Chag Sameach Y’all

 (Happy Holiday)

It’s erev Sukkot in Efrat and all over the world. That means it is the day before the start of the Jewish festival of Sukkot (one of the Biblically mandated Holy Days for the Jewish people). The festival starts five days after Yom Kippur, the Holiest day of the year.

In sukkot you shall dwell for seven days;

all citizens of Israel shall dwell in sukkot

Leviticus 23:42

In my experience, there are big differences between Sukkot in Israel and in America. For one thing, since there is a greater concentration of Jews in Israel, pre-Sukkot activities are more noticeable. In Efrat, for example, almost every family has their own sukkah.

Sukkah Above an Efrat Bomb Shelter

Sukkot in Front of Row Houses in Efrat

Interior of Our Sukkah

An Efrat Sukkah

In our neighborhood, the sukkah building activity started between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. You could hear people unloading lumber and working into the night, happily constructing their temporary one room dwellings (usually just large enough for a dinner table and chairs – for the family and some invited guests) in their yards or on their outside balconies.

People are working happily because this festival is referred to as “the Season of Our Rejoicing.” We are happy to have arrived at this season (it’s also harvest time) and happy to be performing the mitzvahs of the Torah (G-d’s commandments).

In addition to those sights and sounds, there are other goings on. You see, the Torah also commands us to own and perform a ritual and prayers involving a lulav and esrog.

You shall take for yourselves on the first day [of the festival] the splendid fruit of a tree (etrog), fronds of dates (lulav), the branch of the thickly leafed tree (hadas), and aravot of the brook...”

In America, as in most of the rest of the world, most people (usually only Orthodox Jews) who perform these mitzvot need to make special arrangements to obtain those items – usually through their local Orthodox synagogues. In Israel, however, it seems like a whole new industry sprouts up for about a week or ten days. Near the shook (outdoor market) in Jerusalem a large tent (about half a football field in size) is set up, where these temporary merchants offer their esrogim (plural for esrog) and lulavim for sale. These merchants also sell other decorative items for the sukkot (plural for sukkah).

View of Jerusalem Shook Annex

Esrogim for Sale

In addition to the shook, it seems like almost every religious neighborhood has merchants setting up shop on tables in parking lots or strip mall open areas or street corners, selling schach (usually palm fronds or mats for the sukka’s roof) or esrogim or lulavim or decorations. The activity centered around these mitzvahs are really something to see.

If you spend a few minutes watching the business activity, you will notice people carefully inspecting the esrogim and lulavim. People even bring books or charts, guides that describe the best features of these items that should be considered. Picture yourself examining lemons for about an hour, trying to find a perfect, flawless lemon that you can hold and display with pride for a few minutes a day for a week – you won’t even eat the thing! That’s what’s going on – joy, patience, concentration – in order to perform G-d’s commandment with the proper kavanah (holy attitude and intent).

As you walk through the neighborhoods you may notice that there is more going on. The markets and grocery stores are a beehive of activity. Women already did their major shopping a few days ago. Now, husbands or sons or daughters are scurrying back and forth, picking up another dozen eggs or a few more onions or another bottle of wine – those last minute items because “we’re going to have a couple more guests for dinner.”

Did I say dinner? You bet. When you walk around the neighborhoods, keep your nose active and alert. The smells remind you of just how joyful this holiday really is. Mom and the daughters are busily baking challa, and cakes, chopping onions, baking chickens and roasting meat.

Well, I need to stop now and try to help Irma for a few minutes.

Chag Sameach, Y’all