NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Vatican Radio today acknowledged the Jewish holy days, broadcasting a recorded interview with Rabbi Abraham Piattelli.

      With the marking of Rosh Hashanah on Monday, September 21, the Jewish people opened the new year-- the year 5759 by their reckoning. The holiday season continues through the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) on September 30, and the feast of Sukkoth on October 5.

      Yom Kippur, the rabbi explained, is the day when Jewish people seek pardon for their offenses. Sukkoth is a harvest feast, but it also recalls the 40 years which the Hebrew people spent in the desert before entering into the Holy Land. Thus, Rabbi Piattelli said, the feast is "a symbol of divine providence."

      Beginning on December 14 this year, Judaism will observe the feast of Hanukah, commemorating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees. For the first time, that feast will be marked by a special celebration in the Vatican gardens, at which Cardinal Edward Cassidy will preside along with the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Aharon Lopez.