The Simple Life

(Find more great pics, like these, in my new photo sharing room at:
http://thepeapodpics.snapfish.com)

What a week this has been! Sukkot in Jerusalem is a very special thing. I feel like I am experiencing the holidays in the place for which they were designed which seems very right. It also means that the holiday is shorter here, 7 days instead of 8, because the Jewish calendar starts in Jerusalem. Therefore, here, there is no doubt what day it is, unlike outside of Israel, where there is a doubt and therefore two days are celebrated. Too bad no one realized that modernity has brought with it such miracles as the internet and communication that is essentially instantaneous, thus allowing all to know what day the holiday falls so the world can observe the correct day. I guess we have TRADITION to thank for this one…

Anyway, it was a great week studying Hebrew in my intensive program where I essentially spoke Hebrew with a teacher for an hour a day plus daily 15 minute phone calls. It really helped me get back into the flow of conversational Hebrew. I highly recommend this program, Ulpan Or! It was wonderful!

I enjoyed walking around the neighborhoods and looking at all the sukkot. Every building had at least one sukkah in its yard, on a balcony or in parking spaces. Most restaurants built them as well so patrons could eat in the sukkah.

The holiday ended with a lethal combination of Shabbat, Shemini Atzeret (the day after Sukkot also considered holy) and Simchat Torah, the day we celebrate completing a full year’s cycle of Torah reading. There was a lot happening at the synagogue to say the least: singing and dancing with the Torah and a lot of merriment. I had some nice meals with classmates and with other Jerusalemites.

On the last day, we added special prayers for rain that is directed toward Israel. Interestingly enough, I awoke to pouring rain on Sunday morning. Prayer really works!

Part of the holiday of Sukkot that is both engaging and slightly unsettling is the reliance on the physical as a path to the spiritual. We have the lulav and etrog, (the four species of palm branch, willow, myrtle and citron) that the Torah commands us to take in our hands. From the outside, it certainly looks strange. Yet, I enjoy how we connect the species to different parts of the body, and there is a midrash about them relating to different personality types. I like that in Judaism, we can take physical objects in ritual and elevate them to the spiritual realm. Sometimes, we need something to hold onto that can help us cross that threshold. Still, praying while holding them in one hand is difficult and makes me a little self-conscious, very much like the way I felt when putting tefillin at the beginning. Interesting….

Next up for me….going back to school!