The Festivals

“Rejoice in your festivals!” the Torah tells us. “Just be happy!” But which festivals? The Jewish calendar contains four biblical festivals, Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret (Simchat Torah), each containing a unique message and distinct rules. What they all have in common, however, is:

1. We honor them by wearing our finest wardrobe and baking our best challah (or matzah on Passover).
2. We enjoy them by serving great meals—even better than on Shabbat. We dine twice a day, nighttime and daytime, following kiddush and challah, on meat (if you enjoy meat) and delicacies.
3. We rejoice in them by giving the children treats, husbands buying their wives fine clothes and jewelry (each husband according to his means), and men drinking wine, as is written, “Wine gladdens the hearts of men.” We also try our best to have guests, especially guests who may otherwise not be so happy—like the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, and the impoverished or otherwise downtrodden.
4. We give the children treats, buy our wives fine clothes and jewelry, and drink wineWomen and girls light candles to usher in each holiday eve. Special holiday prayers are recited.

Rosh Hashanah is also a holiday, but not a festival—so A, B and D apply, but not C.

Work Restrictions

Almost all activities forbidden on Shabbat are forbidden on festivals: for example, operating an electric gadget, going to work, driving, writing or handling money. There are exceptions. Here are some permitted activities:

• Most activities necessary for food preparation, such as kneading, baking, and cooking (on a stove that has been left on since the onset of the holiday).
• Lighting a fire from a pre-existing flame.
• Carrying in the public domain.

Click here for more details on that which is permitted and that which is not.

Note:

All of the above applies to the first two and last two days of Passover, both days of Shavuot, the first two days of Sukkot, and the two days of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Different, far more lenient rules apply to Passover’s and Sukkot’s “intermediate days.”