What Are The Hebrew's High Holy Days?

The High Holy Days (The Annual High Sabbaths) of the Hebrews are ordained by God, The Father Almighty, in Deuteronomy 16:16.

And they were instituted as "Pilgrimage" days on which there were to be Holy convocations. This means that congregating at the Tabernacle for holy religious purposes was a commandment, not just a suggestion.

There are three High Holy Days instituted by God, and He stated that these days honor Him because He has ordained them as Holy unto Himself.

But, remember that there actually are NO Hebrew or Jewish Holy Days, for there are only GOD'S Holy Days which the Sons of Israel were commanded to faithfully observe as their form of worship of The God Of Abraham.

Yom Kippur is always referred to in the secular media as "THE" High Holy Day.

And, today's "Cultural" Hebrews consider the 10 days from Rosh haShanah through Yom Kippur to be "THE" High Holy "DAYS"!

While both Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur are special (extra, added) Sabbath Days...
They are NOT one of the God-ordained "Annual High Sabbaths"!
They are NOT one of the God-ordained "Pilgrimage" Sabbaths!
God has NOT declared Rosh haShanah a High Holy Day!
God has NOT declared Yom Kippur a High Holy Day!
Who are YOU going to believe? God, MAYBE?

How could today's "cultural" Hebrews be in so much confusion about the timing of their OWN Annual High Sabbaths (High Holy Days), the God-ordained "Pilgrimage" Sabbaths?

Because of the confusion of today's Hebrews, everyone else should ignore all "cultural" Hebrews and Orthodox Jews whose ecclesiastical (Hebrew Holy Days) calendar differs or departs from their own Holy Scriptures (Tanakh - The Christian Old Testament).

It is a shame that today's Hebrews have accurate information available in Torah (Genesis -thru- Deuteronomy), but they (instead) choose to conform their Holy Days calendar to interpretations of Torah found in the Talmud (Rabbinic commentaries). Hebrews do not study Torah - you will often only hear of "Talmudic" scholars - seldom will you ever hear of "Torah" scholars.

Another process which further distances the Jewish people from Torah, another missed opportunity to read or hear the Words of God directly from Torah is when Torah is read in Synagogue and in Shul. The Torah is read in Hebrew - not in English or in any other local vernacular (the native speech or language of a place).

Despite the fact that The Passover was on a Hebrew's Wednesday in the year of Christ Jesus' Crucifixion, today's Hebrew religious authorities make minor adjustments to their calendar to insure that The Passover cannot fall on a Wednesday. And, in most years, neither does Firstfruits (Wave Offering) nor Shavu'ot (Pentecost) occur on the first day of the week in today's Jewish calendar.

That is the case today with "cultural" Hebrews, the reason is a matter of history.

Throughout the life and times of Christ Jesus, there was always a controversy between the Phariseean and Sadduceean way of keeping these important, God-ordained feast / festival days.

At the time of Christ Jesus' Crucifixion, the Sadducees (called: Scribes, in Matthew, Ch. 23) were the high priests in Jerusalem (See: Acts 5:17), and the Sadducees kept the Hebrew Holy Days according to our present-day Christian understanding from Torah (The "LAW" - The Books Of Moses - The first 5 books in the Christian Bible's Old Testament).

The Sadducees correctly believed that Firstfruits always fell on the Sunday within the week of Unleavened Bread (on the Sunday following Passover), which meant that Pentecost always fell on the first day of the week also.

While the Pharisees wrongly believed that Firstfruits fell on the 16th of Abib (Nisan), the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread (on the day after the annual "Pilgrimage" Sabbath) which led to a set date for Pentecost on the 6th of Sivan; on various days of the week instead of always being on a Sunday.

At the time of Jesus, the Sadduceean keeping of the Hebrew Holy Day feasts was in effect, but after the Roman dispersion of Israel (ca. CE 66-70), the more numerous and stricter Pharisees prevailed and perpetuated their highly flawed understanding of Judaism, even unto today.

Pharisees are the religious and cultural ancestors of modern-day Orthodox Jews, the keepers of the Hebrew religious calendar today. Since "cultural" Hebrews do not know their Torah and cannot discern between God's truth and man-made fiction, "cultural" Hebrews look upon modern-day Orthodox Jews as authoritative in religious matters.

Many Biblically-astute modern Christians and most "Messianic" Jews have a much better understanding of God's Holy Days than do almost all of the "Chosen" people. Today's "cultural" Hebrews, and their religious leaders (Orthodox Jews), do not have a very firm grip on the concept of studying Torah. The Hebrews possess the "Oracles Of God", yet the Hebrews cannot make any sense out of them at all.

