Saturday, October 18, 2008

Sukkah Story

This week is Sukkah, the feast of the booths, when Jewish people all over the world build little shelters on their patios, fire escapes, and in their back yards, and hang them with fruits of the season. It is a harvest festival, the origin of our Thanksgiving, and has always been a favorite holiday of mine. However, I haven't build a Sukkah at our house, even though we have a front yard.
All kids naturally love this holiday because it is part of the shtick to eat in the Sukkah and sleep in it too. What kid wouldn't love that? It's really fun, unless it rains! We used to have bbqs every night in my cousin's Sukkah and decorate it with all kinds of interesting fruits and vegetables.
Tonight R and I went to a party at a friend's Sukkah. About 80 people came, in waves. We were the first to arrive. I brought some flatbreads I baked. They were wholewheat with dates and carmelized onions on top. Tasty. It's a holiday when people eat vegetarian food. There was Israeli pop music playing, and Israeli soda to drink. I couldn't read the labels, so it was a guessing game.
All kinds of people came, kids of all ages, and we met some new folks and chatted with people we knew. It was a lot of fun.
Monday is Simchah Torah, the celebration of the Torah. So it's pretty busy around here right now.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

And I thought St. Blaise Day was fun! What a very interesting and engaging tradition. Thank you, again, Robbi, for the beautiful insights.

Robbi N. said...

What's St. Blaise day???

Anonymous said...

Here's a link to an explanation that is better than the one I could give.

Anonymous said...

Here's a link to an explanation that is better than the one I could give.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=28

Robbi N. said...

That's pretty interesting. How does one keep the candle from burning her throat?

Anonymous said...

uh-huh, now see? That's where the rituals of American Catholicism collapse into a sea of safety regulations. The candles are not lit.

Robbi N. said...

Too bad. It would be more exciting with lit candles, wouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

I always like festivals that involve the building of booths... magical to enter another world.

My husband told me about St. Blaise. I think they used lit candles, though.

Robbi N. said...

I used to make a booth out of sheets hung over chairs. I'm sure every child did.