Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Mark A. Schneegurt, "Everyday Holiday: A Jewish Calendar of Events and Observances"

Host: Ari Barbalat
Guest: Dr. Mark A. Schneegurt
Date: September 26, 2025
Book: Everyday Holiday: Because Every Day Is a Special Day on the Jewish Calendar (Self Published, 2024)

Overview: Main Theme and Purpose

In this episode, host Ari Barbalat interviews Dr. Mark A. Schneegurt about his comprehensive and unique work, "Everyday Holiday." Schneegurt’s book serves as an expansive calendar chronicling events and observances across the Jewish year—major and minor, global and local, joyous and tragic. The discussion touches on the book’s origins, the nature and richness of the Jewish calendar, its cultural and spiritual significance, and how both lay readers and experts can use it to deepen their understanding and connection to Jewish life.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Author Background and Book Genesis

• Personal Roots and Inspiration

  • Dr. Schneegurt, raised in a Conservative Jewish family in New York, credits both his upbringing and later independent study for his deep dive into the Jewish calendar.
  • Interest piqued by trying to keep track of family yahrtzeits and Jewish holidays in a personal calendar, which evolved into a vastly larger project.
  • “It was something that came out of my personal interest in just learning more about Judaism, learning more about the calendar, the cycle of Jewish events throughout the calendar.” (03:06)

• Development Path

  • Began as notes and entries in a digital calendar, grew into an app, then a website, and finally became a published book.

2. Purpose, Themes, and Lessons of "Everyday Holiday"

• Inclusivity of Jewish Dates:

  • The calendar features not just widely known holidays (like Passover or Hanukkah), but also lesser-known observances, personal milestones, local festivals, and historical events.
  • “Eventually the entire calendar, every day, filled up with several events, so that every day became a special day.” (05:27)

• Spiritual Perspective:

  • The calendar helps users connect to the unique “energy” or meaning of each day, enhancing personal and communal engagement with Jewish time.
  • “By understanding that cycle, we're more involved with it… perhaps there are energies in the reality that we live in that are resonant on certain days… that brings us closer to Hashem.” (06:39)

3. The Uniqueness and Importance of the Jewish Calendar

• Structural Distinctions

  • Unlike the solar-based Gregorian calendar, the Jewish calendar’s foundation is lunar, with leap months that keep holidays in their correct seasons—a distinguishing trait compared to calendars like the Islamic one.
  • “The Jewish calendar is interesting at first in that it is a lunar calendar, not a solar calendar… It's got deeper meaning to it. It follows the moon, the lesser of the two lights, the light of wisdom.” (09:06)

• Ritual Consistency

  • Holidays persist in their seasonal context, maintaining ancient connections between agricultural cycles and religious events.

4. Utility and Audience

• For Clergy and Educators

  • Rabbis and teachers can use the book as a “jumping off point” for sermons, lectures, or lessons, delivering timely and contextually relevant material.
  • “It's a jumping off point. It's tidbits of information listed chronologically that you can explore and then seek further information to flesh out a sermon or a little piece for a lecture.” (16:07)

• For Beginners and General Readers

  • Provides exposure to the full richness of Jewish life—major and minor holidays, biblical stories, rabbinic yahrtzeits, Holocaust dates, and more.
  • “Even for people who know a lot, there's thousands of entries here and probably many important rabbis that you've not studied, you've not learned about them…” (19:16)

• For Specialists and Scholars

  • Facilitates focused research by providing searchable, chronological data on themes, individuals, or places.
  • “A scholar could go in and… search for keywords and find a collection of events that are related in some way, perhaps to a time in Jewish history, perhaps to a set of years…” (23:00)

5. Research and Methodology

• Challenges and Achievements
  • Sourcing accurate data, especially for ancient or medieval figures and events, required consulting original sources, cross-referencing with genealogical and encyclopedic databases, and noting conflicting information.
  • “Some of these rabbis… their gravestones don't exist anymore, and it's hard to find the information...I tried to find at least three sources that seemed independent…” (27:01)

6. Unique Content Highlights

• Inclusion of Modern and Diverse Entries

  • Expanded second edition includes sports figures, politicians, and cultural icons (deceased).
  • “You have Jewish sports figures from the Olympics, from organized sports in the United States and elsewhere… there's so many stories.” (30:03)

