Sukkot 5787 thoughts

Sukkot 5787

Recently, I have met various people from around the world who have told me that they see and read my blogs. I had no idea that they were being forwarded, and I was flattered by the positive comments I received. In the spirit of that, please forgive me for indulging in a few thoughts for this Sukkot.

The big one is that last year’s Sukkot was celebrated during the course of chemotherapy. I must thank Hashem, as well as the doctors and staff at Shaare Zedek Hospital, who are both professional and truly kind.

Putting the Sukkah together is therefore a slower process, but Baruch Hashem, it was done more quickly than last year. My neighbour will not hear of me putting up the Schach bamboo mat.

As I have written previously, Sukkot is a big festival in our family: “the season of our rejoicing.” I have always felt it as a contrast to the month of Elul, with the daily blowing of the shofar, Rosh Hashanah, the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah and then Yom Kippur. Before we made Aliyah, I was actively involved in the shul throughout this period. Today, circumstances are such that I cannot do that anymore. I know that I am in the position Hashem wants me to be in, and I therefore have peace and clarity of mind.

However, I have the great privilege of celebrating the Chagim in Israel, our Holy Country.

As a child, I was always excited to see pictures of people who had made a Sukkah on their balcony. And now, I am one of them. It leaves you with no excuse not to spend time in the Sukkah when all you have to do is open the door to the balcony and you are in it!

One of the big differences between our Sukkah here and the one we had in Edgware, London, is that we have swapped the heater for a fan. Whereas we had carpet on the floor in London so that we would not feel the cold and damp, here we have the floor tiles of the balcony.

We always used to hang fruit from the roof. It is not possible to do that in Israel because the fruit will dry out very quickly due to the heat. I remember, as a youngster, seeing sponges in the shape of fruit from Sukkah roofs It was a personal thing that I felt it was just felt it was not the thing to do. Now we can go down to the Merkaz (centre), and buy realistic-looking synthetic fruit.

My Dad, Z.L., used to buy what he called “funny fruits” — fruits that you rarely saw to decorate the Sukkah.. We continued that tradition in our Sukkah in Edgware. We do not do that here because of the issue I have just mentioned. However, we do have something unusual hanging from our roof. Please see the photo.

The Sukkah we had in England was outside in our garden and was brick-built, which was an excellent idea in terms of keeping warm. When we sold up, in order to build the extension that the new owners wanted, the Sukkah was demolished. However, we rescued a small piece, and that hangs in our Sukkah as a tribute to both my late Father and the joy of having a Sukkah in Israel.

One of the other things we had to get used to is the halachot of a Sukkah on a balcony. Specifically, the fact that the railings around the balcony constitute a halachic wall. However, as I have written in a previous blog, we still have the white sheets on the walls, continuing a very long family tradition.

Sleeping in the Sukkah is easy to do. I often commented that I slept in the Sukkah in London, but sadly that was often during mealtimes, not at night!

We lived in Edgware, which had a sizeable frum / religious community. However, it simply does not compare with the buzz and atmosphere that we have here in Israel before Yom Tov.

It is incredible to see just how many people are selling Lulavim within a quarter of a mile from where we live. I went out on Wednesday night to get some items for the Sukkah from one of the centres nearby. It was so special to see people walking around or driving their cars with a newly bought Lulav, pieces of timber, folding beds for the Sukkah and other decorations.

I still haven’t got used to people having tinsel and baubles in the Sukkah, despite the practice having started many years ago. When you come from a non-Jewish country, you only used to see these decorations in December, and so it feels uncomfortable to have them in the holy Sukkah.

To quote my Grandma from a previous blog: “I am only talking.”

One of the items that we no longer need is the opening roof on top of the Sukkah. Generally, Bli Ayin Hara, we do not get rain at Sukkot. Contrast this with the storms brewing up in the United States, and the pictures my friend from Canada sent me showing snow around his Sukkah one year.

I remember the great excitement of our young neighbours the first time they saw me open up the roof to put Schach (which were laurel leaves) on top. It became an annual event.

In a storm one year, the Sukkah got damaged and the roof was ripped off. When the insurance assessor came to look at the damage, she was somewhat flummoxed by seeing an outhouse with the remains of a roof that opened with hinges on either side, as opposed to being fixed, and a window.

I explained to her that we have a harvest festival that we celebrate, as per the Biblical commandment, and that we sit outside for part of it. I then said to her, “I will leave it up to you how to fill in the forms.”

It was an interesting meeting!

Due to the temperatures we would have in London, I would often go out, heat up the Sukkah before removing the roof, and then go out to use the Sukkah. This does not happen here.

My personal belief is that the way one is able to celebrate Sukkot in Israel is Hashem’s way of prompting us to make Aliyah.

Those who know me will attest to my being a traditionalist. In that respect, I have always found it hard to deal with the concept of having part of the house as the Sukkah. I get the fact that it is 100% within the halacha, and it is a great boon, particularly in cold countries.

The prayer that precedes going out into the Sukkah specifically talks about leaving my house to go outside. As I say, just my take — or, to put it another way, “I am only talking.”

We have our Sukkah decorated mainly with many posters that relate to the Kotel and the Temple, whose rebuilding we eagerly await. But we also have others that relate to our holy Chayalim (soldiers) dedicated to those who cannot be at home with their families over the Chag, or festival. Our thoughts and prayers are always with them, as well as the families who have lost members particularly in the last three years.

It is not unusual to see the verse וּפְרוֹשׂ עָלֵינוּ סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹמך in the Sukkah.

May that day come speedily when the Sukkah of Shalom is spread over us.

To all my readers, enjoy the rest of Sukkot.