Tis Sukkot in Israel, USA But Attacks etc. Continue

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

Israel is celebrating the holiday of Sukkot, where we sit in outdoor huts for 7 days to remember our ancestors' 40 year experience in the wilderness and recognize that our protection comes from God and not from the buildings (and institutions) we construct.                        

The primary physical items used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot are the sukkah (a temporary outdoor booth) and the Four Species (arba minim) of plants. 

The Four Species (Plants)

The Torah commands the use of four specific plants during Sukkot, which are bound together and waved during daily prayers: 

Lulav: An unopened, green frond from a date palm tree.
Etrog: A fragrant, lemon-like citrus fruit known as a citron. It is held separately from the other branches.
Hadassim: Twigs and leaves from a myrtle tree. Three branches are bound to the right side of the lulav.
Aravot: Branches from a willow tree. Two branches are bound to the left side of the lulav.

To see thousands of Jews celebrating in Hebron, at the tombs of the Patriarchs, https://youtu.be/c7YaNY7BScY Hebron (kiriath-Arba)  a city in Judah, 18 miles south of Jerusalem, in ancient times under control of the Hittites.

Cave of Machpelah now enclosed in a building  in backgound.

  Abraham bought a plot of land-the Cave of Machpelah here in Hebron, to bury Sarah, and later himself and all his family..  Today a mosque stands on the site.  Joshua assigned Hebron to Caleb,and it became a levitical city and a city of refuge.  David ruled there for 7 and 1/2 years before moving to Jerusalem.  

There lived Jews, and in 1890 a census was taken showing 1,500 Jews there in Yeshivot and religious schools.  The great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobodka was transferred here in 1925.  In 1929, the Arabs massacred many Jews of the town with only 700 then and the survivors fled.  About 30 Jewish families returned in 1931, but the Arabs then rioted in 1936 again and so no Jews lived in Hebron.

  It's population in 1967 after the war was 38,310.  After the War of 1967, a number of Jews settled in Hebron, establishing the Kiryat Arba quarter east of the city.  This numbered 3,700 in 1988.  Approximately 9,100 to 9,200 Jews live in Hebron and Kiryat Arba combined, according to official and community population data from early 2026.

Public sukkah in Midtown Manhattan.

Chabad of Midtown

Meanwhile....

Prime Minister Netanyahu went to the UAE where he met with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed  as well as representatives from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Jordan and Qatar. The meeting was arranged by Mossad chief Roman Goffman following a Saudi request for Israeli assistance against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea region. The Emirati news agency issued a brief official statement on the meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed, saying that “the Israeli prime minister and His Highness discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to strengthen and develop them.”  The UAE is  member of the Abraham Accords.  

Izz al-Din Bik, the commander of Hamas’ northern Gaza brigade, was killed in an Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza City. Bikh had survived an assassination attempt in May.

Israel's Population Authority has revoked the aliyah (immigration) approval of two Jewish Pro-Palestinian activists in their 20s. According to Haaretz, these are the first known cases in which the authorities "appear to be violating the Law of Return, which grants every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel." (They must be quite well known for taking such a stand and having the Chutzpah to expect Israel to hold out their arms to them.  Israel looks upon them having too much sway and power over new immigants, I think. )                                             

Protesters gathered in cities across Morocco over the weekend to oppose a decision to upgrade the country’s diplomatic ties with Israel, including plans to open embassies and exchange ambassadors. The demonstrations followed meeting earlier this month in New York between Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz. Morocco is also  member of the Abraham Accords.  Morocco joined the Abraham Accords in 2020. The agreement to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel was announced on December 10, 2020, and the formal joint declaration was signed later that month.  The two countries agreed to elevate their liaison offices to embassies and appoint ambassadors.

Resource:

israelAM

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Sukkot, That Wonderful Holiday Observed Completely in Israel More Than USA Except By Synagogues

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                      

    In Israel we used different rugs for hanging sides on the Sukkah.  

