Jewish Holiday Trivia Questions and Answers: Judaism, Christianity & Islam Compared

Jewish holidays are central to Jewish identity and covenantal life. Passover (Pesach) is among the oldest and most observed, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. The Torah explicitly commands its observance: the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month Leviticus 23:5, and the Israelites faithfully kept this commandment even in the wilderness of Sinai Numbers 9:5.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, falls on the first day of the seventh month and is marked by the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn). Leviticus describes it as a "memorial of blowing of trumpets" and a holy convocation Leviticus 23:24. It's a time of reflection, repentance, and the beginning of the Ten Days of Awe leading to Yom Kippur.

Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasts seven days Leviticus 23:34. Families build temporary booths (sukkot) to recall the forty years of wilderness wandering. The Sabbath itself underpins all Jewish holy time — Israel is commanded to keep it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant Exodus 31:16, and no work may be done, extending even to servants and animals Deuteronomy 5:14.

Scholar Theodor Gaster (1953) in Festivals of the Jewish Year argued these holidays form a complete spiritual calendar cycling through themes of liberation, atonement, and gratitude. Disagreement exists within Judaism about how strictly holidays are observed — Orthodox communities follow halacha rigorously, while Reform communities may adapt practices.

Christianity emerged from a Jewish context, and the New Testament frequently references Jewish holidays as the backdrop for Jesus's ministry. The Gospel of John notes that "the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh" during Jesus's public ministry John 6:4, situating key events — including the feeding of the five thousand — within the Jewish liturgical calendar. This connection is theologically significant: most Christian traditions understand Jesus as the fulfillment of the Passover lamb.

The Feast of Tabernacles also appears directly in the New Testament. John 7:2 records that "the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand" when Jesus made his famous declaration about living water John 7:2, suggesting he intentionally used the holiday's imagery to reveal his identity. Early church fathers like Origen (3rd century) interpreted Sukkot typologically as pointing to the incarnation.

Regarding the Sabbath, the New Testament records tension between Jesus and Jewish leaders over Sabbath observance. John 5:10 shows the Jews rebuking a healed man for carrying his bed on the Sabbath John 5:10, a controversy that highlights differing interpretations of Sabbath law. Most Christian denominations moved their primary worship to Sunday (the Lord's Day) rather than Saturday, though Seventh-day Adventists and some Messianic Jewish believers still observe Saturday Sabbath Exodus 31:16.

There's genuine disagreement among Christian scholars — N.T. Wright and others argue Christians should understand these feasts deeply, while Reformed theologians like John Calvin held that the ceremonial law was abrogated at the cross.

Islam doesn't observe the Jewish holiday calendar, but it deeply respects the prophetic tradition from which those holidays spring. The Quran acknowledges Moses (Musa) as a major prophet and the Exodus narrative as a sign of God's power and mercy. Islamic tradition holds that when the Prophet Muhammad arrived in Medina and observed Jews fasting on Ashura (the tenth of Muharram), he learned it commemorated Moses's deliverance from Pharaoh — a narrative parallel to Passover Numbers 9:5.

The concept of sacred time and holy convocations resonates in Islam through its own calendar: Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and the weekly Jumu'ah (Friday prayer). The principle that certain days are set apart for God echoes the Torah's command that the Sabbath be a perpetual covenant Exodus 31:16 and that specific months carry special sanctity. Islamic scholars like Ibn Kathir (14th century) commented extensively on the Torah's festival legislation as part of the broader prophetic heritage.

Islam's position is that the original divine laws given to Moses — including festival observances — were authentic revelations, but that the final revelation of the Quran supersedes and completes them. Muslims therefore don't observe Passover or Sukkot as binding obligations, though they honor their historical and spiritual significance. The Feast of Tabernacles' theme of divine provision in the wilderness Leviticus 23:34 finds a parallel in Islamic reflection on God's sustenance of the Israelites with manna and quail, a story the Quran also tells.