Hi,

I hope you had a meaningful Yom Kippur.

…The Holidays are over?  Right?

Wrong!

The Holiday of Succot starts Wednesday night.

I think it’s sad that almost everyone “does Yom Kippur.”

But many don’t know about Succot.

 They did the fasting and the praying.  But won’t do the celebration.

Succot is called, “the time of our joy.”

We celebrate our “clean slate.”  Our renewed relationship with G-d.

 … And especially for children.

if we show them the hard part of being Jewish?

We need to show them the fun!

… There’s another message in Succot.

Yom Kippur is a very unusual day for Jews.

The most striking?

No food!

Which is not the usual Jewish approach to life.

Judaism doesn’t believe in monasteries!

They’re a “cop out”!

Our challenge is to enjoy life.  But to be careful to rember who we are.

That we’re not animals.  That we have a neshama.  A soul.

And that there’s more to life than physical pleasure.

But it is so easy to lose sight of that.

So the Torah sets aside one day.  Yom Kippur.

No eating.  No drinking.

Just focusing on our relationship with G-d.  And with other people.

 On our spiritual lives.

After Yom Kippur?

We’re almost ready to go back to life as usual.

But first we have Succot.

 When we live in a Succah.  A temporary hut that we build for the holiday.

And we eat.  And drink.  And eat some more!

We celebrate.

But we do it in a humble Succah.

A reminder that we should try to keep our perspective.

That a beautiful home is fine.

But that’s not what makes life meaningful!

All the best,