blogs/brentspodek

Now, after the formal grandeur of the Days of Awe, comes Sukkot, possibly the most fabulous holiday on the Jewish calendar. 

Here at BHA, we of course have our huge community celebration of Open to the Sky, but there is more to the holiday!

Our friends at BimBam have put together a great video over view of the holiday, and there are more details below, after the video. 

Sukkot has its origins in an ancient autumnal harvest festival, and much of the imagery and ritual of the holiday revolves around rejoicing and giving thanks for the harvest. The sukkah itself represent the huts that farmers would live in during the last hectic period of harvest before the coming of the winter rains.

One of the other central rituals of sukkot is the Lulav and Etrog - the four species (palm, myrtle, willow and citron) that we bring together as a way of givening thanks for the bounty of the earth, and also of centering our hearts on the flow of divine energy. If you want to know more about how to shake a lulav and etrog, this video can help!

Also central to the holiday is the book of Ecclesiasties, or Qohelet, as its know in Hebrew. At Open to the Sky, I'll be teaching a session on Qohelet, which is actually my favorite book of the Bible. Qohelet teaches that we are ephemeral, like the sukkah itself and the lulav and etrog which we shake inside of it, and asks us to consider what we do with the time we have. 

If you want to know more about sukkot, this is a great place to start learning, and if you are in the Hudson Valley, come by Open to the Sky!