Remembering: Times and Seasons on the Jewish Calendar

The Jewish calendar is an interesting one. Based on the lunar cycles, the first month of the year is Nissan and falls on our calendar sometime in March/April. The last month of the year is Adar which falls in February/March. 

It is the calendar of the Bible and the only calendar that Jesus knew. I hope you are aware - and I don’t want to shock you - but Jesus didn’t celebrate Christmas and Easter! He was Jewish: He celebrated the Jewish festivals with his Jewish family in a Jewish land. 

God’s Appointed Times

Found in God’s commandments in Leviticus 23, the Jewish calendar includes historical remembrances (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Tabernacles), agricultural markers and thanksgivings (First Fruits, Shavuot or Pentecost), and festivals of penance (Yom Kippur). 

Scripture also gives us two other major festivals celebrated by the Jewish people: Purim and Hanukkah. Purim remembers God’s protection of the Jewish people from attempted annihilation by Haman (Book of Esther), and Hanukkah commemorates God’s protection of the Jewish people from attempted annihilation by Antiochus, Emperor of Assyria (165 BC). Jesus celebrated Hannukah in John 10.

The festivals were given by God as His “appointed times” (Lev. 23). He “appointed” these holy days for the Israelites to remember, ponder, and retell, and in order to set them apart as a distinct nation from the nations surrounding them. 

Jewish festivals are connected with historical events and often evoke deep emotions. They retell stories of hardship and trials. Memories of slavery, oppression, suffering, brokenness, and, most importantly God’s provision and redemption. God’s purpose for Israel in the festivals was twofold:

1) So that they would remember God’s unconditional faithfulness and love.

2) That they would then follow him in loving obedience. 

All of the Jewish festivals were celebrated by Jesus. And all of the Jewish festivals were fulfilled by him, on the day of the festival, or will be fulfilled by him in the future. 

The Rabbis have added a few festivals to the Jewish calendar, significant to religious Jews today. Times to remember, rejoice, and sometimes to mourn. 

Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah) is the celebration of the completion of the yearly Torah readings in the Synagogue.

Tu B’shvat is a celebration of trees, thanking God for agriculture and the miracle of nature.

Then there is Tisha b’Av (“the ninth of Av”) which was remembered last month. This infamous date on the Jewish calendar marks the tragic destruction of BOTH the first and the second temples in Jerusalem - first at the hands of the Babylonians in 587 BC, and later in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans. Jewish tradition dates both catastrophes to this same “day of disaster.” Along with Yom Kippur, Tisha b’Av is one of the two major holidays commemorated by “denying oneself” or fasting. 

Mourning in Judaism 

Jewish people find it important, even in the most joyful of religious festivals, to remember the tragedies that have shaped us as a people. Even in the happiest of times, in this present world, there is sorrow. The Jewish calendar, and customs, are riddled with mourning rituals and tragic events that should never be forgotten:

When someone dies, their family observes Shiva: a seven-day period of mourning. The memory of the deceased is honored, and the loved ones are comforted by those visiting their home throughout the week.

At Passover, we take 10 drops out of our wine, a symbol of joy, to remember the suffering of the Egyptians during the 10 plagues of the Exodus. 

During Tabernacles, a celebration of God’s redemption, freedom, and provision, we remember wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

The Holocaust is frequently remembered, as the slogan says: “Never forget. Never again.” Yom HaShoah is the day set aside to remember the Holocaust and the horrific events surrounding Hitler’s attempt to rid the world of the Jewish people.

At Jewish weddings, the groom breaks a glass to remember the destruction of the temple. At the happiest moment in his life, he recites in Hebrew from Psalm 137, “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!”

You might ask, “Doesn’t this seem a bit depressing?” Perhaps. However, the Jewish community throughout history has looked at tragedy as a way to better ourselves as individuals and as a nation. King Solomon, the wisest man in history, said, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting” (Ecclesiastes 7:2). 

In order to truly understand joy and sadness, we must experience and embrace both. Our ability to experience these emotions is a gift of God. During the Jewish festivals he commands us to mourn at times, and to rejoice at others! Both are holy. Scripture tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and to mourn with those who are mourning. Emotions connect us to God and to each other as human beings.

Mourning over Jerusalem

Jerusalem is central in Jewish tradition, and close to the heart of many Jewish people. Just like the Jewish groom that cannot forget Jerusalem even at his wedding, Jesus our great Bridegroom mourned over Jerusalem. 

Jesus was entering Jerusalem on his way to celebrate three Jewish festivals: Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits. Looking over the city from the Mount of Olives, the scripture says: “As He drew near and saw Jerusalem, He wept over her…” Luke 19:41

Jesus wept and his heart broke over Jerusalem. Not because of political oppression, economic need or social turmoil...He wept because they were his people whom he tenderly loved, and they rejected him. 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate! For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Luke 13:34-35

Years later, Paul agonized, desiring eternal damnation for himself if that could potentially accomplish salvation for his Jewish brethren (Romans 9:1). 

If Jesus wept over Jerusalem, so should we. If Paul, in all his ministry to the nations, went to the Jewish people first, so should we. If Jerusalem is the only city specifically mentioned by God for which we should pray, then we should pray for it.

Our chief concern is Jesus’ chief concern - not political support, advocacy or humanitarian aid - but that Jerusalem needs him. This is the greatest reason that we mourn over Jerusalem. Jewish people need Jesus. 

Mourning Leads to Joy

The Bridegroom who wept over Jerusalem will one day return to it to gather his bride! While mourning is crucial, we must remember that in our Messiah, we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” (1 Thess 4:13) 

Remember: out of the ashes of tragedy, God brings forth beauty in accomplishing his purposes. Out of slavery in Egypt came freedom and the formation of a nation through Moses the deliverer. 

Out of the destruction of Jerusalem by Antiochus came the celebration of Hanukkah and testimony of God’s mercy. Out of Holocaust came the creation of Israel. Out of the tragedy of the cross came hope for the whole word! Let’s meditate on the words of King David:

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! 

He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. 

Psalm 126:5-6

Through the festivals and the Jewish calendar we remember. We remember Him, we remember the great tragedies of history and lives that were lost, and we remember our hope and future redemption in our Messiah. He brings “beauty from ashes, joy from mourning, a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit” (Isaiah 61).