Shabbát, or as some say, "Shabbos," that is, the Sabbath Day, is the Day when the Lord rested from all His works and then revived (Exodus 31:17). Christ was crucified on a Friday, the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath, and buried at the close of that day as Shabbát was ready to begin. He rested in the tomb on the Sabbath and rose from the dead on the third day, the first day of the week, a Sunday. On the one hand, Shabbat, Saturday, is the consummation of the old creation. It lies at the boundary between the old creation and the New Creation. On the other hand, Sunday, the Lord's Day, the Day of the Lord, is the Day of Resurrection. It is the Day of the New Creation, the Eighth Day, the Coming Age experienced in the gathering of the Church.

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Each New Moon at the beginning of each lunar month in the Hebrew calendar is a time of renewal and rejoicing. A New Moon speaks of the renewal of the Church, the renewing of our minds in Christ, and of the unending joy we have in Christ. A New Moon is a time to redirect our hearts in gratitude toward God for all His blessings.

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Rosh Hashanáh occurs at the New Moon which commences the Hebrew year. It roughly falls near the same time as the beginning of the Orthodox Church's liturgical calendar year, which occurs in the solar calendar on September 1st. Rosh HaShanah commences the Ten Days of Repentance which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On Rosh Hashanáh, the willing faithfulness of Abraham to offer his son in sacrifice out of obedience to God is remembered along with God's intervention and redemption of Isaac through the ram whose horns were caught in the thicket. In the Septuagint, Abraham says regarding the ram that saved Isaac, "On the Mount, the Lord was seen," a prophetic prefigurement of the future redemption to be wrought by God on the Cross at the top of Mount Golgotha. It is also said that Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment, when God opens the books in which our deeds, both good and bad, are recorded.

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Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a Day of fasting among the Jewish people. It is the holiest day in Judaism. It is a day of prayer, repentance, and acts of charity. It is also a day of forgiveness. It has parallels with Forgiveness Vespers in the Orthodox Church. Yom Kippur culminates the Ten Days of Repentance that begin with Rosh Hashanáh, whereas Forgiveness Vespers, which follows the Sunday of the Last Judgment, begins Great Lent, a time of great repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a reminder of the axiom mentioned in Leviticus 17:11: "It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."

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Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a period of seven days, in which to remember the 40 years of Israel's wandering in the wilderness and of God's provision for them throughout those years. It is also called the Feast of Ingathering and the Harvest Festival. At this time, as at Passover and at Pentecost, the Jewish people would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate. During this feast, the Jewish people perform a ritual in which they wave branches from three plants together with a citron fruit toward the four directions of the compass. Similarly, on the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, the Orthodox priest waves the Cross in blessing toward the four directions of the compass. The Feast of the Elevation of the Cross falls in the season of the year close to Sukkot. When Peter, on Mount Tabor, at the Transfiguration of Christ, says, "Let us make three tabernacles: one for You [Christ], one for Moses, and one for Elijah," he may have been alluding to the Feast of Sukkot. Sukkot looks forward to the time of the Final Resurrection and the New Heavens and New Earth.

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In the Holy Land, Simhat Torah, "Rejoicing of Torah," is the same day as Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Assembly, immediately following the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the "Last Day, that Great Day of the Feast" on which Jesus cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of Living Water" (John 7:37-38). When Christ spoke of the Living Water, He was talking about the Gift of the Holy Spirit, promised to the faithful. Christ was promising to give the Torah of His Spirit to dwell in the hearts of the faithful and become a fountain that sends forth streams of living water to others who are thirsting for God. The Holy Spirit is given so that the Torah, the Law, can be fulfilled in us, who follow the Spirit as He pours the love of God in our hearts and leads us to deny ourselves, take up our Cross, and follow Christ in acts of love toward our neighbors.

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Hanukkah is also called the Feast of Renewal, the Feast of Dedication, or the Festival of Lights. It commemorates the miracle God did for the Maccabees by causing a day's supply of holy oil to burn in the rededicated Temple, not for one day only, but for eight days! This miraculous provision was a great sign, showing that God was still with the Jewish people in the Temple which was desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes, but cleansed and rededicated by the Maccabees. The central lamp of the nine-branched menorah used to celebrate Hanukkah is called the Shamash, the Servant. The fire of "the Servant" is used to light the other candles, a new candle each night for the eight days of Hanukkah, until all nine lamps are lit on the final night of Hanukkah. As Christ, God's Perfect Servant, is the Light of the World, so also He gives His Light to us so that we also become the Light of the World, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

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Jesus Christ, Yeshua haMashiakh, is the incarnate Lord God of Israel. We celebrate His Holy Birth in a cave in the fields of Ephratah-Bethlehem on the 25th of December, nine months following the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Most Holy Theotokos on March 25th.

