Jewish Values + Holidays

Committed to embracing and celebrating the Jewish values at the core of our mission and that of the JCC Movement.

Jewish Values

The core values and beliefs that help shape our programs, services, community responsibility, and obligation to serve people of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds. 

Explore key Jewish values shaping The J and our diverse community:

Tzedakah is a fundamental Jewish value that means charitable giving and justice. Judaism teaches that everyone should give, according to their ability. Tzedakah can be financial donations as well as giving time, resources, or assistance to others. The highest form of tzedakah is helping someone become self-sufficient. Giving anonymously is also highly regarded as maintaining dignity and humility.

Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase meaning ‘repairing the world’ or ‘perfecting the world’. This can have different meanings for people but often is associated with ethical behavior and laws and social justice and activism. Tikkun Olam is about the responsibility to make the world a better place for all.

Kavod HaBriyot means human dignity or respect for all of G-d’s creations. This core Jewish value emphasizes treating every person with honor, kindness, and respect, regardless of their background, ethnicity, faith, or status. Compassion, sensitivity, and inclusion are key components of Kavod HaBriyot.

Emet is the Hebrew word for truth, and expands into the Jewish value of maintaining truth, honesty, and integrity in all aspects of life. The word emet (אמת) consistent of the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, symbolizing that truth encompasses everything, from beginning, middle, and end.

Although Shalom means peace in Hebrew, as a Jewish value it has a deeper meaning, representing wholeness, harmony, and the ideal state of the world. Shalom encompasses peace between people of all backgrounds, inner peace and wholeness, and peace in all places and spaces, throughout the world.

Chesed is the Jewish value emphasizing loving-kindness, compassion, and going beyond to help others. This value implores us to incorporate loving-kindness into all aspects of our lives and with everyone that we interact with.

Jewish Holidays

A foundational part of Judaism, celebrating and observing holidays helps preserve and connect us to ancient Jewish traditions and customs. 

We invite all members of our community, whether Jewish or not, to learn more about our holidays and to incorporate them into one’s life when applicable – regardless of how you celebrate or observe them.

Jewish holidays are observed on the same day of the Hebrew calendar (lunar calendar), not the Gregorian calendar. Because of this, holidays are usually on different days each year on the Gregorian calendar.

Shabbat, meaning day of rest, is at the end of every week. It is intended to provide one with time and space outside of work to rest, find meaning, and joy. Shabbat is observed each week just before sundown on Friday until an hour after sundown on Sunday evening (25 hours).

February 13, 2025 | 15 Sh’vat 

Tu B’Shvat, also known as New Years for Trees, marks the start of the agricultural cycle for trees in Israel. This holiday celebrates nature and environmentalism. Traditionally, people will plant trees and enjoy produce from the Seven Species of ancient Israel.

March 14, 2025 | 14 Adar 

Purim is a joyous holiday celebrating the Jewish people’s victory and survival in ancient Persia from their annihilation. Queen Esther plays a pivotal role to help save the Jewish people. Purim is celebrated through reading the megillah, wearing costumers, eating hamantaschen and more!

April 12-20, 2025 | 15-22 Nissan 

Passover celebrates the liberation and exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egyptian slavery. Passover lasts eight days with its central celebration being the Seder which means “order”. This is done at home around the dinner table re-telling the Exodus story written in the Haggadah. There are many symbolic foods present and/or eaten during Seder and Passover to represent different aspects of the Exodus story and experience of ancient Israelites. Jews will not eat chametz (leavened bread) during Passover and will clean their house prior to the holiday of any chametz.

April 24, 2025 | 27 Nisan 

Yom Ha’Shoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, honors the six million Jews that were killed during the Holocaust. To ensure we never forget, communities will read the names of those who perished, hold memorial services, light candles, and have moments of silence.

April 30, 2025 | 14 Iyar 

Yom Ha’Zikaron is Israel’s National Day of Remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. This holiday was established in 1963. Observances include sirens, public ceremonies, and heartfelt tributes across the country and Jewish communities worldwide.

May 1, 2025 | 5 Iyar 

Yom Ha’Atzmaut, or Israeli Independence Day, is a joyful celebration of the founding and reestablishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Israel is the Jewish ancestral homeland where all Jews are welcome. Yom Ha’Atzmaut is celebrated with festivities often including music, dancing, Israeli food, and community gatherings.

June 2-3, 2025 | 6-7 Sivan

Shavuot, also known as “Feast of Weeks”, commemorates the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai and corresponds with the wheat harvest in Israel. Shavuot was a pilgrimage holiday in ancient times, but is now a joyous holiday filled with Torah, feasts, and eating dairy and sweets, to honor the land of milk and honey.

September 23-24, 2025 | 1-2 Tishrei 

Rosh Hashanah is the head of the year, or idiomatically, New Year. It usually occurs in September or October. This holiday is the beginning of the High Holidays, the holiest part of the year for the Jewish people and is a period of soul searching and self-evaluation. It is tradition to wish each other a happy, healthy, and sweet New Year and hope to be written into the Book of Life for the upcoming year. Symbolic foods include apples and honey and round challah.

October 2, 2025 | 10 Tishrei 

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish Year. It is the Day of Atonement, occurring 10 days after Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur is a solemn holiday which usually includes prayer, asking forgiveness for any wrongdoings over the last year, and fasting. Many Jews will fast for the entire day to focus on prayer and repentance and to cleanse one’s body from the previous year’s wrongdoings.

October 7-13, 2025 | 15-21 Tishrei 

Sukkot beings a few days after Yom Kipppur and commemorates the 40 years Israelites wandered through the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. This holiday gets its name from the temporary dwellings the ancient Israelites lived in called Sukkot (plural for Sukkah). It also celebrates the harvest season of Israel and the Levant. Traditionally, a Sukkah is built, and meals are eaten inside of it.

October 15, 2025 | 23 Tishrei 

Simchat Torah translates to “Rejoicing in Torah”, marks the completion and the start again of the annual reading cycle of the Torah. This celebratory holiday includes dancing, singing, and parading Torah scrolls.

December 14-22, 2025 | 25 Kislev – 2 Tevet 

Hannukah celebrates the Maccabees’ victory over the Greek army and rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Maccabees were a small army of Jews, led by Judah Maccabee, that fought the occupying Greek forces to win-back their temple and right to practice Judaism in the land. And military victory, the temple was cleansed, and a single jar of oil was found. Thought to only last one night, it lasted eight nights, and symbolizes the miracles of hope, fighting for your people and its culture, and defeating your enemies. It is customary to eat latkes, sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts), play dreidel, and light menorahs.

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Valley of the Sun J’s History

Since its inception as part of the Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus in 2002, The J remains committed to enhancing the well-being of individuals of all ages and faiths.

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