UP FRONT

You Shall Dwell
In Booths Seven Days

DVORA WAYSMAN

Special to The Jewish News

T

/—

he Jong Israeli sum-
mer draws to a close.
The crops are
gathered, the fruit ripens and
is harvested. It is the Hebrew
month of Tishrei and the fif-
teenth day is the Festival of
the Ingathering. It is also
known as the Festival of
Booths: "You shall live in
booths seven days; all that
are Israelite born shall dwell
in booths; that your genera-
tion may know that I made
the children of Israel to dwell
in booths, when I brought
them out of the Land of
Egypt ..." (Lev. 23:42-43).
The succah, or booth, com-
memorates the journey from
Egypt to tae Promised Land,
when the Israelites were
wandering in the wilderness.
The month of Tishrei was the
season when almost all the
pasturage in the Sinai desert
had disappeared, and the
water pools were dry, so they
would gather the flocks and
move to a desert oasis of date
palms, where water
abounded. Even today Israel's
nomads, the Beduin, gather
at oases at this time of the
year. The dates which have
reddened and ripened are
harvested and spread in the
sun to dry, and date honey is
made by squeezing out the
thick, sweet juice.
We are told in the Book of
Nehemiah (8:14-17), that the
biblical booths or tabernacles
were made from the branches
of wild olive, myrtle and
palm. Today we construct
succot from a variety of
materials, but they must be
no taller nor lower than 20
cubits (30 feet) — to convey
the lesson that we should be
neither too proud nor too
humble. The roof must be
covered with palm fronds or
some kind of greenery
through which it is possible
to glimpse the sky.
Succot perpetuates the pre-

cept that God is One forever
and Judaism imparts this
message by symbolism and
ritual. In addition to dwelling
in booths, Succot is one of the
three pilgrim festivals when
we are commanded to come
up to Jerusalem. We are also
commanded to rejoice after
the solemn Days of Awe — in
fact, it is repeated three
times: "You shall rejoice be-
fore the Lord your God seven
days."
When we attend the
synagogue, we take with us
the lulav and etrog, the myr-
tle and the willow — the four
species. The palm frond re-
minds us of our history, when
the Jews wandered in the
desert. Willows grow close to
the River Jordan, which flows
into the Dead Sea. When the
Israelites crossed the Jordan,
under Joshua's leadership,
they were instructed to set up
twelve large stones from the
Jordan as a memorial. It is
likely that they were also
told to select willow branches
and to weave them into the
four species for the Succot
festival.
The myrtle has a delightful
fragrance and grows wild in
the woodlands of Galilee, and
Jews sanctify it as a symbol
of peace and brotherhood.
The etrog, a citrus fruit,
symbolizes the beauty of the
fruit harvest and can be
picked at Succot. Thus the
four species teach us about
the terrain of Israel and how
the natural elements -form
the basis of imagery in the
Bible and in ritual. They
connect the People of Israel
to the Land of Israel.
The Festival of Succot ends
with Simchat Torah — the
Rejoicing of the Law. It is a
joyous festival whose agricul-
tural nature is more than
ever relevant today when
Jews have returned to in-
habit Eretz Israel, to sow and
reap the grain and fruit of
the land.

World Zionist Press Service

Lessons Of Happiness
In Season Of Rejoicing

RABBI IRWIN GRONER

Special to The Jewish News

S

uccot is referred to as
Z'man Simchatenu,
the season of our re-
joicing. It should be noted
that this designation is given
exclusively to this festival
and not to Passover and
Shavuot, which are also con-
sidered major festivals. How
does Succot, with its singular
observances and practices,
enable us to find fulfillment?
This question has great

Irwin Groner is rabbi at
Cong. Shaarey Zedek.

meaning for modern Jews,
who share in the unhappy
spirit of this age. .
Americans generally are in
the relentless, almost ironi-
cally grim pursuit of happi-
ness. Entertainment is a
huge industry, and amuse-
ment is a national enterprise.
But much of our amusement
is superficial and a great deal
of our "happiness" is not
really genuine. In the privacy
of many lives, there is pain,
boredom and dissatisfaction.
Succot teaches us signific-
ant lessons about the nature
of human happiness. The first
truth is that happiness does
not result from possession of
Continued on Page 16

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