Festive Days Commemorating the Exodus from Egypt – two sets of eight consecutive days prescribed in the Torah, one in the fall (Sukkoth and Simhath Torah [also known as Sh’mini ‘Atzeret]) and the other in the spring (Pesah and Shavu’oth [also known as ‘Atzeret]).
Sukkoth and Simhath Torah
Sukkoth or “Feast of Booths”, commencing on the fifteenth day of Tishre, commemorates the aspect of the Exodus expressed in the verse “so that your coming generations know that I placed the Children of Israel in booths when I took them out of the Land of Egypt” (Lev. 23:43). The eighth day of the festive period, actually a festival separate from the preceding seven days of Sukkoth, denotes by convocation (‘Atzeret) the annual completion of weekly reading of portions of the Torah (hence Simhat Torah, the rejoicing in the Torah).
During the first seven days of the festival, Jews spend most of their time in booths they have built just prior to the holiday, this temporary housing becoming, as it were, permanent, while their permanent homes take on a temporary character. Part of the ritual of the festival involves the shaking of Arba’at HaMinim, “the four species” – a palm branch, a willow branch, a branch of a thickly-leaved tree and a citron. The seventh day of the festival is known as Hosha’na Rabba and relates especially to that aspect of the Temple service when the worshipers would circle the altar with their arba’at haminim in their hands. Mystical Judaism views this day as a kind of “second chance” for those wrongdoers whose sins were not atoned for and deleted by Yom Kippur.
Inclement weather often curtails the use one can make of the “booth”, for one is not required to endanger one’s health by fulfilling the relevant injunctions, but this is more common abroad than in Israel.
Passover and Shavu’oth
Pesah, Passover or “Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzoth)”, beginning on the fifteenth day of Nissan, commemorates the aspect of the Exodus expressed in the verse “Remember this day on which you came out of the Land of Egypt…; no leavened bread shall be eaten” (Ex. 13:3). The eighth day of the festive sequence, occurring on the fiftieth day after the first day of Pesah and known as Shavu’oth, falls on the sixth day of Sivan (the third month beginning with Nissan), and denotes by convocation (‘Atzeret) the giving and receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.
There are two historical events associated with the festival of Pesah. The first is the year-long affliction of the Egyptians in what are known as the Ten Plagues; the second is the splitting of the Red Sea and the actual escape from Egyptian bondage. In parallel, there are two major injunctions and one major prohibition associated with this festivity: injunction no. 1, to offer up a sacrifice, known as the Passover Sacrifice (korban Pesah). Halachically speaking, the Jews are obligated today to offer up the korban Pesah and were it not for the police supervision of the Temple Mount, we may undoubtedly conclude that many Jews would today indeed bring a sacrificial lamb to the Temple Mount for it to be offered up
The other major injunction (going hand-in-hand with the important prohibition) is the requirement to eat a certain amount of “unleavened bread” (called matza) on the first night of Pesah, at the festive meal known as the Seder Pesah, together with the prohibition against eating leavened bread (known as hametz) during the entire seven days of the festival.
The splitting of the sea is traditionally ascribed to the eve of the seventh day of the festival, and Jewish communities dwelling near large bodies of water are accustomed to going out that night to the seacoast and reciting the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15).
Shavu’ot (also known as ‘Atzeret) closes the Pesah cycle, just as Simhat Torah (also called Shemini ‘Atzeret) closes the Sukkoth cycle. In the case of Shavu’ot, however, the cycle closes fifty days later and not immediately following the seven-day festival. This fifty-day period is known for its Sefirat Ha’Omer (the counting of the omer, an ancient weight associated with grain), reflecting the agricultural aspect of the ancient Jewish festivals.