blogs/brentspodek

Dear Friends -

It's hard to be vulnerable, to be open to the sky.

Many of us attempt to conquer that vulnerability, to make a mark that will endure after we are gone. Some of us build statues and monuments, others insist we will be famous enough to live forever, others tag our names up on the sides of subway cars, all in the hope of getting what the prophet Isaiah (56:5) calls an "eternal name." 

However, now that pomp of Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor are gone, Sukkot offers a different paradigm. It's a holiday of rickety huts that will barely last a week, shelter that highlights our impermanence and an awareness that neither us nor our names will be eternal, and that's just fine.

Sukkot is a holiday that gives thanks for the harvest at hand, that demands that we be open to the sky and conscious of our vulnerability. Sukkot denies our denial of mortality.

Here in Beacon, Open to the Sky: The Beacon Sukkah Project will once again be a community celebration of these universal themes. Open to the Sky will be a large wood sukkah at Polhill Park in Beacon, NY from September 27 to October 5, 2015. It's an unfolding collaboration with Beacon Arts, the LABA House of Study at the 14th Street Y, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art and others.

Building on the sucess of last year's Open to the Sky, we have a full roster of incredible events for the duration of the holidays. Some highlights include:

Sunday, September 27

• 5:30pm Community Potluck

Monday, September 28

• 7:00 pm Among The Redwoods, with Yoni Stadlin

Tuesday, September 29

• 12:00 pm The Hudson Valley Regional Food Movement and the Women who are Making it Happen, with Kathleen Frith, President of Glynwood
• 4:00 pm Family Yoga, with Alice Sipple
• 6:00 pm Poetry As Spiritual Conversation, with Beacon Poet Laureate Thomas O'Connell

Wednesday, September 30

• 10:00 am Art For Tots, with Bekah Starr
• 5:00 pm Community Acupuncture, with Evan Schwartz, L.Ac
• 6:30 pm Interfaith Story Circle

Thursday, October 1

• 5:00 pm Ariel Shanberg In Conversation with Rotem Rozental
• 6:00 pm The History Of Camp Nitgedaiget
• 7:00 pm Faith in the Public Square

FRIDAY, October 2

• 10:00 am Tot Sing Along with Cantor Ellen Gersh
• 11:30 am Office Hours - Mayor Randy Casale
• 5:30 pm Shabbat Potluck

SATURDAY, October 3

• 12:00 pm What To Eat And How To Shop, with Jennifer Clair
• 2:00 pm The Ephemerality Of The Beehive, with Deborah Davidovits
• 3:00 pm An Introduction To Meditation And Mindfulness, with yogini Briana Myers
• 4:00 pm The Mystical Meanings of Sukkot, with Rabbi Brent Spodek
• 6:00 pm Dance Party, with the Tropicalismo DJs

SUNDAY, October 4

• 10:00 am Finger Puppets, with Eva Gronowitz of Beacon Art Studios
• 12:00 pm A Science Writer at the Vatican, with Andrew Revkin
• 1:00 pm Revisiting Hiroshima, with Kazumi Tanaka and David Ross
• 2:30 pm Ice-Carving Jam, with Itty Neuhaus
• 4:00 pm Birth Stories, with Sarah Uzelac
• 5:00 pm Simchat Torah Parade! 

This is just a fraction of what will be going on; the full calendar can be found here. Take a look, come down for what seems interesting to you, and celebrate sukkot in true BHA style!

With blessings,

Brent