• Regional and Lesser-Known Holidays: The Case of Sigd

  • Ethiopian Jewish holiday Sigd explored in detail; its scriptural, historical, and cultural context, and how it exemplifies local variation within global Jewry.
  • “This Sigd is a very interesting holiday… Ethiopian Jews believe that they were descended from the Queen of Sheba, and… are the line of Messiah.” (33:28)
  • Schneegurt describes personally celebrating by preparing traditional Ethiopian stew and reading some of the associated passages. (38:16)

• Local and Personal Purims

  • The calendar catalogs numerous minor, communal, and personal “Purims,” local days of deliverance, often marked by special readings or rituals.
  • “You could have personal Purims… it was like Purim, you were in jeopardy and you were miraculously saved in some way.” (41:18)

7. Broad Inclusivity and Intended Audience

• Wide Appeal
  • Conceived as both a personal tool and a general resource, Schneegurt sees the book as useful for people of any background—Jewish or not—seeking to connect with Jewish history or explore daily spiritual enrichment.
  • “It was originally written just for me, but others can use it as well and learn more about what’s happening and learn more about Jewish history and Jewish life…” (45:55)

8. Title Significance and Living in Jewish Time

• Living Every Day as Special
  • The book aims to inspire readers to be present and attentive to the unique significance of each day, fostering gratitude, learning, and deeper connection.
  • “One of the best things you can do for yourself is to live now, live today, live for this moment… I think making every day a holiday just gives you something to celebrate, something to feel good about, something to learn from every day.” (47:14)

9. Afterword: The Author’s Current Projects

• Continuing Scholarship
  • Schneegurt is working on translating and publishing the poetry of Haskalah figure Ephraim Kau and songs from the crypto-Jewish tradition, in partnership with musicians to “unsilence” voices from history.
  • “They are musicologists really, from University of Oxford… we’re starting to hear these songs sung for the first time in 400 years. We’re unsilencing the women and men that were trapped in the Inquisition…” (48:27)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Book's Purpose:
  “Every day, filled up with several events, so that every day became a special day. And it gave me an opportunity to enjoy that. And hopefully the reader will have an opportunity to connect with that as well.”
  (05:27, Mark Schneegurt)

• On the Lunar Nature of the Jewish Calendar:
  “It follows the moon, the lesser of the two lights, the light of wisdom… the Jewish calendar runs through a 19-year cycle. It has leap months and leap days…”
  (09:06, Mark Schneegurt)

• On the Use of the Calendar in Scholarship:
  “I look at entries… just kind of explore something. And one of the first things I explored was a cultic holiday… Sigd, that was not on my calendar originally. So I learned more about that.”
  (23:41, Mark Schneegurt)

• On Purims:
  “Some event in your life where it’s like Purim, you were in jeopardy and you were miraculously saved in some way. It seems miraculous to you…. You can create Purims for yourself and your family too, if you want. Make every day a holiday.”
  (41:18, Mark Schneegurt)

• On Every Day as Special:
  “One of the best things you can do for yourself is to live now, live today, live for this moment… I think making every day a holiday just gives you something to celebrate, something to feel good about, something to learn from every day.”
  (47:14, Mark Schneegurt)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---|---| | 02:29 | Schneegurt’s Jewish upbringing, academic background, and early inspiration | | 04:02 | Book’s purpose: connecting readers daily to Jewish occasion | | 06:26 | Jewish calendar as a spiritual and mystical cycle | | 09:03 | The uniqueness of the Jewish calendar (lunar/solar distinction) | | 11:45 | The project’s origin as a personal tool and its development | | 16:01 | Utility for rabbis, educators, and lay people | | 18:57 | Value for beginners and advanced learners | | 22:51 | Use cases for specialists and experience as a research “launchpad” | | 26:53 | Research challenges: finding accurate historical data | | 29:33 | Inclusion of sports/history figures—criteria and challenges | | 33:28 | Discussion on the Ethiopian Jewish holiday Sigd | | 41:10 | Multiple Purims: communal days of deliverance | | 43:39 | The array of rabbis included—why and how | | 45:51 | Intended audience: for everyone | | 47:09 | Book title and the philosophy of living each day as holiday | | 48:11 | Schneegurt’s current projects: poetry, music, and crypto-Jewry |

Conclusion

This episode is a compelling exploration of a book that maps the intricate, resonant topography of Jewish history and spirituality across the daily landscape of the calendar. Dr. Schneegurt’s work straddles the boundaries of scholarship, personal journey, and practical religious resource. Listeners leave with a sense of the layered richness of Jewish time—and are encouraged to find meaning and connection in every day.