The following is the submission to the Courier which was published on Oct. 4, 2013 with only minor editting in it (as seen with a picture derived from our recent events pictures at dcourier/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=123903&SectionID=74&SubSectionID=114&S=1 ) : Sukkot: A Festival of Community Unity An integral part of the Jewish High Holy Days Season is the Festival of Sukkot (booths, this year 9/19-25). However seemingly little is known in the general population about this joyous festival although it is repeatedly described in the bible as one of the important three pilgrimage festivals along with Passover and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). During Sukkot, the observant build temporary dwelling places, booths, roofed and decorated with branches and plants of many sorts for the week long observances. Welcoming Ushpizim (guests) of all kinds as well as the spirits of the departed is a major part of the festival week, a display of Community Unity. This theme is further emphasized by the rituals of blessings with the lulav (a combo of palm, willow, and myrtle branches) and etrog (citron). Each plant represents a different kind of person ranging from the learned and/or good hearted to others who are neither. The story emphasizes that one can not have a completely functional community without all of the types of people. Hence the blessings are done with all the representative plants being held tightly together. It is common in many Jewish communities in Israel and elsewhere to take vacations, especially camping trips, during the week of Sukkot. So we at Beit Torah decided this year to do the blessings at the Grand Canyon! The lulav flapping out the top of the backpack led to many questions. Hence we spent a fair amount of time explaining to the curious about the history and rituals of Sukkot. For instance, why Booths? In order to optimize getting the harvest in timely, the harvesters would live in temporary booths in the fields so as not to waste the time walking to and from their homes each night. Also during the nearly week long farmers’ market in Jerusalem during Sukkot, produce needed to be stored and watched over in booths. So we went on Mon. 9/23. The wonder of the spot was awesome. We reveled in being able to do our blessings for Community Unity within such a marvel of nature. Plus there was a bonus: we were able to record a video of a couple of us singing the Mi Shebeirach healing prayer (onetorah.org/recentevents5774.htm) ! To hear this video or learn more about us, check out our website (onetorah.org), call 928-237-0390, or write to us at [email protected] .
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 21:36:16 +0000
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