Hanukkah: The Seal of The Holidays

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Hanukkah is over and we have started the holiday cycle anew. While the year starts in Tishrei, we have many New Years. Nissan is the first of months and the month from which years of Jewish kings are counted from. Tishrei is the beginning of The Jewish Year the month from which years of Gentile kings are counted from. Tu B'Shevat is The New Year of The Trees. Elul is the New Year of animals. The Torah reading cycle begins on the Shabbat after Simchat Torah.

I have come to my own conclusion that Tevet is The New Year for Jewish holidays. The holidays from Tishrei-Kislev belong to the previous year's cycle. The first holiday of the new cycle is The Fast of The Tenth of Tevet, which is chronologically the first of the four fasts commemorating The Destruction of The Temple. The countdown to Spring begins with Tu B'Shevat. The almond trees start to bloom then in The Land of Israel. The Spring season progresses with Adar and The Four Parshiyot in which we read from 2 Torahs on Shabbat in preparation for Purim and Passover (The regular parasha as well as special Maftir). Passover is the first of the Biblical festivals. This is continued with The Omer leading up to Shavuot. This time is marked with Lag B'Omer as well as modern Zionist holidays. Next in the cycle is The Seventeenth of Tammuz which commemorates when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and broke The Tablets after The Sin of The Golden Calf. It also commemorates the breaking through the walls of Jerusalem, continuing the Temple Destruction fast cycle which started with The Tenth of Tevet when the walls were besieged. Tisha B'Av is when The Temple was finally destroyed and Tzom Gedaliah after Rosh Hashana is the fast commemorating the final Exile of Jews from The Land of Israel following the assassination of Gedaliah (Whom was appointed to rule over The Land by The Babylonians.) by his fellow Jew. Elul is the countdown to The High Holidays and is a continuation of the cycle commemorating The Exodus from Egypt. Moses went back Mount Sinai to receive The Second Tablets. He came down on Yom Kippur. Sukkot is the seal of the festival cycle and commemorates the Clouds of Glory in The Desert. The Torah doesn't records this after the very first Yom Kippur. Instead it records the commands to construct The Tabernacle which was the traveling Temple. Indeed, King Solomon dedicated The First Temple on Sukkot and we read about in The Haftarah of The Second Day of Sukkot. The seal of Sukkot is Shemini Atzeret. Each of the 3 festivals are associated with one of the 3 Patriarchs. Sukkot is associated with Jacob because he is the third Patriarch and Sukkot is the third Festival. He died on Sukkot in Egypt but it wasn't until Hanukkah that he was buried after lying in state in Egypt for 70 days. The whole period between the 2 holidays is associated with Jacob. The Sages made Hanukkah 8 days to model it after Sukkot. Sukkot is the seal of the festivals, Shemini Atzeret is the seal of Sukkot, and Hanukkah is to both of them how Shavuot is to Passover. Shavuot will be a week long holiday starting the week before in Messianic days and in deed we already have a preview of that with Yom Yerushalayim on 28 Iyar, commemorating The Liberation of Jerusalem in 1967. Hanukkah was made 8 days partly to replace the missed Sukkot holiday that year because The Temple was still defiled. Hanukkah is the final seal of the holiday cycle and it is also a seal of the Fall holidays. The month of Elul is a time of Repentance and we are judged on Rosh Hashana. Our fate is sealed on Yom Kippur but we have until Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkot to have the fate changed and in fact Hanukkah is actually the final time to repent. Now Hanukkah is over and the cycle begins anew with The Tenth of Tevet starting tomorrow night, with the fast starting in the morning.