The Festivals: A History of Jewish Celebration

The Festivals: A History of Jewish Celebration is a book written by Chaim Raphael. It covers the full calendar of celebrations and explains their meanings and roots. The explanations include stories and relevant historical background. This book is ideal for gentiles such as myself who are mystified by all of these celebrations and always scratching our heads when mentioned, hence I use it as a reference book.

Some Festivals Covered

• Sabbath and New Moon
• The Overall Festive Calendar
• Pesach (Passover)
• Lag Ba 'Omer (Thirty-third day of the Omer)
• Shavuol (Feast of Weeks, Pentecost)
• Tisha B'Av (Ninth of Av)
• Rosh Hashanah (New Year)
• Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
• Sukkot (Tabernacles)
• Chanukah (Feast of Dedication)
• Purim (The Festival of Lots)
• The First Seder
• Getting Home for Yomtov
• A Seder Bride for Solomon Jacob

Chaim Raphael

Chaim Raphael (Chaim Rabinovitch) was born on 14 July 1908 in Middlesbrough. He was a scholar of Jewish studies and a writer of very popular Jewish history books. In 1934, he married Diana Rose; they had one son, and one daughter. In 1951, he received an OBE. In 1965, he received a CBE.

He taught at Oxford University and the University of Sussex. He was a Research Fellow at Sussex University from 1969 to 1975. From1942 to1945, he served at the British Information Services, New York. From 1945 to1957, he was a Director of Economics. From 1959 to 1968, he became the Head of the Information Division at the Treasury where he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer's spokesperson.

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