Happy Days for Holy Days & Holidays
As the spring season approaches I look forward to the Passover and Easter holidays celebrated here in America and worldwide. It is a time when friends and families gather and have ceremonial meals. Houses of worship are well attended, as spring is the time of spiritual rejuvenation, camaraderie, friendship, and family gatherings. A grand time indeed.
I am sorry to say if the creators of our national calendar have their way things may soon change. Holidays will not be celebrated in their proper times.
There recently has been a movement to shift holidays to the weekend. Presumably this is in order to make the holidays a more pleasant time. This movement must be stopped.
They believe if they were able to have all the holidays planned for the weekend, it would be a perfect world. The workweek would have a full schedule while the weekends would be reserved for festivities. They seem to forget that holidays and holy days carry a different meaning.
For the life of me, I wonder how holidays could be considered days of special importance if they were all shifted to weekends. One of the reasons holidays are celebrated on their perspective days is to remind mankind that they are not in control of everything. Every once in a while there is an event which changes mans plans and the course of mankind. For example, events celebrating the end of a war, or, perhaps, the beginning of a war, remind mankind that they are not in control of their destiny. G‑d is.
When the holiday of Passover arrives, Jews worldwide gather with their families and recite the Hagaddah, a book telling of the Jewish people's mass emancipation and exodus from Egyptian enslavement. They eat matzah, called the bread of affliction, similar to the food eaten as slaves. By doing so, man is reminded that it is G‑d who intervenes with world affairs and the powerful nations are not in complete control.
For the Christian religion Easter recalls the Last Supper and spiritual events of unprecedented proportions. The days these events occurred are marked as days of distinction. G‑d picked ordained days for these Divine happenings. We, in turn, dedicate these days with holiday celebrations.
I believe that we must make the following distinction: spiritual holidays should really be called holy days and special days called holidays.
When the 4th July comes around Americans remember the brave colonists and the American Revolution, culminating in the birth of our glorious nation. Veteran's Day honors hundreds of thousands of veterans worldwide, both heroes and victims affected by war between nations. These are man-made holidays. Holidays like Chanukah or Xmas highlight important events in the Judeo-Christian religions and are G‑d-made holy days.
It really behooves us to practice the religious holy days on the correct dates they took place. I can't imagine Easter Sunday being pushed off to a Thursday and the Jewish Day of Atonement being moved to a Friday in order to have a longer holy day and, perhaps, a holiday complete with commercial sales.
The trivialization of the holy days, being portrayed as holidays, is the cause of spiritual bankruptcy for many religions. We need to remember holy days and holidays are different in their practices and in their messages. Holy days remind us that G‑d is in direct control of things and we must pay homage to the Almighty G‑d for His intervention. On the other hand, holidays are the days where we recognize our contribution to making the world a better place to live.
If an event took place on an important day then we believe that it was the Omnipresent who deemed it so. That day is to be dedicated, celebrated, and honored as either a holy day or holiday. Man has no right to change a holy day date for convenience. By keeping celebrations on their proper calendar dates we give the holy day and holiday its proper honor and respect.
This year Passover begins on Wednesday night, March 27th. This night is the correct time to celebrate. Remember this is the day that G‑d chose for the exodus of the Jewish people, marking the birth of the Jewish nation, one of the oldest religions. Let's not tamper with moving holy day dates for by doing so we take away the ever-important message of G‑d's intervention.
So this religious season stick to the date proclaimed by G‑d. Whether you call your season a holy day or a holiday, please make it a happy day. Happy holidays to you all.