The situation today

Modern attitudes toward the Sabbath and festivals vary considerably. Acculturated Jews under the sway of Western secularism often are ignorant of, or choose to neglect, traditional observances. Attitudes of committed Jews in the Western world are patterned mostly along the lines of accepted Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform practice. Thus for example, driving to synagogue services on the Sabbath is unthinkable in Orthodox circles, a matter of dispute among Conservative rabbis, and normative practice for Reform Jews. Among Orthodox Jews, who best preserve the traditional observances, contemporary discussion centres mostly on technological advances and their effect on Halakhic practice (the behaviour laid down in the written and oral Torah). Whether or not hearing aids may be worn on the Sabbath, and how crossing the international dateline affects observance of Sabbaths and festivals typify the sort of problem raised in Orthodox responsa (“replies” to questions on law and observance). Recent (and often heated) discussion in Conservative literature raises the possibility of abolishing the obligatory character of the additional festival days in the Diaspora (except for the second day of Rosh Hashana), thus unifying Jewish practice throughout the world. Reform Jews, the most innovative of the three groups, observe neither the additional festival days (including the second day of Rosh Hashana) nor the fasts and have introduced numerous modifications in the liturgy as well as in the observances. More radical Reform congregations have experimented freely with sound and light effects and other novel forms of synagogue service.

In Israel Sabbath is the national day of rest, and Jewish holidays are vacation periods. Municipal ordinances govern public observance of the Sabbath and festivals; their enactment and enforcement vary with the political influence of the local Orthodox Jewish community. Attempts to interpret festivals along nationalistic lines are common; some kibbutzim (communal farms) stress the agricultural significance of the festivals. Independence Day is a national holiday; the preceding day, Remembrance Day, commemorates Israel’s war dead. Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)—marking the systematic destruction of European Jewry between 1933 and 1945 and recalling the short-lived Ghetto uprisings—is commemorated officially on Nisan 27; many religious Israelis prefer to commemorate it on Ṭevet 10 (a fast day) now called Yom HaQaddish (day upon which the mourner’s prayer is recited). Since the June 1967 war, Iyyar 28—Liberation of Jerusalem Day—is celebrated unofficially by many Israelis. Appropriate services are conducted on all the aforementioned holidays by most segments of Israel’s religious community.

In Israel and the Diaspora, Jewish theologians often stress the timelessness and contemporaneity of holiday observances. Nevertheless, “revised” Passover Haggadot (plural of Haggada) in which contemporary issues are accorded a central position, appear regularly.

Scholarly research into the origin of the festivals, if unabated, has not advanced significantly in recent years, nor is it likely to unless new evidence is forthcoming. Attempts to trace the development and spread of festival observances have fared better, and studies such as A. Yaari’s History of the Simḥat Torah Festival (in Hebrew) bode well for the future.