Since before the days of Christ Jesus, on High Holy Days (On Annual High Sabbaths), Hebrew males were commanded to make a "Pilgrimage" to the Tabernacle (At Jerusalem, in the time of Christ Jesus) and present appropriate sacrificial offerings, offerings which honor God in ways which He is willing to accept as Holy sacrifices.

Excepting the Sunday of Pentecost (Shavu'ot), from year to year the other two High Holy Days can fall on ANY day of the week. Since they ARE Sabbaths, all three High Holy Days are treated just as reverently as an ordinary, routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, no matter which day of the week they happen to occur.

Each of the three High Holy Days (The "Pilgrimage" Sabbaths) has its own special devotional and sacrificial religious ceremonies, along with special Feasts / Festivals, setting each of these three Annual High Sabbaths apart from every routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, even on those rare occasions when (from year-to-year) a High Holy Day happens to occur on a Saturday.

When Christ Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday Passover, those who undertook His burial on that same day had to rush to complete the burial as sunset approached because a "Pilgrimage" Sabbath, an Annual High Sabbath (A High Holy Day Sabbath) was about to begin on Thursday (the next day), after that rapidly approaching sundown at the end of Wednesday (John 19:31).

And Christ Jesus was resurrected three full days and nights (72 hours) later (Matthew 12:38-40) on the beginning of the following Sunday, very shortly after sunset, just a moment after a routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath had ended (Matthew 28:1). He was resurrected during the seven-day-long Feast Of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast / Festival Day called First Fruits, on the Sunday following Passover.

And, the Sunday following The Passover is the Sunday from which one counts 50 days to determine the correct Sunday for the "Pilgrimage" Sabbath, the Annual High Sabbath, the Hebrew High Holy Day, called Pentecost (Shavu'ot) !

And, in early fall, on the 15th day of the month of Tishri, the first day of the "Pilgrimage" Sabbath, the Annual High Sabbath, the Hebrew High Holy Day called SUKK'OT (Tabernacles) is the day Christ Jesus was born.

The Passover is NOT a Sabbath and is NOT a High Holy Day!

The Feast / Festival of The PASSOVER (Pesach, or Chag ha Av'iv, the Festival of Spring) commemorates the night when (in Egypt) each Israelite family killed a selected lamb, painted its blood on the lintel and door-posts of their dwellings, roasted the lamb, prepared to depart Egypt before eating, ate the lamb in haste with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, were protected from the death of their first-born males by the lamb's blood, and actually began the journey to depart from Egypt very early the next morning - which was still the day of The PASSOVER.

Christ Jesus celebrated a PASSOVER Seder Feast (The so-called "Last Supper") the evening before His Crucifixion - which occurred the next morning, during the daytime portion of The PASSOVER, Nisan 14, 3791 on the Hebrew calendar. (April 24, CE 31)

The first day of Unleavened Bread IS a Sabbath and IS a High Holy Day!

The 7-day-long Feast / Festival of UNLEAVENED BREAD (Chag HaMatzoh) begins on the day immediately after The Passover. The first day is a High Holy Day, an Annual High Sabbath, a "Pilgrimage" Sabbath, and the last day is also a Sabbath, but not a High Holy Day.

Since the first day and last day Sabbaths could fall on any day of the week, along with a routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, there could be up to three Sabbaths during the week of UNLEAVENED BREAD.

During the week of UNLEAVENED BREAD there is always a Sunday (Sundown Saturday -to- Sundown Sunday), which is the Feast / Festival of First Fruits, the day of Christ Jesus' resurrection.

The Sunday of First Fruits is NOT a Sabbath and is NOT a High Holy Day!

Yom ha Bikkurim - The Feast / Festival of FIRST FRUITS (of Barley) is on the only Sunday within the week of Unleavened Bread. It is always on the first Sunday following (after) The Passover.

About 2,000 years ago, in the very beginning moment of First Fruits in CE 31, right at sundown (dusk) on what non-Hebrews (even today, still) call Saturday night, Christ Jesus was resurrected on THIS special Hebrew Sunday.

The Sunday of Pentecost (Shavu'ot) IS a Sabbath and IS a High Holy Day!

Count 50 days, beginning with First Fruits (the Sunday within the week of Unleavened Bread, the Sunday following Passover), to determine the Sunday for PENTECOST- SHAVU'OT - a High Holy Day, an Annual High Sabbath, a "Pilgrimage" Sabbath.

Since the Sunday of PENTECOST is a Sabbath, since it follows a routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, and since yet another routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath occurs the sixth day after PENTECOST, there are always three Sabbaths during an eight-day-period surrounding PENTECOST.

