Match the Jewish Holiday Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement in the Jewish faith, and is considered to be the holiest of the holy days in the Jewish calendar. In fact, the sages rank it second only to the Shabbat (Sabbath) in its importance.

On this day, the tradition is to fast, pray for most of the day, abstain from wearing leather, abstain from bathing, and abstain from marital relations. Thus, you are able to cleanse your soul from the sins that you have committed before G-d. In the days preceding Yom Kippur, a Jew is expected to have asked for forgiveness from his fellow man so that he is free of all of his worldly sins and then is free to ask for forgiveness from his heavenly ones.

On the conclusion of this day you are inscribed into the Book of Life for the upcoming year. The shofar (ritual horn) is blown once at the end of the service to signify the end of the holiday.

It is celebrated on the tenth day of Tishrei.

Answer: Pesach

Pesach, or Passover, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It signifies the exodus from Egypt and the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom. As well, it signifies moving from a land that was not theirs (Egypt) to a land that was promised to them (Canaan). During the week-long celebration (eight days in the diaspora), Jews traditionally eat no leavened products like bread, cakes, pasta, cereal, and more. On the first night (first two nights in the diaspora) a Haggadah is read which recounts the exodus and the steps leading up to it - most famously, the Ten Plagues of Egypt.

Pesach is one of three holidays explicitly mentioned in the Pentateuch. In addition to the offerings one was expected to make at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the festival was a harvest holiday and represents the beginning of the barley harvest.

Passover has traditional foods associated with the Seder (ritual meal). Matzah is a cracker-type food that replaces bread. Maror, or bitter herbs, (lettuce, horseradish or parsley) remind us of the tears of the slaves. Charoset is a mixture that signifies the mortar used to build the pyramids.

Answer: Tu B'Shevat

Tu B'Shevat is the new year for trees, one of four new years mentioned in the Pentateuch. It allows for trees to age properly as there is a Biblical decree that you are not allowed to eat the fruit of a tree in its first three years.

On this holiday there is a Seder as well (the more famous Seder occurring at Pesach). Four cups of wine are drunk and seven (sometimes ten) fruits and grains traditional to the Land of Israel are eaten. Another custom is the planting of trees, both in Israel and around the world.

Tu B'Shevat is celebrated on the fifteenth day of Shevat.

Answer: Shavuot

Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks, is a celebration of Moses receiving the Torah up atop Mt. Sinai. It is also one of the three pilgrimage celebrations explicitly mentioned in the Pentateuch. It signifies one of the major harvests - the reaping of wheat in Israel. Traditionally, you were supposed to go up to the Holy Temple and offer a sacrifice from your harvest.

The idea of "weeks" is because it is seven weeks from the beginning of Pesach. In that time, 49 days, the Omer, or barley piles are counted, and thus the ancient people of Israel knew when to celebrate the holiday.

Some Jews mark this holiday with the eating of dairy foods. The scroll of Ruth is read on this holiday.

Shavuot is celebrated on the sixth day of Sivan.

Answer: Purim

Purim is a celebration of deliverance from Haman, royal vizier to King Ahasuerus of Persia (Xerxes I). Haman had an intense hatred for the Jews because one refused to bow down to him, and drew lots for killing the Jews in all of the Persian provinces. When the king's new wife, Esther, who was secretly a Jew, put her life on the line to save her people, the Jews were able to organize and fight back and thus were delivered from death.

The scroll of Esther is read on the holiday of Purim. Jews traditionally exchange gifts of food (mishloach manot), donate to charities and the needy, and drink a lot. Many have fun activities for children like dressing up and games. A traditional food of Purim is a Hamantaschen, a triangular pastry filled with some sort of sweet filling like jam or chocolate.

Purim is celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar (or Adar II in a leap year).

Answer: Sukkot

Sukkot is the Feast of Tabernacles commemorating the exodus from Egypt and the trip between Egypt and Canaan. In that time, the People of Israel were nomadic and had to journey every day to advance on their journey towards their goal. They could not live in permanent houses, so they had temporary huts. Today, Jews also build temporary huts, called Sukkot, and eat (and the hardcore ones sleep) in them.

This is also known as the Festival of Gathering, and is one of three pilgrimage festivals mentioned in the Pentateuch when Jews were traditionally supposed to make offerings at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Thus, this corresponds to the main harvest of most fruits and grains and these were offered to the priesthood. The celebration lasts a week (eight days in the diaspora) and ends with Simchat Torah, when the Pentateuch is rolled to the beginning and started over.

Sukkot is celebrated on the fifteenth day of Tishrei.

Answer: Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the new year for years. It is one of the four new years mentioned in the Pentateuch. Apart for a ritual meal, Jews also traditionally take the day before to pray near a body of water and throw in bread to signify throwing away one's sins.

Some traditional foods include pomegranates, so that your year may be filled with good deeds and mitzvot, commandments. Some eat the head of a fish or a lamb to make sure their year will not be like a tail but rather like a head. Apples dipped in honey are customarily eaten and a round challah is baked, also traditionally dipped in honey, to ensure that you will have a sweet year.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of Tishrei.

Answer: Lag B'Omer

Lag B'Omer is the 33rd day of the barley offerings that began on Pesach, or Passover. Every day, one more offering is added until 49 are gathered, and then Shavuot is celebrated. On the 33rd day, Lag B'Omer is observed.

It is a day of celebration in the middle of a mourning period. Many people get married this day, many Jews give their kids their first haircut on this day, bonfires are lit, and a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai) is made.

On this day, traditionally, the plague that took 24 thousand lives from the students of Rabbi Akiva was ended. The Bar Kokhba rebellion is commemorated this day, hence the lit bonfires.

Lag B'Omer is celebrated on the eighteenth day of Iyyar.

Answer: Tu B'Av

Tu B'Av is a festival of summer love. It is a minor and not often celebrated holiday, but, nonetheless, it is a fun day. Some practices are similar to Valentine's Day. This is when, in ancient times, the eligible females of Jerusalem dressed in white garments and went out to dance in the vineyards. All the eligible suitors would be sent to seek them out and matches would be made.

Tu B'Av is celebrated on the fifteenth day of Av, six days after the darkest mourning day, Tisha B'Av, when the two Temples were destroyed, amongst other calamities.

Answer: Hanukkah

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights marking the re-consecration of the Holy Temple. The Greek Selucids had defiled the Temple and brought in their gods and the Maccabees rebelled against them. The war was won by the Jewish people but when they go to the Temple, they could only find one little jug of clean oil to light the Menorah. Miraculously, the little jug lasted for eight days until more oil could be brought. The chanukiyah, a special eight-candle menorah, is lit, with every day a candle added to make the light stronger as the days pass.

Hanukkah is a great celebration. Many foods cooked in oil are eaten like latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts). Dreidels are spun and played with. Gelt (money) is given to children, often in the form of chocolate coins.

Hanukkah is celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev and is celebrated for eight days.