I love Sukkot

My Sukkah 5780/2019

Hi friends, don't forget anything that is in purple and in bold is a hyperlink for more informartion.
I love Sukkot!
And I love it even more in Israel. Sukkahs pop up in every place imaginable. On peoples balconies*, vacant lots, almost every restaurant has one attached to their outdoor area or sidewalk. 

There has been so much written about why we build and sit in these booths. Click here for more info. It’s a temporary dwelling. The Mitzvah is to sit in a sukkah. People eat them, sleep in them and even work in them. I did most of this writing today in my sukkah.

Last year I thought a lot about what it means to live in a temporary state of being. Everything about last Sukkot felt temporary, transient to me. Not stable, even a bit fragile. Pretty much my whole life felt that way for most of the year.

So... we as Jews, spend one week a year living in this state, what are we supposed to be thinking about? 

About what it means to live in this three walled hut with a thatched roof. It for sure makes me grateful for the type of houses we live in. Stable, secure, protected. Many of my friends from Chicago or the northern states, posted beautiful pictures of the Sukkahs the built earlier in the week, but by the end of the week many had blown over and were a mess of poles, sheets and schach( the green stuff on top). For sure not a stable environment.

There’s a level of simplicity to living like this for a week. It’s a bit like camping. You just take the essentials. A table, a handful of chairs, maybe a mattress, some candles and lights, and of course food. So much food!!!

What else do you really need? I think that’s one of the questions we’re supposed to be asking ourselves. What do I really need?

Extra large Etrog and Lulav

I built a sukkah this year for the very first time in Israel (with the help of my landlord neighbors). Starting my second year here in Israel and second Sukkot, I've spent some time thinking about how much more stable and grounded I feel this year. I’m slowly starting to plant roots. Maybe not deep, deep roots like a big oak tree, but more like a cactus or some kind of plant that has shallow roots that spread far and wide. I feel my roots very connected to both Israel and the United States. Just like my dual citizenship, I'll always have two homes. I think we are always striving for permanency at the same time knowing we live in a world knocking us all off balance.

Two blessing to end this holiday season:
I bless you with a balance of permanency with some temporally mixed in to keep you on your toes. With roofs, walls and friends that shelter you from the storms. And with gratitude that you have enough, you are enough and you have what you need. 

I went with my friend Aviva to the Kotel** for Birkot Cohanim

May G!d bless you, and guard you –
יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ

May G!d make his/her face shine unto you, and be gracious to you –
יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ

May G!d  lift up her/his face unto you, and give to you peace –יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם

As always, sending this with so much love/ ahava
שנה טובה
Tamy 

PS Still collecting words for 5780, read the last post and send me yours this week. xxoo, T

*Ask me more about what makes a Sukkah kosher. I studied a lot of הֲלָכָה/ halacha the rules of Sukkot this year.
** Yes, I am wearing a tallit, my dad's. Both of my parents are Cohen, makes me a double Cohanim. Ready to give blessings at anytime :-)