What is the significence of the holiday "Tu B'Shvat"?
153158
Hum never heard of it! sounds interesting though
911659
Hanukkah is the annual Jewish festival celebrated on eight successive days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev, the third month of the Jewish calendar, corresponding, approximately, to December in the Gregorian calendar. It is also known as the Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, and Feast of the Maccabees, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem by Judas Maccabee in 165 BC after the Temple had been profaned by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, king of Syria and overlord of Palestine.\n\nSee http://www.history.com/minisites/hanukkah/ for more
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Judaism and Islam do not have any holidays in common.\nMost Jews will tell you that they consider Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) as the most important Jewish holidays.\nMany Muslims will tell you that the month of Rmadan is most important to them.
838402
yep. Im jewish, and thats how it was spelled on my  bat mitzvah cards!!! Oh, Mazel Tov on the bat mitzvah even if its not yours. cheers!!!!!
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Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is one of the most joyous times of the Jewish year. \n\nThe reason for the celebration is twofold (both dating back to c. 165 BCE): \n\nthe miraculous military victory of the small, ill-equipped Jewish army over the ruling Greek Syrians, who had banned the Jewish religion and desecrated the Temple; \n\nand the miracle of the small cruse of consecrated oil, which burned for eight days in the Temple's menorah instead of just one. \n\n\nHanukkah is celebrated by: \n\na. lighting a menorah for eight nights with olive oil or wax candles; one on the first night and an additional one each succeeding night \n\nb. eating food fried in oil, especially potato pancakes (latkes) and jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) \n\nc. playing with a dreidel, a four-sided top; the player wins or loses money depending on which side it lands on (each is marked with a different Hebrew letter)\n\nIn 1997, a 60-foot, 18-ton menorah was built in Latrun, Israel; a rabbi was lifted by crane each night to kindle the lights. The same year, a 12-foot pyramid of 2,400 jelly doughnuts was built near Afula, Israel; the pastries were later distributed to soldiers serving near the northern border. \n\nHanukkah began this year (2005) on the evening of December 25.\n\nSee poster:\nhttp://www.allposters.com/-sp/Menorah-w-toys-candy-and-gifts-in-background-Posters_i1459268_.htm
172340
Rosh Hashannah is the jewish new year. It is celebrated during tishri, the month of "new beginnings". Tishri was originally the first month but was changed to the 7th month, something about the passover.\nThe world was created, Noah departed from the ark, and Christ was born during Tishri ( not Dec. 25, When He died in the spring He was 33 and a HALF, which would put His birth in the fall. )
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The Bar/Bat Mitzvah ritual its self dose nothing. It is only a commemoration of when a boy at 13 or a girl 12 begin to take on the responsibility of being a Jewish adult and are now obligated to the Torah and commandments of the Jewish people. \nThe way this is normally done is the boy reads a section of the Torah from a scroll in Hebrew during one of the days that Jews are obligated to hear it being read. This signifies that the boy is now capable of preforming the mitzvah (commandment) of studying and learning Torah and teaching it to others.
602480
It's "bar mitzvah," and it IS Hebrew. It means, Son of the Commandment. It's the ceremony that Jewish boys have when they are 13. For girls, it's called a "bat mitzvah."
