Jewish holidays

Israelis start the new year on deck: Rise in demand for cruises

Not just Greece and Cyprus: MSC reports rising demand for Israeli cruise vacations ahead of the holidays, with top destinations in the Caribbean, Norwegian fjords, and Europe.

MSC Divina.
DR. BENJAMIN FENICHEL sounds the shofar on Guadacanal Island, Rosh Hashanah 1943.

Rosh Hashanah proves humanity's need for faith amid religious uncertainty - opinion

Tourists

Summer vacation is over, but Rosh Hashanah is coming – the best sites for a family trip

The sea view from the Sukkah

Sukkot by the Sea: A Luxurious Holiday at the Carlton Tel Aviv


Israelis on the suitcases: This is what our holiday dreams look like

Despite security and economic uncertainty, Israelis keep dreaming of vacations. From Dubai and Tokyo to Tiberias and the Dead Sea, these are the top Booking.com searches for the High Holidays.

Budapest

Holiday feasts and fireworks at sea: The most luxurious cruises to close out 2025

MSC’s luxury brand unveils cruises for the holidays, with tropical island stops, gourmet dining, and festive celebrations at sea for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.

Explora 2

Photographic exhibition for Tu B’Av to open at Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem

The exhibition, curated by Ifat Shomrony and photographed by Limor Zadok, is a collection of paired photographs of eight couples and the stories behind them.

Tal Parnass and Giora Marani are featured in ‘Love in the Shadow of War.’

The many faces of Shavuot harvest, revelation, and tradition

The Torah is described as the Tree of Life, and there is a legend that Mount Sinai once was a “green mountain” covered with trees and shrubs.

 Another biblical name for Shavuot is Yom HaBikkurim (Day of the First Fruits), referring to the joyful pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where the Israelites offered up baskets of their first ripe fruits and bread baked from the newly harvested wheat.

Shavuot 2025: Diving into the Book of Ruth, a reminder tradition can grow

Beyond its being an inspiring story, The Book of Ruth can be enjoyed as a moving example of how tradition can grow.

 ‘BOAZ AND RUTH’ by Rembrandt, circa 1637-40. Through acts of kindness, dedication, and determination, Ruth becomes the worthy great-grandmother of King David.

Shavuot 2025: Why do we group Jewish holidays together?

By adding Purim to the duo of Passover and Shavuot, this trio reminds us that hiddenness is not static. It is dynamic.

 PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG attends a ‘Book of Esther’ reading wearing a protective mask, at the Ahavat Tzion synagogue in Beit Shemesh in 2022. ‘God is hiding His face, and we are experiencing a world in which it seems that God is absent,’ says the writer.

Shavuot in 1948: Harvesting the first fruits of Israeli statehood under siege

It was the collision of Israel’s past with its present and future. The offerings may have been meager. The dairy dishes improvised. But the spirit was resolute.

 SHAVUOT, ONE of the three pilgrimage festivals, marked the wheat harvest in biblical Israel. It concludes the seven-week period beginning at Passover

Reaccepting the Torah: Looking back the first Shavuot after the fall of Nazi Germany

For many Holocaust survivors, May 18, 1945 was the first Shavuot they were able to celebrate after years of war.

 AMERICAN CHAPLAIN Rabbi Herschel Schacter conducts religious services at the liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945

Snapping Tel Aviv: Alex Levac on capturing the city that never sleeps - interview

Israel’s city that never sleeps was founded over Passover, 1909, during the counting of the Omer leading up to Shavuot.

 CANINE GRACE personified

Confirmations on Shavuot's first day helped preserve American Jewish identity

Most Atlanta synagogues held a confirmation on the first day of the Shavuot holiday - unusual by then for many American Jewish communities.

 CONFIRMATION AT the Orthodox Temple Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1954. Center, Rabbi Jacob Kraft. Fourth from left, Ruth Weinstein.

Shavuot's special significance: Recognizing those who converted to Judaism

This identification of Israel with the Almighty is so profound that Shavuot was transformed into the concept of a spiritual marriage between God and the Jewish people.

 READING FROM the Torah in synagogue: Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments. These commandments, like the Torah, offer stories, insights, values and actions as ways in to God