’t afford a gold or silver lamp “you could use an egg shell, or a nut shell, or a potato carved out.” More
“It is prescribed that you should put the lamp in your doorway,” says Susan Braunstein, curator of the Jewish Museum of New York, “so that the people walking on the street will see the lights and know that we are celebrating the miracle.” More
“The richness of the melodies, the music—it leaves you with an indelible imprint” during the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, says Rabbi Joshua Maroof. More
“We asked religious scholars and they said that if we’re out on a mission like this, there is no problem with not fasting on the condition that when you return, you fast the days you lost, because fasting like prayer is obligatory,” says Abu Rmeileh, the first Palestinian to qualify for the Olympics. More
“This haggadah is trying to draw in as many people as possible to participate in the service,” says artist Mark Podwal, who describes his illustrations for the text. “For me,” says Podwal, “my art is prayer.” More
Watch an audio slideshow of Hindu students at Georgetown University celebrating the festival of Holi. More