Tonight there will be a full moon in the sky. The full moon is actually one of my favorite images in nature. And one of my favorite Jewish holidays starts tonight as well. Tonight, my family and I will gather in our sukkah, and gaze up at the big, beautiful harvest moon through the bamboo and palm roof. And if the weather remains as hot as it’s been, we might just sleep out there too.
Why is sukkot one of my favorite holidays? Well, there’s just something about sitting outside under a sukkah on a late autumn night, surrounded by friends and family, feasting on good food, laughing and singing like it’s summer camp—feeling the ease of an evening of simple joy and celebration. In fact on the festival, we are actually commanded to be joyful. It’s one of the 3 mitzvot of Sukkot in addition to sitting in the sukkah and shaking the lulav and etrog.
Sukkot, which comes four days after Yom Kippur, is like our religion's equivalent of Miller Time. All you need to do is sit outdoors in a festive sort of hut, a sukkah, say a few blessings and eat a good meal. The sun sets, platters are emptied, jokes told, wine bottles drained. If someone has a guitar, even better.
There is a deep religious, historical and spiritual meaning to Sukkot and some rituals and rules that accompany it. Also called the Festival of Booths and the Feast of the Harvest, it commemorates the successful harvest of the preceding year and the time of the first rains, as well as the journey of the Children of Israel through the wilderness on their way to Sinai.
But, ultimately, the beauty of Sukkot derives from the holiday's biblical name (Exodus 23:14-16): the Feast of the Ingathering. The sukkah creates an intimacy that makes the sukkah meal part picnic and part secret clubhouse meeting.
Not surprisingly, children love Sukkot. They watch as the grownups do what children do the rest of the year: construct a playhouse. The kids can help decorate it any way they wish --and then every meal becomes a kind of camping trip.
Sukkot is also kind of like a religious Thanksgiving -- as the holiday asks us to focus on what is truly important in our lives. What are we really grateful for and Just how much of our “stuff” do we really need? For me, all I really need is my family and friends…the rest is really just commentary.
Cantor Yonah Kliger
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