What is the most popular jewish holiday

RNS () — Older and younger Jews agree that Yom Kippur tops Passover as the most important Jewish holiday. But the Jewish Day of Atonement, which falls on Sept. 13, is not as important to younger Jews.

Asked in a Public Religion Research Institute survey “What is the most important Jewish holiday to you personally?” Jewish Americans of all ages picked Yom Kippur. Traditionally, the fast day has been considered the most solemn of the Jewish holy days, a time which God determines whether one will live or die in the coming year.

But those 60 and older were far more likely (53 percent) to pick Yom Kippur than did those in the younger 18-39 cohort (37 percent).

The percentage of younger and older Jews who chose Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year, which begins on sundown on Wednesday (Sept. 4) — hovered around 10 percent for both age groups.

Hanukkah presented another generational divide. More than three times as many younger Jews called the Festival of Lights, which celebrates religious freedom, their most important holiday, even though traditionally it is not considered a major holiday.

In these Days of Awe, as Jews call the 10-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we asked students and staff at Hillel, the largest Jewish student organization in the world, to share their thoughts on the Jewish holidays and the PRRI survey results. The survey, of 1,004 Jewish American adults, originally was released in March 2012.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Is it a problem that more younger people don’t consider Yom Kippur the most important Jewish holiday?

A: “No, it would be problematic if younger people found nothing to be important. It’s great that they are connecting with a variety of holidays.”

— Sheila Katz, 30, director of the “Ask Big Questions” program at Hillel’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Her favorite Jewish holiday: Passover

Q: Why do you think more older Jews consider Yom Kippur their most important Jewish holiday?

A: “I believe Yom Kippur to be, in many ways, the heaviest of Jewish holidays, and the most serious. This new generation of Jews appreciates Judaism more for its meaningful customs that may not be so serious, because they have less of a direct connection to the Holocaust, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.”

— Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, 19, Hillel of Princeton University. His favorite Jewish holiday: Yom Kippur

Q: Overall, is it a good thing that among both younger and older Jews, Yom Kippur is considered most important?

A: “Yom Kippur is important, but no more than any particular Shabbat. It is comforting that the most introspective and solemn day of the Jewish year resonates with so many. Still, if it is the only point of connection for some, then there is a risk that Judaism will seem too serious and stale, formal and detached. There are plenty of joyous reasons to be Jewish that don’t involve traffic jams, tickets, fasting and long sermons.”

— Rabbi David Komerofsky, 41, executive director of the Texas Hillel. His favorite Jewish holiday: Shavuot

Q: “Why is there a big difference between older and younger Jews on Hanukkah?”

A: “I can see that Hanukkah, a holiday that often coincides with Christmas, would be seen as a more important holiday in the eyes of younger Jewish Americans . I would imagine that young Jewish Americans trying to fit in with their peers would put more of an emphasis on a holiday that they feel all Americans can relate to.”

— Kayla Joy Sokoloff, 20, member of the Texas Hillel Executive Board. Her favorite Jewish holiday: Passover and Purim

Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Religion News Service LLC.

Getty Images

Even though listed officially as a “minor” Jewish holiday, Hanukkah has turned into the most celebrated Jewish holiday in the U.S. There’s nothing minor about Hanukkah anymore.

Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky, executive director of the Jewish Outreach Institute in New York City, says the notion of calling Hanukkah “minor” really presents a misnomer and it is only a term used when discussing holidays that impart major restrictions on people’s behavior.

Major holidays include Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, and require restrictions on eating and other behavior, giving them titles of major holidays. But just because Hanukkah offers a festival void of the restrictions, it doesn’t make it any less important, Olitzky says. “Outside of the technical framework of Jewish law, Hanukkah is a major Jewish holiday,” he says. “We have really done ourselves a disservice by using the term minor.”

(LIST: Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hanukkah)

Hanukkah means rededication, and it and offers Jews a reminder of three distinct points regarding light, freedom and dedication. The lack of strict rules make the holiday easy — and fun — to celebrate, which may be why research now shows Hanukkah is more celebrated — whether through the lighting of candles, gift giving, attending a party or a full celebration of the festival in Jewish practice — than even Passover.

As holidays, festivals and customs formed in the Christian and Jewish religions both took entirely different paths. And while Christianity locked onto Christmas as its main celebration, Judaism had long given Hanukkah secondary or tertiary importance. Hanukkah begins every year on the 25th of the Hebrew month Kislev, which this year falls on the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 20.

Olitzky credits the increase in interreligious marriage and the holiday’s proximity to Christmas for its surge in popularity. But taking Judaism mainstream may be the main reason. “Judaism has entered the marketplace of ideas in American culture,” Olitzky says. “Hanukkah has become the national Jewish holiday. I think it has helped people celebrate.”

A major tenet is celebrating how light can lead through dark periods of time, which is recognized with the lighting of a menorah (a candelabrum that offers more candles as the eight-day Hanukkah celebration continues) often placed in a window. Another key point is the celebration of religious freedom and the importance to fight for it by remembering that the festival itself commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by foreign forces. Overall, the holiday is a rededication to spiritual life.

Cultural differences still remain in the celebration of Hanukkah, including in the way the festival honors the use of oil (a one-day supply of oil miraculously lasted eight days during the rededication of the temple’s menorah after the Maccabees’ successful revolt to regain the temple). The Eastern European tradition of using oil to make potato pancakes, or latkes, is popular in America, whereas in Israel that same oil creates kiosks full of jelly donuts. Of course, the fried dough, menorahs and dreidel game prove popular worldwide. The influence of secularization on American culture has, however, turned the emphasis on gift giving during Hanukkah into mainly a U.S. tradition.

Olitzky says the rise of Hanukkah in America hasn’t helped people understand the holiday any better, but it has helped them simply celebrate it more. The popularity of the festival certainly has put Hanukkah in a new light.

MORE: Pop Culture Hanukkah