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Sukkot |
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The Festival of Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom
Kippur. The holiday commemorates the forty-year period during which the children
of Israel were wandering in the desert. Sukkot is also a harvest
festival.
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חג - Festival
להנציח - commemorates
קציר, אסיף - harvest
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In honor of the children of Israel in the wilderness, people dwell
or at least eat their meals in temporary shelters. This shelter is called a
sukkah. The sukkah has at least three sides and a partially open roof covered
with greenery. Part of the fun of sukkot is decorating the sukkah with fruits
and, autumn vegetables.
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שטח פתוח - wilderness
לגור - dwell
מחסה - shelter
צמחיה ירוקה - greenery
לקשט - decorating
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Another observance during Sukkot involves what are known as The
Four Species or the lulav and etrog. The lulav consists of a palm branch, a
myrtle branch, and a willow branch bound together. The etrog is a citrus fruit
native to Israel and is held separately. With these four species in hand, one
recites a blessing and waives the species in all six directions (east, south,
west, north, up and down).
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ארבעת המינים - Four Species
הדס - myrtle
לדקלם - recites
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A traditional midrash explains that the
four species represent different types of Jews, with taste equated with learning
and smell with good deeds. The etrog, which is both tasty and aromatic,
represents those who study Torah and do good deeds; the lulav, which has no smell
but produces tasty fruit, those who study but do not act; the myrtle, which has
smell but no taste, those who do good deeds but do not study; the willow, with
neither taste nor smell, represents those who neither study nor act. According
to the midrash, all four types are necessary to a community
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להשוות - equated
מעשה, עשייה - deeds
ריחני - aromatic
הדס - myrtle
ערבה - willow
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The sukkah is meant to be enjoyed, to
share meals in with friends, family and perhaps others who could use the
companionship and the chance to participate in a mitzvah. There is also a
tradition from the mystics of Safed, that on each of the seven nights of Sukkot,
one of the biblical heroes are symbolically invited to
sit in the sukkah. Called ushpizin, these invisible guests provide a link
with Jewish history. After entering the sukkah, it is customary to
partake of food and wine, saying the blessing over the wine, a festival Kiddush,
and including on the first night a Sheh-hechianu, praising God for giving
us life and enabling us to reach this moment. The following blessing is also
said:
Baruch atah Adonai, eloheynu melech
ha-olam a-sher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzi-vanu leysheyv
ba-sukkah.
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ידידות - companionship
מיסטיקה - mystics
נהוג - customary
להתכבד - partake
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The evening of the seventh day of Sukkot,(Hoshanah Rabba), starts the Yom Tov called Shemini
Atzeret - Simchat Torah.
Is the time we complete the annual cycle of weekly Torah Parsha
readings. We read the last Torah portion, Devarim, Parshat V'zot
Habracha, and then proceed immediately to the first Parsha of
Bereishit, reminding us that the Torah is a circle, which
never ends.
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להתקדם - proceed
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Chag Semayach!
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