This is THE day that the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, as reported in the Book Of Acts, Chapter 2. In Greek, PENTECOST literally means: "Count 50". PENTECOST is the Greek word used in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Holy Scriptures (Tanakh - the Christian Old Testament) in reference to SHAVU'OT, which follows First Fruits by 50 days.

Rosh haShanah IS a Sabbath but is NOT a High Holy Day!

Eschatologists consider ROSH HASHANAH (Yom Teruah) the most likely day that Christ Jesus will return to the earth a second time, only they cannot discern during which year. ROSH HASHANAH is called "The Day That No-One Knows" because it is the only Hebrew Feast / Festival day that falls on the first day of a month.

Since the first day of any Hebrew month depends on the sighting of the first tiny sliver of the next waxing moon following a new moon, no-one knows exactly when ROSH HASHANAH will begin until the moon is sighted and the 7th month of Tishri is officially declared to have begun.

Yom Kippur IS a Sabbath but is NOT a High Holy Day!

No matter what man-made traditions today's Scripturally-challenged Hebrews practice, no matter what information the Biblically-clueless secular media announces or publishes...

.... GOD has NOT decreed YOM KIPPUR a High Holy Day!
Who are YOU going to believe?

And, God did NOT command fasting on YOM KIPPUR, God instituted Feasts / Festivals, He did NOT institute any fasts!

YOM KIPPUR is the Day Of Atonement when one is to afflict one's soul to remember, confess and repent-of the sins committed during the previous year. And, when or where appropriate, to make reparations to those harmed by those sins.

This is NOT a glum and dreary, overtly theatrical, melodramatic day of gloom and doom with sack-cloth and ashes. For once one has performed the requisite affliction, YOM KIPPUR is still a Feast / Festival day of joy over the relief from guilt for those sins that have been confessed to God and repented-of, once-and-for-all, never to be repeated.

The first day of Sukk'ot (The Feast Of Tabernacles) IS a Sabbath and a High Holy Day!

Christ Jesus was born on the first day of the 7-day-long Feast / Festival of SUKK'OT. Because of the massive crowds of religious "Pilgrims" attending this Feast / Festival, who had occupied all available space for many miles around Jerusalem, there was no room at any inn - or even in private homes. Since every indoor space available to travelers and religious "Pilgrims" was already taken, initially there was nowhere to stay but in one of the many thousands of "Tabernacles" (Booths) that had been erected for this High Holy Day. His birth was on Tishri 15, 3758, on the Hebrew's calendar. Which date translates to October 4, BCE 4, on our modern Gregorian calendar.

The first day of SUKK'OT is a High Holy Day, an Annual High Sabbath, a "Pilgrimage" Sabbath. Since the first-day-Sabbath could fall on any day of the week, along with a routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, there are usually two Sabbaths during the week of SUKK'OT.

Shemini Atzeret IS a Sabbath but is NOT a High Holy Day!

This Sabbath, the day after the end of Sukk'ot, is known as "The Last Great Day" because it is the final annual Holy Day that was God-established. The next Holy Day on God's calendar is the next Passover, in the following Spring. On the "EIGHTH DAY" Ye-shu'a (Jesus) was circumcised ("Bris" or Brit Mila) according to the Scriptural command. This is when a name is given and, for a male, circumcision is what accomplishes a full Hebrew birth.

Since the first-day-Sabbath of Sukk'ot and this "EIGHTH DAY" Sabbath could fall on any day of the week, along with a routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, there could be up to three Sabbaths during this eight-day-period.

Hanukkah is NOT a Sabbath and is NOT a High Holy Day!

HANNUKKAH (Chanukah), an 8-day-long Feast / Festival - the first day of which is the Feast Of Dedication - commemorates a miraculous event that occurred after the close of Tanakh, the Hebrew's Holy Scriptures (The Old Testament, in Christian Bibles), and is not a God-established, God-ordained Feast / Festival. Other than one and sometimes two routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbaths within "The Festival Of Lights", there are no special, God-ordained "Holy-Day" Sabbaths during the eight days of HANUKKAH, because it is a tradition-based celebration instituted by men, not by God.

Purim is NOT a Sabbath and is NOT a High Holy Day!

PURIM, the Festival Of Lots, is not a God-established, God-ordained Feast / Festival. PURIM is not mentioned in Torah (The Law Of God), the first 5 books of Tanakh, the Hebrew's Holy Scriptures (The Old Testament, in Christian Bibles), and it is not even mentioned in the historical Book Of Esther. PURIM is a later-established celebration to commemorate a feast and the subsequent victorious events recorded in The Book Of Esther. Since PURIM could fall on any day of the week, other than a routine, weekly, Saturday Sabbath, there is no special, God-ordained "Holy-Day" or Sabbath on PURIM, because it is a tradition-based celebration instituted by men, not by God.