Rabbi Carl M. Perkins
Cantor Jamie Gloth
David A. Farbman, President
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September 28, 2018 | 19 Tishrei 5779
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Dear Friends,
I love
Sukkot
!
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In many ways, Sukkot
is parallel to Passover: They are each week-long festivals precisely six months apart (according to the lunar calendar). Each begins on the full moon. Each is a festival with a national/historical as well as an agricultural theme. (Passover commemorates our liberation from slavery in Egypt; Sukkot, our survival in the wilderness.) During each holiday, our lives (and our kitchens) are turned upside down: during Pesach, our usual food and dishes are put out of the way, and we eat different foods on different sets of dishes. On Sukkot, we use our regular dishes, but we are constantly taking them in and out of our homes, using them to eat all of our meals in the
sukkah
. Each holiday is associated with redemption at the end of days. (On Shabbat Hol Ha-Moed Sukkot we read about the
Battle of Armageddon
; on Shabbat Hol Ha-Moed Pesach, we read about the resurrection of the dead in the
Valley of the Dry Bones
.) Each holiday is celebrated with ritual objects made of natural products that are deeply symbolic.
The beginning of the holiday this year was cool but delightful. As has been our good fortune for many years, we were once again able to daven in our congregational
sukkah
on the first day of the holiday. Many, many thanks to
Fred Borgenicht
and his team for building our
sukkah
this year; to
Sharon Katz
and
Nancy Rashap
for organizing our Harvest Picnic; and to
Alisa Levine, Glenn Levine,
and
Alex Maslow
for being in charge of decorating the sukkah.
There are still a few more days left to enjoy our
sukkah
: Tonight, for those of you who have registered, we'll be eating dinner in our congregational
sukkah
. On Shabbat morning, we’ll have services for Shabbat Hol Ha-Moed Sukkot (during which we’ll be celebrating Lyla Dussault’s bat mitzvah) with kiddush in the
sukkah
. Sunday morning,
Hoshana Rabbah,
the most unusual service of the entire year will take place, at the end of which we’ll beat our willows (
aravot
) against the floor. (If you’ve never experienced it, you really should check it out.)
Sunday night/Monday is
Shmini Atzeret,
the holiday that concludes Sukkot. We’ll be reciting Yizkor on Monday morning, our last opportunity to do so until Passover. And Monday night and Tuesday are
Simchat Torah.
This year, we’ll be honoring
Jimmy Krasnow
and
Sarah Burns
. (Click
here
for details.) Please join us.
Finally, let me explain the subject line of this email. Have you ever wondered how the etrog—a most unusual citrus fruit that most of us probably never see the rest of the year—came to be used on Sukkot?
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Well, the other day I received an interesting article in my in-box addressing this precise question.
Rabbi David Moster, the author of a recently published academic study of this question, teaches us that, originally, Jews used a variety of fruits in their celebration of Sukkot. After all, the Bible doesn’t specify one particular fruit when it speaks of taking
"pri etz hadar"
--"the fruit of a goodly tree" on Sukkot. But then the etrog, which had originally been cultivated in China, found its way to India, and from India to Persia, and from Persia to the Land of Israel in the sixth pre-Christian century, when the Persians conquered the Babylonians and came to rule Judea.
As in the Far East, the etrog was highly prized in ancient Judea. It was believed to possess marvelous medicinal properties, including the ability to contribute to fertility.
Because of this, and because it was considered so beautiful, aromatic and exotic, once it found its way to the Land of Israel, it quickly became seen as the ideal fruit to use on Sukkot. And thus it became the quintessential Jewish symbol in the ancient world. To read more about this fascinating story, go
here
.
By the way, in case you’re wondering: yes, the etrog is still used in traditional Chinese medicine. Take a look at this picture of the “Buddha’s Hand” variety of etrog:
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(No, we don't use this variety of etrog on Sukkot!)
If you don’t have your own lulav and etrog at home, please come by the shul sometime during the holiday to shake a lulav (and etrog) in our sukkah. Let’s do all we can to enjoy the rest of this holiday season.
Hag Sameach!
Rabbi Carl M. Perkins
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