The Second Day of the Festival, Its Genesis and Evolution

Religions , 2019

The Pentateuch and later Jewish tradition associates the key pilgrimage festivals with stories about Israel's past. Nevertheless, these festivals all began as agricultural or seasonal festivals. Using comparative evidence from the ancient Near East, and looking at the Covenant Collection, the earliest biblical law collection, through a redaction critical lens, we can uncover the early history of these festivals and even how they developed in stages. A similar process is evident with the Sabbath, which appears to have begun as a moon festival, as per certain biblical references and from comparative evidence, but which eventually developed into the seventh day of rest as part of the institution of the week, and then comes to be associated with the story of God resting after creation. These developments, from celebrating agricultural and lunar cycles to celebrating mnemohistorical events, can be seen as part of two parallel processes: the coalescing of Israelite cultural memory and the institution of the linear calendar as the dominant conception of time.

A look at the common Biblical origins of the holiday practice of Judaism and Christianity. Why and how was there a parting of the ways with respect to the liturgical calendar and the interpretation of holidays? Messianic Jews today stand at the receiving end of the religious practices of the Church and the Synagogue. While identifying with the cultural and religious tradition of their people they are at the same time an integral part of the Christian Church, in particular of Evangelical Protestantism. In order to understand and appreciate Messianic Jewish holiday practice, it is imperative to look at the three sources from which this phenomenon draws: biblical, Christian and Judaic. This will also sheds light on the discussion how to 'rectify' the decisions of church councils with respect to the feasts of Israel and how to 'return' to the biblical roots of original Judeo-Christianity.

What are the sources of the practice of holidays in Judaism, Christianity and in the Messianic Jewish movement? This article outlines their origins in Biblical times and in Second Temple Judaism, and shows why and how there was a parting of the ways. Biblical holidays were practiced and interpreted differently in Christianity. Messianic Jews today are heir to both of these traditions. It is often claimed that they 'rectify' the erroneous decisions of church councils with respect to the feasts of Israel and 'return' to the biblical roots of original Judeo-Christianity. But historically speaking, they stand at the receiving end of the religious practices of both the Church and the Synagogue.

The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine (ed. C. Hezser; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 566–586

How was the Jewish culture shaped, in part, by the teachings held within the Pentateuch – and specifically the observation of religious feasts instituted by God during the formative years of Israel’s history? Aside from observing the Sabbath weekly, Leviticus 23 outlines seven annual religious feasts that the Jews were to observe. This article will outline the purpose and process of each of these annual feasts and then seek to discover the place of these in Jewish history, relating this to the the first coming of the Messiah.

Religion Compass, 2010

Taking into account recent developments in the historical studies of ancient Israelites the article raises questions regarding the continuing use of the old theoretical platforms and the validity of source criticism as a method in searching for the origins of biblical festivals. Using different arguments it attempts to invalidate the widely held view of Pentateuch's annual cycle of festivals as a more or less random collection of heterogeneous celebrations. Instead of focusing on the confusing picture presented by the biblical books, which the author sees as a result of the unfinished process of historicisation, the article suggests a different approach to reading the biblical texts and advocates application of the ritual studies findings and methods as a way towards a better understanding of the origins and the pre-biblical functions of Pentateuch's annual festivals.

The Encyclopaedia of Judaism; Second Edition. Edited by Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, and William Scott Green. 4 Vols.; Brill. Vol. I: 317-335., 2005

This article presents an overview of the annual Jewish festival calendar which demonstrates that they are not happenstance, nor properly understood merely as post hoc Judaizations of Canaanity folk festivals, but actually form a coherent and and indeed unique whole grounded in the Mosaic Torah, in which the major festivals and fasts recapitulate the primal creative events that formed the Jewish people as such. They mark these stages of spiritual purification and elevation when they move from the Exodus from Egypt in the spring month of Aviv/Nissan celebrated in Pesach/Passover, to the arrival at Mt. Sinai commemorated in Shavuot, and on through a purgation contained in the fast and mourning associated with the Golden Calf incident in Tisha B'Av, to an autumn month and a half of repentance which starts on the first of Ellul. This is a preparation for Moses's descent with the second set of Tablets on Yom Kippur, which brings renewed holiness and the Divine Presence into their midst - followed almost immediately by the joyous communion celebrated in Sukkot. Strengthened by this annual festival re-experiencing of the Mosaic generation's Exodus, reception of Torah at Mt. Sinai, and joyful communion with God, the Jewish people have been able to endure the long winter darknesses of post-Biblical history of struggle and exile that have threatened both their faith in God (Chanukah) and their very survival (Purim), themes ultimately taken up and resolved by the spring festival of Pesach, Passover. And so the cycle overlaps with itself, producing deeper layers of historical meaning down through the generations. Even the Messianic Age is symbolically represented in the festivals. Through this layering, each festival brings together the deep past, the present, and the future. The article goes on to describe in some detail the specific practices of those festivals, fasts and observances, in chronological sequence, for those who would like such a summary overview of the entire calendar.

This is a dissertation (NYU, 1989) on time-telling in the Bible: how to tell time and what time tells; how time was determined by natural phenomena such as sunrise, sunset, and the phases of the moon, and how these phenomena were used to construct the ritual calendar. The significance of the sun explains, for example, why the Jewish calendar begins at sunset. Further, significance morphs into symbolism: the cardinal points of location that derive from sunrise and sunset; their symbolism, that appears in square and cubic structures from the Jerusalem temple to the priest’s breastplate; in the layout of the tribes in the wilderness; in medical practice; and, above all, in the symbolic associations of light and darkness, rebirth and resurrection, life and death.

Religion Compass, 2010

From the perspective of biblical studies Pentateuch's annual festivals (Passover, First Sheaf, Unleavened Bread, Weeks, Blowing of the Shofar, Day of Atonement and Tabernacles) are usually regarded as a more or less artificial collection of heterogeneous cultic occasions. Application of ritual studies findings and methods, however, reveals that there are multiple syntagmatic links between these festivals and that their explicit and implicit dynamics also disclose something of their pre-biblical origins and significance.