Vzot hab’racha / Sukkot 

Wow ! What a special Yom Kippur that was….

We now enter in the festive and joyous time of this festive season.

Next week from Monday night, we will start to celebrate the joyous holiday of Sukkot.

The Talmud tells us that “One who has not seen the joy of the Sukkot celebration in the Beit hamikdosh has never seen seen true joy in their life”

There are many beautiful elements of Sukkot. Each of them of them bring out an element of Joy.

Staying true to the actual name of the holiday, perhaps we can find a key to joy within the mitzvah of eating in the Sukkah.

While other mitzvot of Judaism, each address a certain aspect of our lives, the mitzvah of sukkah provides a medium by which the totality of the Jew is engaged in the fulfillment of G‑d’s will. All of the person enters into and lives in the sukkah. “Sukkah is the only mitzvah into which a person enters with his muddy boots,” goes the Chassidic saying. For the seven days of Sukkot, the sukkah is our home, the environment for our every endeavour and activity.

When we fully invest ourselves into what we are doing, and are fully present we can find serenity and joy.

We become much more productive and feel more fulfilled when we can zone in and focus at the tasks at hand. Instead of always being worried about the next hour’s obligation or tomorrow’s worries, we zoom in on the present.

Let’s take this opportunity during this chag to celebrate, and be fully present and invested with our friends, family and those that need our assistance.

Here are some of the Mitzvot we do on Sukkot.

For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah and otherwise regard it as our home. Located under the open sky, the sukkah is made up of at least three walls and a roof of unprocessed natural vegetation—often bamboo (sometimes in the form of convenient bamboo rolls), pine boughs or palm branches.

Another Sukkot observance is the taking of the Four Kinds: an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), three hadassim (myrtle twigs) and two aravot (willow twigs).

Before the holiday, the hadassim and aravot are bound to the lulav.

Before performing the Mitzvah, we make the appropriate blessings .

We then bring the lulav and etrog together in your hands and wave them gently in all six directions. This Mitzvah is done during the day.

Chag Sameach !