Jewish Holidays
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50 free Jewish Holidays trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Jewish calendar packs a remarkable amount into a single year: solemn days of reflection in the autumn, a week of eating outdoors, eight winter nights of candle lighting, a noisy spring carnival and a ritual meal built around retelling the Exodus. Each holiday comes with its own foods, songs, objects and stories, and many of the customs have surprising histories. This quiz covers the whole cycle, including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, Shavuot and the weekly Shabbat, along with a few lesser-known days. Expect questions on what is eaten and why, who the heroes and villains are, and what the Hebrew names mean. It suits families, Hebrew school classes and anyone brushing up before a holiday table quiz. Most questions are pitched so that kids can join in, with a handful of tougher ones for the experts.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The shofar, blown about 100 times a day on Rosh Hashanah, is typically made from which animal's horn?
Ram
Ram is the preferred choice, although the horn of almost any animal in the cattle family is allowed, with one pointed exception: the cow.
Q 02On Rosh Hashanah, apple slices are dipped in which food to wish for a sweet new year?
Honey
Honey and apples only joined the Rosh Hashanah table in medieval times, making the custom far younger than the holiday itself.
Q 03Which Hanukkah toy, marked with four Hebrew letters, do players spin in a traditional betting game?
Dreidel
The letters on a dreidel are popularly read as the initials of a Hebrew phrase about a great miracle, though they began as Yiddish instructions for the game.
Q 04Which flat, cracker-like bread do Jewish families eat during Passover in place of ordinary loaves?
Matzah
Matzah recalls the Israelites leaving Egypt in such a hurry that their dough had no time to rise; by rabbinic rule, dough starts to leaven 18 minutes after it gets wet.
Q 05Which queen, who hid her Jewish identity from King Ahasuerus, is the heroine of the Purim story?
Esther
Esther became queen after Vashti was banished for refusing a royal summons, then revealed her own identity to stop a plot to kill the kingdom's Jews.
Q 06Which Dodgers pitcher sat out Game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur?
Sandy Koufax
Sandy Koufax came back later in the series, started the deciding Game 7 on two days' rest and finished as the World Series MVP.
Q 07Which comedian first performed the novelty hit "The Chanukah Song" on Saturday Night Live in 1994?
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler built it around a roll call of Jewish celebrities, as comfort for Jewish kids who feel left out at Christmas, and later updated it with new versions.
Q 08During Sukkot, Jewish families eat their meals inside which kind of structure for a week?
A temporary hut
A temporary hut recalls the shelters the Israelites lived in while wandering the wilderness after leaving Egypt, and many people sleep in theirs as well as eat there.
Q 09At a Passover Seder, who traditionally asks the Four Questions about why the night is different?
The youngest child
The youngest child able to manage it sings the questions near the start of the meal, and the answers unfold over the rest of the evening.
Q 10Whose name do congregants drown out with noisemakers each time it is read aloud on Purim?
Haman
Haman is named 54 times in the Purim reading, and some worshippers once wrote the name on their soles so they could stamp it out.
Q 11Which practice do observant Jewish adults keep for a full day on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement?
Fasting
Fasting on this day is paired with other hardships, and tradition likens worshippers to angels, who have no need of bodily comforts.
Q 12The Hanukkah story tells of a one-day supply of which substance lasting eight days in the Temple?
Oil
Oil is why Hanukkah tables are loaded with fried foods, although the miracle story first appears in the Talmud, written down about 600 years after the revolt.
Q 13Latkes, the pancakes served at Hanukkah, are most commonly made from which grated vegetable?
Potatoes
Potatoes only took over in the 19th century, when the crop reached Eastern Europe; before that, the typical Ashkenazi latke was a different recipe entirely.
Q 21For which prophet do families pour an extra cup of wine and open the door at a Passover Seder?
Elijah
Elijah's cup grew out of a rabbinic dispute over whether the meal needs four cups of wine or five; the question was left for the prophet himself to settle one day.
Q 22Which hidden item do children hunt for, or hold to ransom, near the end of a Passover Seder?
Afikoman
The afikoman is said to take its name from a Greek word for dessert: it is the last thing eaten at the meal, so children who find it can demand a reward for handing it back.
Q 23Which sharp-tasting root is often grated to serve as the bitter herb at a Passover Seder?
Horseradish
Horseradish, freshly grated, is a popular choice, although the oldest rabbinic list of bitter herbs for the night begins with lettuce.
Q 14Which band of Jewish rebels, led by Judah, recaptured the Temple in the story behind Hanukkah?
The Maccabees
The Maccabees took their name from Judah's nickname, often explained as an Aramaic word for hammer, a nod to his ferocity in battle.
Q 15Shabbat, the weekly Jewish day of rest, begins on the evening of which day of the week?
Friday
Friday evening is the start because the Jewish calendar counts each day from one sunset to the next; candles are lit and blessings said over wine and bread.
Q 16Which braided bread is traditionally served as a pair of loaves at Shabbat and Jewish holiday meals?
Challah
Challah comes in pairs to recall the double portion of manna that fell before each Sabbath in the desert, so nobody had to gather on the day of rest.
Q 17Shavuot celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Israelites at which mountain?
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai gets no mention in the Bible's own account of Shavuot, which describes a wheat-harvest festival; the link to the Torah comes from later rabbinic tradition.
Q 18For Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, ancient Israelites made pilgrimages to which city?
Jerusalem
Jerusalem held the Temple, where pilgrims joined the priests' festival worship; the three holidays are still known together as the pilgrimage festivals.
Q 19The seventh day of Passover recalls the Israelites' miraculous crossing of which body of water?
The Red Sea
The Red Sea is said to have split on that day, letting the Israelites through before the waters closed over the Egyptian chariots chasing them.
Q 20Which treat, known as gelt, is traditionally handed out to youngsters during Hanukkah?
Chocolate coins
Chocolate coins wrapped in gold or silver foil only appeared in the 20th century, as a sweet stand-in for the real money once given as a Hanukkah present.
Q 24At an Ashkenazi Passover Seder, a green vegetable such as parsley is dipped into which liquid?
Salt water
Salt water is said to recall the tears shed by enslaved ancestors, while the act of dipping is itself counted as a sign of royalty and freedom.
Q 25Which sweet fruit-and-nut paste on the Seder plate stands for the mortar used by Israelite slaves?
Charoset
Charoset changes from kitchen to kitchen: Ashkenazi cooks make it from apples, walnuts, wine and cinnamon, while some other communities build theirs on dates.
Q 26Which text is read aloud at a Passover Seder to retell the story of the Exodus?
Haggadah
The Haggadah takes its name from the Hebrew word for telling, and printers have loved it: 1,269 separate editions appeared in the nineteenth century alone.
Q 27Which animals swarmed Egypt in the second of the ten plagues recalled at Passover?
Frogs
Frogs followed the plague of blood, and in a later Seder custom each person removes a drop of wine from their cup as every plague is named.
Q 28Sufganiyot, promoted as Israel's signature Hanukkah food, are which kind of sweet treat?
Jelly doughnuts
Jelly doughnuts owe their status partly to Israel's national labour union, which promoted them over homemade latkes in order to create more work for its members.
Q 29Which dessert is a classic Ashkenazi treat for Shavuot, a holiday linked with eating dairy foods?
Cheesecake
Cheesecake fits a custom with a practical legend behind it: newly given the kosher laws, the Israelites could not yet prepare meat, so they ate dairy instead.
Q 30Children celebrate Purim by wearing what to synagogue services and street parades?
Costumes
Costumes probably came to Purim through Italian Jews at the end of the 15th century, and the holiday's public parades are known as Adloyada.