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Some addt'l comments... (Reply to this comment)
by zvize
A> On Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) the 3 local TV stations do not broadcast, but most households are hooked to Cable (or Satellite) anyway, so this is no terrible loss for people who'd rather watch TV on this holiday. I must add that Israelis are hardly crazy about local TV (especially not channel 1) anyway, so these channels aren't sorely missed on Yom Kippur.
B> The special Purim food is known here in Israel as "Oznei-Haman" (plural). One says "Ozen-Haman" only when referring to a single piece.
C> As for the Passover hekhsher (Kosher seal of approval for Passover): this issue goes far beyond the Ashkenazi/Sepharadi division. There are unique Passover kosher seals for the ultra-Orthodox AND for different groups of Hasidim IN ADDITION to the kosher seal which most Israeli Jews make do with (that of Israel's chief Rabbinate)! The same is true for everyday kosher seals (non-Passover).
D> Wearing dark blue or black pants or skirts and white shirts on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day) is prevalent only in ceremonies held across Israel or in prayer services in the synagogues; it's not a custom. So if you aren't planning to attend a ceremony on Yom HaShoah, don't feel you must dress this way.
-Zvi
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May 05 '03
2:01 am PDT
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Re: Another+masterly+exposition... (Reply to this comment)
by naphtalia
I don't think they look particularly ear-like. These are triangular shaped cookies that are filled with poppy seed or fruit filling. You start with a circle of cookie dough, add a dollop of filling and fold up the edges into a triangle.
talia
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May 02 '01
9:36 pm PDT
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Re: A+little+calendar+background+for+the+gentiles (Reply to this comment)
by naphtalia
The Jewish Lunar calendar adds a leap month 7 times in 19 years...it's complicated. The additional month is named Adar Shayni (The Second Adar, there is already one in the calendar). Because the lunar calendar is only 354 days length, the calendar falls out of sync with the solar calendar by 11 days each year. The additional month makes up for this and keeps holidays in the same season.
talia
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May 02 '01
9:34 pm PDT
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Well Done! (Reply to this comment)
by DAnneC
You've provided many readers a collection of key insights into traditions with which they weren't familiar.
Regards,
DAnneC
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May 02 '01
6:58 pm PDT
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A little calendar background for the gentiles (Reply to this comment)
by infoscott
Just thought I would comment to add a little historical perspective.
The Hebrews have consistently operated under a lunar calendar for millenia. Because a lunar calendar will eventually fall out of synch with the seasons, there is a leap period instituted every so many years to readjust the calendar. In some cases, holy holidays were also used to 'pad' the calendar between months. These holidays float with respect to the solar calendars.
The origin of the Western solar calendar dates back to the Roman empire. Before the reign of Julius Caesar, it was known as the Republican calendar. Julius reformed the names of the months and their durations around 45 B.C., when it became known as the Julian calendar. The start year of course was not the birth of Christ, but the founding of the Roman empire (other references were to the reign of Caesar So-and-So). While Israel and Judeah were part of the Roman empire, you had to reference which calendar system you were using (and there were many) to communicate your dates and times clearly!
The Christian holiday of Easter is also a floater, because it it tied to the Jewish Passover. The questions of deciding when to celebrate Easter has occupied Christendom for over a thousand years, and has been the cause of a few calendar reforms. [The Gregorian calendar, the modification invoked by Pope Gregory in the late sixteenth century, was not accepted in the American colonies until the middle eighteenth century.] To this day there are still calendar disagreements, as the Eastern Orthodox Churches do not observe all the changes to the present day Gregorian calendar, and consequently celebrate Easter a week or two after the Catholics and the Protestants (in 2001 it happened to fall on the same year).
If you think we have troubles with calendars, one lunar calendar of antiquity periodically required a leap period of over two weeks!
Hope this helps,
Scott
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May 02 '01
4:30 pm PDT
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Mmm. Suvganiot... (Reply to this comment)
by levda
As an Israeli living in Chicago, I completely identify with this review.
Thank you! This was awesome!
Dana
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May 02 '01
11:19 am PDT
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Another masterly exposition... (Reply to this comment)
by amysmum
...thanks for sharing these traditions - I've certainly learnt something. I'm especially intrigued by the pastries at Purim - are they actually shaped like ears?
Catriona
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May 02 '01
10:15 am PDT
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