Family

Another essential center where the foundations of the Jewish life are passed down is the family.

In addition to public functions, Judaism includes a series of family festivals with rituals marked by the family praying and dining together. Among these, two festivals bear a strong cultural identity. The first is Pesach, the Jewish Easter, which recalls the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and its liberation from slavery. Every year, Jewish families sit around the holiday table to recount the Pesach story, reading the text of the Haggadah (story/legend), eating foods which have symbolic meaning and reaffirming their connection to Judaism at all times and in all places.

The second of these holidays is Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles or Huts, recalling the forty years the People of Israel wandered in the desert after fleeing Egypt. According to tradition, during Sukkot, meals are consumed in a tent under the stars. Often the feasts are occasions for convivial moments and the members of the community gather together to eat under a single hut.