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Tu B'shevat, the New Year for Trees, is a celebration of spring, like Arbor Day, which is not specifically mentioned in the Holy Scriptures.

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Purim, the Festival of Lots, was inaugurated during the days of Queen Esther, who saved the Jewish people from genocide by the Persian people who had been influenced by the evil, genocidal Haman. Haman, however, was caught in his own trap and hung on the hanging tree he had erected for the execution of Esther's cousin Mordecai. Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is from KYRIOS." Purim is a time of rejoicing in the deliverance which comes about through the providence of God.

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Pesach, or Passover, is also called by the Jewish people "the Season of our Redemption" because it commemorates the deliverance of the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt. This season recalls the Ten Plagues, the Death of the Firstborn, the Blood of the Passover Lamb upon the Doorposts and Lintel of Israelite homes, and the Baptismal Passage of the Jewish Nation through the Red Sea on dry land. Its commemoration prefigures the Redemption of the world through the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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Pascha, the Day of the Resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead, is Christ's Passover. During this 40-day season we celebrate the triumph of Eternal Life over Death through the suffering and humiliation of God. Pascha almost always falls on a Sunday following the commencement of the Jewish Passover and, as such, is to be understood as a fulfillment of the same.

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Shavuot (pronounced "shav-WOHT") is the Feast of the Giving of the Torah, the Law of God, at Mount Sinai. For Orthodox Christians, it is the Feast of the Giving of the Holy Spirit, the Law of Love, on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts 2. The Jewish synagogue follows the lunar calendar while, the Orthodox Church uses a form of calculation based on the solar, Julian calendar and the particular days of the Holy Week as recorded in the Gospels. Orthodox Christians celebrate Pentecost as a promise and fulfillment of Isaiah 2:3: "Out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of KYRIOS from Jerusalem."

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Tisha B'Av, "the ninth of Av," commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples. It is a day of mourning for Jewish people because the glorious Temple of KYRIOS was destroyed twice on the exact same day--once in 587 B.C. and again in A.D. 70. Several other tragedies have befallen the Jewish people on or about the ninth of Av. In the tradition of the Orthodox Church, the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God is commemorated on August 15th. In the providence of God, it is likely to be no coincidence that the ninth of the lunar month of Av generally falls in the solar month of August. The Orthodox Church addresses the Mother of God, saying, "O Sanctified Temple." Like the Jewish temple destroyed twice on the 9th of Av, the Holy Temple of God Incarnate took her repose in the same season as the 9th of Av. Nevertheless, Holy Tradition teaches us that the temple of her body was raised by God after her repose. Unlike the Jewish Temple, which remains in ruins, the Holy Temple of God Incarnate stands at His Right Hand, "clothed in a vesture wrought with gold, and arrayed in various colors" (Psalm 44:10[45:9]). Ought Christians to rejoice in triumph over the commemoration of the destruction of the Jewish Temple? Surely, not. Christ wept over the city of Jerusalem and its beautiful Temple, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44). The Apostle Paul wished himself accursed for the sake of the Jewish people (Romans 9:3-5). The writer to the Hebrews says that the old covenant of Sinai is decaying and growing old and is about to disappear (Hebrews 8:13). Yet, despite, the destruction of their temple, the Jewish people continue. If God raised His Mother from the dead and assumed her into heaven to stand at His Right Hand, He is able also to restore the Jewish people to a place of favor with Him through the obedience of faithfulness to the Gospel of His Messiah Jesus.

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Yom haAtzma'ut, the Independence Day of Israel is a day of great celebration for the Jewish people, especially in Israel. For the Palestinian people, however, this day is rather a time of grief. As we contemplate the Nation-State of Israel's Independence Day, we need to be mindful of the following things:

1 God promised the Holy Land to Abraham and to His Seed forever.

2 Christ is the Seed of Abraham. The Holy Land belongs to Yeshua the Christ.

3 Christians are grafted into the stock of Israel by faith, Baptism and Holy Chrismation, the Circumcision of Christ.

4 According to Christ, the meek inherit the Land.

5 The Jewish people, not Gentiles, are the natural heirs of the Covenant. Christ is the Natural Heir par excellence.

6 The Jewish people remain beloved to God, even despite their opposition to the Gospel, on account of the promises made to the Patriarchs because "the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:28-32).

7 Gentiles become heirs through faith and all the promises of God belong to the faithful, whether Jew or Gentile, through their union with Jesus Christ.

8 The Holy Land especially belongs to the faithful, whether Jew or Gentile, because they alone are able to receive from the Land the Spiritual Nourishment that grants them Eternal Life through the One whose Holy Feet hallowed that Land in a most special way. ( )