ShavuotShavuot (), or Shvu'es () in some Ashkenazi usage (, Šāvūʿōṯ, "Weeks"), commonly known in English as the Feast of Weeks, is a major Jewish holiday, one of the , that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan (in the 21st century, it may fall between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar). In the Bible, Shavuot marked the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel. In addition, rabbinic tradition teaches that the date also marks the revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, which, according to the tradition of Orthodox Judaism, occurred at this date in 1312BCE.
HoseaIn the Hebrew Bible, Hosea (ˌhoʊˈziːə or hoʊˈzeɪə; הוֹשֵׁעַ – Hōšēaʿ, 'Salvation'; Ὡσηέ – Hōsēé), also known as Osee, son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the first of the Twelve Minor Prophets, whose collective writings were aggregated and organized into a single book in the Jewish Tanakh by the Second Temple period (forming the last book of the Nevi'im) but which are distinguished as individual books in Christianity.
JeremiahJeremiah (650 – 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, the Books of Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple. In addition to proclaiming many prophecies, the Book of Jeremiah goes into detail regarding the prophet's private life, his experiences, and his imprisonment.
NehushtanIn the biblical Books of Kings (2 Kings 18:4; written c. 550 BC), the Nehushtan (נְחֻשְׁתָּן Nəḥuštān nəħuʃtaːn) is the name given to the bronze image of a serpent on a pole. The image is described in the Book of Numbers, where Yahweh instructed Moses to erect it so that the Israelites who saw it would be cured and be protected from dying from the bites of the "fiery serpents", which Yahweh had sent to punish them for speaking against him and Moses ().
MatzahMatzah, matzo, or maẓẓah (מַצָּה, : matzot or Ashk. matzos) is an unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which chametz (leaven and five grains that, per Jewish Law, are self-leavening) is forbidden. As the Torah recounts, God commanded the Israelites (modernly, Jews and Samaritans) to eat only unleavened bread during the seven-day Passover festival. Matzah can be either soft like a pita or crispy.
MezuzahA mezuzah (מְזוּזָה "doorpost"; plural: mezuzot) is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jewish followers of Rabbinical Judaism affix to the doorposts of their homes. These verses are the Biblical passages in which the use of a mezuzah is commanded ( and ); they also form part of the Shema prayer. In mainstream Rabbinic Judaism, a mezuzah must generally be placed in every doorway in the home, with some exceptions such as bathrooms (which are not a living space) and small closets.
Book of ExodusThe Book of Exodus (from Ἔξοδος; שְׁמוֹת Šəmōṯ, 'Names') is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of Yahweh, who has chosen them as his people. The Israelites then journey with the prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh gives the 10 commandments and they enter into a covenant with Yahweh, who promises to make them a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" on condition of their faithfulness.
AaronAccording to Abrahamic religions, Aaron (ˈærən or ˈɛərən) was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament (Luke, Acts, and Hebrews), and the Quran. The Hebrew Bible relates that, unlike Moses, who grew up in the Egyptian royal court, Aaron and his elder sister Miriam remained with their kinsmen in the northeastern region of the Nile Delta.
SukkotSukkot is a Torah-commanded holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the (שלוש רגלים, shalosh regalim) on which those Israelites who could were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. In addition to its harvest roots, the holiday also holds spiritual importance with regard to its abandonment of materialism to focus on nationhood, spirituality, and hospitality, this principle underlying the construction of a temporary, almost nomadic, structure of a sukkah.
Book of JoshuaThe Book of Joshua (סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ , Tiberian: Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ) is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile. It tells of the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, the destruction of their enemies, and the division of the land among the Twelve Tribes, framed by two set-piece speeches, the first by God commanding the conquest of the land, and, at the end, the second by Joshua warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law (torah) revealed to Moses.
