Essay on Jewish Traditions

Submitted By sidneys02
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Jewish observance and holidays are just traditions and hold no religious significants to modern day adherents.

Discuss four:
Yom Kippur
Shabbat
Death and Burial Practices
Marriage
Hanukkah
Passover.

Jewish observance and holidays are traditions and do hold religious significance for some of its adherents. Religious celebrations such as Jewish Yom Kippur, Shabbat, Hanukkah and Jewish Marriage ceremonies are celebrated by religious followers and modern Jewish people alike. This is similar to many religions today. For instance, many Christians celebrate Christmas, not because of its significance in relation to the birth of Christ, but because it is a public holiday with many associated celebrations including the giving of gifts.

Yom Kippur is also known as “Day Of Atonement”. It is a day of Forgiveness. It is known as a day to set aside and “afflict the soul”. It is also known as one of the most important dates of the Jewish year. I believe that this is mainly observed by Orthodox Jews and other Jews just follow it as a Jewish public holiday. They have the day off from what they usually do to relax and “afflict the soul” instead of attending a religious church ceremony.

The religious tradition called Shabbat does hold religious significance to adherents. Shabbat takes place each week on the Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. I believe that to do this in modern days is a difficult task, as many people in modern days still work on Saturdays. I believe if you are religious enough to make sure every Saturday is free and dedicated to prayers and church, then Shabbat should be classified as a religious tradition. However modern adherents don't prepare for Shabbat in traditional ways by making challah (a traditional bread made each week for Shabbat), they are able to buy it to save time. I believe this is making Shabbat just a tradition for people who eliminate preparation time. They would perceive this as just a tradition.

Hanukkah is the tradition of the miracle of oil. They once suffered a shortage in oil and there came a miracle of oil. Orthodox Jew’s religiously celebrate this holiday. However the modern Jew’s celebrate with gifts. Gift giving
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