תקווה לחיים Jewish Holiday Calendar 2011 (5771) * Holiday starts the evening before. Shabbat Day of Rest Saturday Last day of the week Saturday's Service held at 11:00am Tu B'shevat New Year For Trees February 8, 2012   Purim - Esther Feast of Lots March 8, 2012 Special Program during Shabbat Pesach/Passover April  5 - 13, 2012   Passover Celebration Passover Seder April 7, 2012 Resurrection Day Sunday April  8, 2012   Yom Hashoah Holocaust Day April 19, 2012 Yom Hazikaron Israels Memorial Day April 25, 2012 Yom Ha'atzmaut Israel's Independence Day April 26, 2012 Israeli Oneg Celebration Sfirat Haomer / Penetecost Latter First Fruits / Shavuot Festival of Weeks May 26 - 28, 2012 Shavuot Celebration TBA Tish B'Av/Ninth of AV Destruction of both Temples July 29, 2012 *No Oneg (Fasting) YomTeruah Rosh Hashanah Feast of Trumpets  - New Year September 16 - 18, 2012 Evening Service TBA Kol Nidre All Vows September 25, 2012 Begin Fasting Yom Kippur Day of Atonement September 26, 2012 Break - Fast Dinner 7pm Sukkot Feast of Tabernacles October 1 - 8, 2012 Building of the Booths Nightly Celebrations Simchat Torah  Shemini Atzert Rejoicing in the Torah October 8- 9, 2012 Special Torah Service Chanukah Feast of Dedication December 9 - 16, 2012 Celebration Party TBA God’s Appointed Times In Leviticus 23, God calls the feasts “my appointed times”. The feasts are God’s way to remind His people that He is Lord of the calendar, King of creation, Ruler over time, past, present, and future.  He established special times to meet with us in a particular way to commemorate events in His dealings with man. When we celebrate the feasts in the way He ordained we reinforce the relationship He established with us and honor His sovereignty over us. The timing of the feasts is important...God is very specific on when we are to celebrate these events. The calendar used to calculate the dates, the Jewish calendar, is based on the lunar cycle. (verses the solar cycle used in the Gregorian, or “modern” calendar)  Psalm 104:19 says “He made the moon for the seasons; the sun knows the place of its setting.” Since the calendar is based on the moon cycle, the arrival of the new moon is a crucial event.  In ancient times three witnesses were needed to confirm when the first sliver of the moon was visible.  At that time a fire was lit on the Mount of Olives to signal others watching to light fires on the surrounding hills until the message was spread throughout Israel that a new month had  begun. Month and moon are the same word in Hebrew: "chodesh". This a new month is call "Rosh Chodesh", head of the month.   Tikvah l'Chaim - Hope for Life Ministries, Inc. 4206 North Arnold Mill Road ~ Woodstock, Georgia 30188 Rabbi Gary Maxted Contact:  678-936-4125  or rabbigary@tlchaim.com Website Designed and Maintained by: Teresa Hodges thodges@tlcchurch.com (c) 2010 All Rights Reserved