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Dreidel\n \nThe dreidel (a four-sided spinning top) is associated with Hanukkah. It has four sides, each engraved with a different Hebrew letter:\n\nנ (Nun) \nג (Gimel) \nה (Hey) \nש (Shin) \nThese letters are an acronym for the Hebrew words, נס גדול היה שם, Nes Gadol Haya Sham—"A great miracle happened there" (referring to the miracle of the oil that took place in the Beit Hamikdash).\n\nIn Israel, the fourth side instead shows the letter פ (Pe), rendering the acronym, נס גדול היה פה, Nes Gadol Haya Po—"A great miracle happened here" (referring to the fact that the miracle occurred in the land of Israel).\n\nTraditional Jewish commentaries ascribe deep symbolism to the markings on the dreidel. One commentary, for example, connects the four letters with the four exiles to which the nation of Israel was historically subject—Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome.[13]\n\nThe dreidel is the centerpiece of a game which is often played after the lighting of the Hanukkah menorah, to keep the children interested during the short time the candles are burning. Each player starts out with 10 or 15 coins, nuts or other markers, and places one marker into the "pot". The first player spins the dreidel, which lands with one of its symbols facing up, indicating the appropriate action to be taken, corresponding to one of the following Yiddish words:\n\nNun - nisht - "not" - the next player spins \nGimel - gants - "all" - the player takes the entire pot \nHey - halb - "half" - the player takes half of the pot, rounding up if there is an odd number \nShin - shtel ayn - "put in" - the player puts one or two markers in the pot \nAnother version differs in that nun is nem - "take", while gimel is gib - "give". The game may last until one person has won everything.\n\nThe dreidel game is played in part to commemorate a game that the Jews under Greek domination played to camouflage their Torah study. Though the Greeks made a law forbidding the study of Torah, the Jews would gather in caves to engage in learning. A lookout was posted to alert the group to the presence of Greek soldiers; if he spotted them, he would give a signal and the Jews would hide their scrolls and begin playing with spinning tops (dreidels) and coins. This ruse gave the impression that they were engaged in gambling, not learning.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B'nai_Mitzvah\n\nIt is common in Jewish culture to celebrate the coming-of-age transition. In popular usage, the terms "Bar Mitzvah" and "Bat Mitzvah" are often mistakenly used to refer to the celebration itself; however the term actually refers to the boy or girl. The event is often misunderstood to be a rite of passage by which a Jewish boy or girl becomes a Jewish adult
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You mean OTHER than the religious significance? (HOLY DAY=HOLIDAY)\n\nTo be with the one's you love and enjoy some good times. (And remember, if it isn't a good time, it's a good story!!)  ;-)
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Passover is the 8 day observance commemorating the freedom and exodus of the Israelites (Jewish slaves) from Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses II.\n\nA time of family gatherings and lavish meals called Seders, the story of Passover is retold through the reading of the Haggadah. With its special foods, songs, and customs, the Seder is the focal point of the Passover celebration. Passover begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. As the Jewish day begins at sundown the night before, for the year 2006, the first night of Passover will be April 12th.\n\nSo here for your entertainment are some fun Holiday things for you and your family. We've got stories of Moses and the exodus, we've got matzohs to find, songs to sing*, and matzoh brie to make! So bring your kids and tell your friends. And please stop by again. Don't forget to sign our Guestbook before you leave
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Happy Hannukah, Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays, are all appropriate.  The first two refer to the 8-day Jewish celebration.\n\nMy best friend of 30 years, a teacher, is of the Jewish faith.  Receiving a gift with "Happy Hannukah" on it makes it more  special as the student took the time to remember his/her teacher is not Christian.  \n\nYour gift to your Jewish professor will coincide with the gifts you are planning to give to your Christian professors, as Chanukah in 2006 begins at sundown on December 15 with the first full day of this Jewish celebration on December 16.
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Ive never heard of the song. I would look up the band or the song to see if its hebrew or something and then find a site that can translate.
101865
Its not a "Jewish" word, its Hebrew (our language) for 'peace'. What sort of story do you mean? It is one of the ways we  greet each other. Historically, when coming to a camp, we would greet the sentry with "shalom aleichem!" or "peace be among you", (almost a question and statement at the same time) and the appropriate response from the sentry would be "aleichem shalom" or "among us, there is peace" This lets the vistors know that everything is fine at the camp, and that they are welcome to enter the camp. This is how it was done back then, and that form of answering with the subjects reversed remains to be the appropriate greeting\n\nUpdate: Toda, toda. Beruch ti hiyeh!\n\nUpdate: Technically SFederow. In the example I used the senrty is speaking for the camp in its singular entirety. The person is asking the status of the camp as a whole, not simply the sentry himself. In which case, the use of the singular referring to the entire camp is justified, thus my translation as 'us'.
82428
It represents Isreal.
712258
Because of the Hope it represents.  Jesus was born on this day and without him we would have nothing to look forward to.  People that are on drugs, homeless, sick, have lost their children, would have no hope.  Jesus is the reason for the season and the hope for all.