Succot Now and Way Back When, Memories

Here's a collage of this year's succah decorations. We've had our own family succah all but two years we've been married, though neither my husband nor I grew up with a succah.

I remember that our Oakland Jewish Center, Bayside, NY, Hebrew School had us "decorate" or enter a succah before the holiday. There was a major "disconnect" concerning Succot, because it wasn't a holiday we really celebrated. School in our very Jewish neighborhood was cancelled on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but not Succot. I do have some memories of visiting the Rabbi's home and seeing a decorated hut by their house, since my aunt was a close personal friend of Rabbi and Mrs. Issacson. But until I began becoming religious in high school, after we had moved to Great Neck, Succot Holiday and the sukkot huts weren't part of my Jewish Life.

My husband's family was more traditional, but they lived in an apartment, so the succah was just whatever the shul had built.

Our first year married and in Israel, we lived in the Maon Betar in Jerusalem's Old City. We didn't have a succah, but we carried our main meal to the Bnai Akiva succah, which wasn't all that far away. The following year, we were in our very own apartment in Bayit Vegan, which actually had two balconies suitable for a kosher succah.

The first years we used the one off of our bedroom. A  close friend met my husband in Machane Yehuda and helped him buy all the equipment needed. Then she came over to help assemble it. We didn't even have enough chairs for all the guests we had invited. I don't know how we fit everyone into the succah for the meals, but we did.

When we planned our Shiloh home, a 2x5 merpeset seemed nice and big, but now, bli eyin haraa, we can't fit the entire family inside the succah, unless we just stand sans table. Or we can have a small table as buffet and stand around it eating. The kids decided that they're coming over for lunch before Simchat Torah, a time when we can eat indoors.

Now I'm looking forward to the holiday and wonder when the rains will start.

ושמחת בחגך

Have a Wonderful Joyous Succot Holiday

Mulling Over Succot and The Fragility of Life

There's a great irony in the Jewish Holiday of Succot. It's called זמן שמחתינו Zman Simchateinu, The Time (Holiday) of Our Joy. We're specifically commanded  to be "happy" and celebrate, but at the same time, we must move out of our permanent homes and "live" in a succah with a temporary removable roof.

Nu, what if it rains? How can we keep out the bugs, bees and animals? What type of crazy "festive" holiday is this?

Don't forget that Jews in other parts of the world have to contend with weather a lot more extreme than here in the Holyland.

For many Jews, the logistics of the Succot Holiday are a total nightmare if you try to observe it in an actual succah. Here in Israel it's very common for buildings to be designed with the holiday in mind. There will be uncovered terraces. In other parts of the world, there are even legal problems in having a "hut" for eating and sleeping even for just over a week. And even here in Israel, many people live in places which don't have easily available or designated succah locations. The logistics of a building, neighborhood or other type of communal succah can be a nightmare. And it also happens that sometimes here there are winds and storms that blow off the sechach, special temporary roof of the succah or the succah itself in the middle of the holiday.

Gd designed/created the Succot Holiday to remind us of the fragility of life in This World. Succot is also one of the holidays that cancels or postpones the shiva, mourning period. One is commanded to be joyful, even when a close relative has died and just been buried. The joy of the holiday overrides personal mourning. And if a family member dies and is buried during the holiday, then the shiva is postponed until afterwards. We are first Jews who worship Gd and celebrate His Holidays, then we are individuals. Our personal feelings are secondary to Gd's mitzvot, commandments.

The Succot Holiday is when we are commanded to find the Joy in All that Gd has given us.

חג סוכות שמח

Chag Succot Sameach

Have a Joyful Succot Holiday