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A MESSAGE FROM THE RABBI
We had the distinct pleasure of waiving Lulavs and eating in the Sukkah this past Tuesday and Wednesday. For those present it was a glorious Sukkoth holiday. Because of the impending Nor’easter, we are unfortunately taking the Sukkah down early to avoid damage. So, get your Sukkah-sitting in on Friday or Saturday!!! (Welcome to the Island!) Inasmuch as our time in the hut will be cut short, here is a poem I wrote that captures some of the meaning of Sukkoth:
Life is like a Sukkah.
Temporary; fleeting; and, yet, somehow ever-present
7 days for Sukkoth, a permanent, set time.
Is the time of every soul established and permanent?
A Sukkah is like life.
Canvas blowing in the wind; the sky our ever-changing szchach.
Pieces of our lives as ornamentation; artwork hanging by string.
We are visitors in God's universe, God's Sukkah.
God is like an Etrog.
Beautiful. There for us to see and hold and smell;
Yet, amorphous just the same.
Nourishment? Adornment? Or something just to please the senses?
Man is like a lulav.
Multi-faceted; with a strength like the date palm.
And a presence like the pleasant scent of hadas
Yet weak like the leaves of the willow that wither quickly when out of water.
And somehow, just as the etrog is incomplete without the Lulav,
God is incomplete without Man;
Man is unfinished without God.
Each needs to hold the other gently, acknowledging existence together...East, South, West, North, to the Heavens, to the Earth.
Tuesday morning, October 14th, is Shemini Atzeret. This means that we will have a Yizkor service that morning. Services begin at 9:00 am, and I expect Yizkor to be at about 10:30 am. As part of Yizkor observance, it is customary to light a Yahrtzeit candle the night before. Thus, this year, you should light the candle on Monday evening, October 13th, before lighting Yom Tov candles.
Tuesday evening at 6:00 pm we will be having a lovely dinner of Pasta and Salad. After dinner we will have Simchat Torah services which will include taking all the Torahs out and dancing with them. God willing this year we will especially want to dance because the hostages will have been released.
Wednesday morning, October 15th, we will again dance with the Torahs. When we are done dancing, we will finish reading the Torah and roll it all the way back so that we can read the very beginning of the scroll.
This is a momentous time in our tradition. The symbolism is, among other things, that every ending is a beginning. The Torah has been read completely, every year, for millennia.
We shift from the awe of the Holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to the wonder of Sukkoth, to Shemini Atzeret and the solemnity of Yizkor, to the boundless joy of Simchat Torah. Join us for any, or all, of these happy events!
Shabbat Shalom and Moadim L’Simcha – Rabbi Michael S. Jay
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