Sukkot

My dear Friends

September is the month for Jewish Festivals. Coming up hard on the heels of Yom Kippur is Succot, known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The word itself means 'booths' for the Festival commemorates the time when the Israelites dwelt in booths in the desert. This was a time of sojourneying and 'temporariness' before the people entered the land of Palestine.

It is customary for Jewish people these days to erect a booth or a succah in the garden of their homes and to spend some time in it to remind them of the days in the wilderness. The roof of the Succah is open to the sky, while decorated with branches and hanging fruits.Most appropriately in the Synagogue the book of Ecclesiastes is read, which is all about the transience of life.

It is an 8 day Festival, with some colourful ceremonies.A willow and myrtle branch, taken together with an 'etrog' which looks like a large lemon are waved to the 4 corners of the earth and carried round in procession. Then on the last day, Simchat Torah, the last portion of the Torah is read together with the beginning of Genesis, in a great outpouring of joy. This day means 'rejoicing of the Law' and there is dancing and waving of flags in the Synagogue.

One interpretation of Succot is that is was given to the Jews to help root them back into temporal time, after the mystical and dizzy heights of eternity on Yom Kippur.

Enjoy!
Shalom from
Sister Gila