Sukkot translated means "Tabernacles" ( a fixed or movable habitation, typically of light construction.): This is a Torah Commanded Holiday.  Moses said to celebrate and remember how we lived in these booths during the Exodus for 40 years.  Religious Jews remember the best, reading about it in (Lev. 23: 42).   It's one of the 3 pilgrim-festivals beginning in the Hebrew month of Tishri and lasts for 7 days.  This year it takes place on the 17th of October, so we start the celebration traditionally at sundown the night before on the 16th.  Actually, as soon as Yom Kippur was finished, people started looking for wood to make their sukkahs.  It is remembered as a festival of harvest from (Exod. 23-16; IIChron. 7-8).                                         

                                                              

    It is celebrated by taking the 4 Species, which are PALM, CITRON, MYRTLE, AND WILLOW, and carrying them in procession in the synagogue, and of course, actually dwelling -or at least eating all meals in the Sukkah for that period.  During Temple times they added the celebrating of a water  libation festival during that last 7th day of Hashana Rabbah.  It also recalls the booth-like structures in the fields in which the peasants lived  in during the harvest in Israel.  

Sukkot is known as “the Time of our Happiness.”  This year we are remembering the hostages taken that have never been returned, and so it's a very sad time.  

 The problem is, I didn't see it as another holiday like Chanukah, celebrated in full by appreciating the history of our ancestors or any other way except doing some special decoration in a type of booth.                   

    Cities gave out prizes for the best Sukkah.  Here's a fancy one.  It's larger than most.  

 I moved to Israel and really got into it with our own Sukkot; decorating it and serving desserts in it to our friends who dropped over.  Why, we even were on holiday from work!  Schools were closed for this holiday!                                 

      In the synagogue the reading with the 4 species takes place

We move from the introspective and solemn mindset of the High Holidays to unbridled joy, which may seem a bit strange since on Sukkot, we are asked to leave the material comfort of our homes, and build a structure that is imperfect, temporary and open to the elements. But the sukkah’s reminder that our existence is fragile helps us to treasure the joyous moments of life, and its outdoor location helps us focus on the beauty of the world in which we live. 

Indeed, the Sukkah has no roof - but instead is covered with schach, greenery or bamboo, so that we can see the stars when we look up at night. And, the sukkah is a gathering place, a place where it is traditional to welcome guests and enjoy spending time together. You might also see some Jews walking in the street during Sukkot carrying an interesting collection of plants. These are the Arba’at Haminim, or the Four Species. We are commanded to take these four plants and use them to “rejoice before God.” 

And from Israel AM: The holiday of Sukkot (Tabernacles) begins tonight and runs through next weekend.  Added 10/16/24 at 1:01PM

During Sukkot Jews live (eat and sleep) in a hut-like structure called a Sukkah.

The Talmud states two reasons for the mitzvah of living in the Sukkah for seven days.

The first is to commemorate that our ancestors dwelled in Sukkahs in the wilderness. The second is to remember the “clouds of glory” that surrounded and protected the Jews in the desert. The Talmud seems to lean towards the second explanation. If this is the case, then why do we use a hut to represent the clouds? Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to live out in the open air, under the clouds? Wouldn’t that give us more of a feeling of complete dependence on the protection given us by God?

Although, in truth, living out “under the clouds” does starkly represent total dependence on God, real life isn’t as clear cut. We all try to build structures to provide us with security and protection. We live in these structures and feel safe and in control. We view these structures as permanent and without them we could not function. The reality, however, is that our structures are really just flimsy huts that create for us the illusion of permanence and security. They fall apart when we least expect them too.

The Sukkah that we live in for seven days reminds us that our own structures of security – our houses, careers, social status – are just temporary. They last for a week, a month, a year, several years, but are then taken down. The Sukkah reminds us that our real security and protection comes not from the walls that we build but from the graces of God.

May we all be blessed with the wisdom to differentiate between the security that is true and comes only from God and the false security of the hut that just looks real, but is only an illusion. And may we blessed with peace in Israel and the entire world. 

[Taken from my book Deep Waters.]  comment from Israel AM

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.ajc.org/news/what-is-sukkot-and-why-is-it-celebrated