In-Between Times...

We are now in the holiday of Sukkot during which we are commanded to build booths, sukkot, and dwell in them for seven days. It is not highly attended to, these days. It is an ancient ritual too detached from modern times. During services this morning, one of our brilliant rabbis, Rabbi Oren Hayon, discussed the meaning of booths at length. It is said we are to build booths so we remember the exodus from Egypt. But, the rabbi pointed out, we did not live in booths during those 40 years; we lived in tents. He said "The morning prayer says 'Mah tovu ohalecha, Yakov,' (How goodly are your tents, o Jacob) not 'mah tovu ohaSUKKOT, Yakov." Great line; kudos to the rabbi :) He offered several Talmudic commentaries on the subject. Rabbi Eliezer said they were actual booths while Rabbi Akiba said it is a metaphor for "The Clouds Of Glory." Make of that what you will. Then Rabbi Hayon presented this from Rabbi Yehiel Mehiel Epstein:
"On Yom Kippur, when we repent, God forgives our sins. The proof of this is that immediately after Yom Kippur, God commands us to make a sukkah, so that we dwell in the shade of the Holy One, Blessed be God. As it says, "I love to sit in his shade" [Song Of Songs 2:3] --this is the commandment of the sukkah...This teaches us that despite all our sins, God still loves us and watches over us to protect us from all sorrow and harm. God causes us to dwell in a holy and pure shade and God shelters ["sokech"] us."
This just amazed me...this made my eyes shoot open and my mind expand. As Rabbi Hayon said after reading this to us, we can never view Sukkot the same again. For me, Sukkot will never be just this intermediary space of time between Yom Kippur and Simchat Torah (my favorite holiday). He really gave it meaning and depth. It doesn't solve the technical question of WHAT a booth is exactly, but it says what a booth IS in the deeper sense. Hopefully, next year I will have my own yard in which to build a sukkah so my dogs and I can dwell in God's sheltering peace...if only for seven days.
Next week: B'reishit/ Genesis
Chag Sameach!
Lev

Before "In the beginning..."

Hey, thanks for looking in!
I was chatting with a friend of mine and she mentioned she was starting a blog about her daily life (see Life In The Deb Lane on this site). The idea popped up that I should start one about Torah, since she is often the recipient of my thoughts about the weekly Torah portion. It's a pretty intimidating idea, but, after thinking about it, I decided I would try it.
Here's what I plan on: I will be jotting down thoughts about parts of each week's parsha. I am NOT going to try tackling entire portions. I am not that advanced. Yes, I've been reading Torah for quite awhile (I'm about to turn 44 as I type this; my birthday falls near Simchat Torah; last year, it was ON Simchat Torah! GREAT birthday, I must say), but I don't feel confident enough to try throwing down on the whole parsha. I also work two jobs at this point so free time is at a premium.
Also of great importance is the fact that I can't read Hebrew, so all copies of the Torah that I have are English translations. I will be cross-referencing between the three that I have, plus checking other places in my library or online for further clarity ("clarity" being a very relative term, LOL)
And I reserve the right to get all tangential if something pops up :)
I decided I would do this at the start of the reading cycle and Simchat Torah, which commemorates the end and beginning of the annual cycle, and which happens to be my favorite holiday, is just a week or so away now! YAY! So, I figured I oughtta get this introduction done.
That's about all I've got to say right now. I imagine I ought to get started studying! Bear in mind, I am far from even close to being almost a Torah expert. I am so far from being an expert, that the light from being an expert would take ten million years to reach the planet. I am just plowing through the Torah looking for sparks and trying to repair a little bit of my part of the world.
Shalom!
Lev