Sukkot

Well the holy days are now officially over.  Sukkot ended and it was a bit confusing is not the right word.  I was not sure what to expect.  It is a pilgrimage holiday when the Jews were supposed to travel to the temple in Jerusalem.  You also build sukkah which has three to four walls can be covered in anything and the roof needs to be cut vegetation and you must be able to see the stars thru it.  I did not know what to make from this but after talking to my rabbi about it she explained that there is a desire in Judaism to recreate events to remember how it was and to also remind the Jews of today that we all have these trials today.  We are all lost in the desert so to speak and by building the sukkah we can remind ourselves of that.

We did not build a sukkah this year in our yard because it just seemed unnecessary to me but after my conversation with my rabbi I know that next year I will have a sukkah in my backyard.  You also are supposed to have the four species lulav (date palm leave), hadass (myrtle tree leaves), and aravah (branch and leaves of a willow tree).  Those three are bound together and then you have your etrog (fruit of a citron tree) and you wave them to acknowledge that God is all around and also by doing this you are doing a mitzvah that is in the torah.

There are two different opinions as to why we are to have the four species. One has to do with taste and smell also known as good deeds and torah learning.  The lulav has taste but no smell with taste being the study of torah and the lack of smell being lacking of good deeds.  The hadass has good smell with no taste.  The aravah has neither taste or smell and the citron has both taste and smell.  You guessed it you want to be the citron, you want to learn torah and all of its teachings and do good deeds or mitvoat.  The second explanation is the four species represent body parts.  The lulav is your spine so you can stand tall in your worship of God.  The hadrass is your eye so you can read and learn torah.  The aravah is your mouth so you can teach torah and ask questions.  The citron is your heart so that it is open to the torah, God and doing mitzvoat.

It is a seven day holiday if you live in Israel but eight days outside of Israel (diaspora).  It is a holiday of symbolism and learning.  I am not sure if it happens every year but this year we also finished the torah and started over.  There was a service for this and it was unusual for me.  There was lots of dancing and clapping and having grown up christian I was not used to this at all so was taken aback but it was fun to watch and now I am a little more prepared for it next year when I will be Jewish.  The part that is the most exciting to me is just starting over from the beginning and being able to hear it all and now i can read it on my own if I am unable to make it to services and learn what it has to offer.  I admit I did not pay attention in church to often except for the constant you are evil and you are going to hell if you dont repent now talk so it will be good to hear it and read it now that I want to not because I have to go to church.  

Tomorrow is mitzvah day and I am looking forward to it.  The day after Yom Kippur we got together as a group and synagogue and sorted food that was donated during the holy days food drive.  We sorted for the kosher food pantry and for Harvesters here in Kansas City.  It is amazing to be able to do something so easy and yet it will touch so many people that I will never meet but I know I did something to help.  Tomorrow is mitzvah day and there are a bunch of different tasks going on at synagogue, making dry soup mixes, sorting more food, leaf raking.  Lots of options to help people in the community and in the Jewish community!  It is going to be great to be social and get to do a mitzvah.

Well hopefully you learned a little something about Sukkot because I know I have learned a lot about a holiday that didnt seem that important and know that next year with my better understanding it will be more meaningful!  The next stop on the holiday calendar is Chanukah and that means candles and potato latkes and much more but I have not learned about that in class yet. 

Thank you for joining me on another step on my journey to Jewish and I hope that you have learned something because I know I have but I still have so much to learn that it seems a daunting journey but I chose to start this and I am choosing to continue.  Shavuah Tov