jewish holidays

Rosh Hashanah: Become The Person You Are Meant To Be

Passing Over Passover

It was as if it never was here. When one is in graduate school, the most important thing is a break, a vacation – Disney…

Queen Esther Was Fierce!

For those of you who don’t know, the holiday of Purim is coming up March 19 – March 20 (21st in Jerusalem).  The holiday is…

Holidays Galore

I’m about to turn into a pumpkin soon.  In less than 3 hours I will light candles symbolizing the start of a holiday, and that…

Everything Happens For a Reason

Lately, I’ve been struggling to explain my religion to my roommates. With all the Jewish holidays, where does Catholicism come in? Why do I believe…

Pentecost, Shavuot, and the overlap of the Christian and Jewish traditions

I was working on my homily that I would be giving on Pentecost Sunday and doing what I usually do when I am preparing homilies… procrastinating on the Internet.  So while browsing Busted Halo’s offerings, I noticed that fellow blogger Monica Rozenfeld posted something on the Jewish festival of Shavuot.

As I’ve mentioned before, this past summer I worked as a chaplain in a New York hospital along side two rabbinical students.  Having that experience gave me an even deeper appreciation for just how Jewish our Christian faith really is, especially the Catholic faith.  All of this makes sense if you think about it… but, truth be told, until my theological studies and my experience this summer, I hadn’t really thought about it.

Shavuot

This week is kind of a big deal. From May 18-20th, we celebrate Shavuot (Shah-voo-ote) which is the holiday of when the Israelites received the…

Sukkot

Each fall, Jews celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, named after the “huts” the Jewish people lived in during their 40 years in the wilderness. Sukkot…

Passover

Return to the Lent calendar. Lenten Fact Passover is the first of three major festivals that have historical and agricultural significance. It is the beginning…