Jewish traditions

Jewish life is full of traditions and holy days. Most of them are celebrated with activities that are reminders of something that is written in the Hebrew Bible ‘The Tanakh’, symbolic activities. Now, it’s Saturday and the Jewish congregation celebrate the sabbath. There are a lot of people arriving at the synagogue. The Jews were the first people to introduce a free day in the week.

According to the Biblical creation story, God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. And it’s in remembrance of this that the sabbath is celebrated. One of the 10 commandments also says to remember the sabbath to keep it holy. The celebration of the sabbath starts for most people on Friday at sunset. It’s the time from Friday evening to Saturday evening that counts as sabbath.

For believing Jews and quite a lot of non-believers, the traditions go on throughout life. They start at 8 days when it’s time for the babies to receive their names. For boys, the foreskin on the penis is cut off. That’s called circumcision. Male circumcision is mentioned in the Tanakh as an important part of the covenant between Abraham and God.

The Hebrew word for the ceremony is Brit Mila, which means the covenant of circumcision. For girls, the name giving is different. When a girl is born, her name is read on the sabbath in the synagogue. Then, usually, there is a party either in the synagogue or in the home of the child’s family. When the girls turn 12 and the boys 13, it’s time for them to be considered grown up in the congregation, a reason for celebration.

The girls celebrate ‘Bat Mitzvah’ and the boys ‘Bar Mitzvah’. This takes place earlier for girls because girls mature earlier than boys. In most synagogues, the celebration includes the celebrant reading a text in Hebrew from the Torah. A traditional Jewish wedding includes many symbolic actions. The bride and the groom are not allowed to see each other during the week preceding the wedding.

And they refrain from eating. They fast before the ceremony on the wedding day. The fasting is to make atonement with God. During the wedding ceremony, the couple are placed under a wedding canopy like this, a ‘chuppa’, a symbol of the home that the couple will build together. The chuppa is open on all sides just like the tent of Abraham and Sarah, according to the Tanakh.

This is to show that guests from all directions are welcome. The bride circles the groom 7 times, just as the world was created in 7 days. The bride now creates the couple’s common world in 7 circles. Then, the ceremony is finished when a glass is placed on the floor and the groom breaks it with his foot. A symbol of how the old Jewish temple in Jerusalem was once destroyed. “Good luck”. “Mazel tov”. “Mazel tov”. “Mazel tov”.

The Jewish year is full of holy days to celebrate and food plays a very important and symbolic part. For instance, unleavened bread during the Jewish Easter. This is a remembrance of the bread that didn’t have time to rise during the night when Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt. Everyday food is also important. In the 613 laws or commandments that Moses is said to have received from God, there are many rules about what you can and can’t eat.

The food that is okay to eat is called Kosher. It’s not only believing Jews who follow these rules. Also, a lot of non-believers do. Kosher is, for instance, food from animals with hooves that ruminate, like cows. Pigs have hooves, but do not ruminate.

So, they are not kosher. Shellfish are not kosher either and one is not allowed to mix cheese and meat in the same dish. So, cheese burgers are out. Doesn’t matter. There is a lot of other tasty Jewish food to eat.