Sukkot I

Sukkot Sameach!  Happy Sukkot!

We're partway through Sukkot right now!  It's a special experience to spend this holiday in Israel.  If you take a walk on the streets a day or two before Sukkot, you can find many stores that put up sukkahs in front of their doors.  And in the Old City, where balconies are usually visible, you can also find dozens of sukkahs put up by different families!

Different Torah portions are read each day of Sukkot--Torah, Haftarah, and Brit Chadasha (for Messianics).

I took a picture of this sukkah at a worship service.

We attended a Sukkot service Sunday evening at our Messianic congregation.  The first and last days of Sukkot are Shabbats--Sabbaths.  So this week we'll have three Sabbaths; the regular one and the two for Sukkot.

We sung "Hinei Ma Tov" (Psalm 133) and a couple other songs I didn't know.  After the service we had a delicious meal with bread, bagels, cheese, and salad.

Tuesday

Tuesday we visited a friend's sukkah and had a relaxing afternoon with drinks and snacks.  I don't exactly remember how many cookies I ate, but they were really good!  I spent most of the time reading Calvin & Hobbes comic books after I had talked with the adults.

In the evening we visited another friend's sukkah.

Sukkah in the evening.  See the palm branches tied to the posts and laid over the roof?

We had great fellowship and a delicious meal with nearly a dozen desserts!  Sukkot is a time for rejoicing and it is a command to do so.  Wine is drunk during the meals and festive foods eaten.

We rejoice as we remember how G-d led the Israelites out of Egypt and provided for them in the wilderness.

Rejoice!  The conversation near my end of the table centered around jokes.  Yes, jokes.  We had a lot of fun--especially playing around with Chinese words (a lot of jokes can be made up that way) and the tones of their characters.

I've had a wonderful time in Israel; it's so sad we're leaving in two weeks.  But for now, Sukkot Sameach!