Sukkot
The Sukkah & the World Trade Center
Addressing Global Terrorism | Devoting Jewish Holidays to Peace | Eleven Days in September | SukkotBy Rabbi Arthur Waskow*
(Written on Sept.12, 2001).
When the Jewish community celebrates the harvest festival, we build "sukkot."
What is a "sukkah"? Just a fragile hut with a leafy roof, the most vulnerable of houses. Vulnerable in time, where it lasts for only a week each year. Vulnerable in space, where its roof must be not only leafy but leaky -- letting in the starlight, and gusts of wind and rain.
In the evening prayers, we plead with God -- "Ufros alenu sukkat shlomekha" -- "Spread over all of us Your sukkah of shalom."
Why a sukkah?-- Why does the prayer plead to God for a "sukkah of shalom" rather than God's "tent" or "house" or "palace" of peace?
Hoshanot [Poetic Prayers] for a Planet in Danger
SukkotRabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, 10/6/2004
[There are notes after these poetic prayers to explain the history, meaning, and practice of the Hoshanot, but please before absorbing that information let yourself dance with the poetic words by Reb Zalman. Then absorb the background information, and after that, read the Hoshanot again, with the background information supporting them. — AW]
For the first day (Tuesday):
Hosha'na for the sake of
the Aura of life
the Beams of Light
the Clearness of Light
the Dynamics of Light
the Effulgence of Light
the diFfraction of light
Sukkot: THE Season of Our Joy, the Festival of Earth & Rain
Oiloholic Uncle Sam & Global Scorching | SukkotBy Rabbis David Seidenberg & Arthur Waskow
Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival, is traditionally called THE season of our joy. (My book about the Jewish festival cycle, Seasons of Our Joy, treats them all; but Sukkot is preeminently joyful.)
Joy comes from a fruitful harvest, when hard human work – joined to the soil, the sun, the rain, and the seed that human beings do not make, gives us physical, emotional, and spiritual sustenance and the time to refrain from hard work so as to take joy in the One Who is present in all these aspects of the harvest. Sukkot also looks forward to the coming of the rainy season in the Land of Israel that will make possible the next harvest.
Communal Sukkot Celebration: Reconnecting with the Earth
GREEN MENORAH COVENANT (on climate crisis) | Earth | SukkotRose Kowel, Nicole Luna, Lauren Pack
Course on Eco-Judaism, Hebrew Union College, NYC
(Rabbi Arthur Waskow)
Festival Project: June 17, 2008
1. Decorating the sukkah/area with quotes, sustainable decorating alternatives for the children
Decorating options/resources to have available for kids : squash stamps, water soluable paints, recycled paper for paper chains.
For Sukkot quotes: See Appendix 1
2. Topic intro and local vegetarian buffet
The leader will lead the Hamotzi and introduce it by explaining that this prayer thanks God for not only the product (bread) but also the origins and the process that goes into our food.
THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH: Sharing Sacred Seasons, Fall 2007
What You Can Do | Abrahamic Celebrations: Jewish, Christian, & Muslim Connections | Interreligious Relations | Peace of Abraham, Hagar, & Sarah: Sacred Seasons, Fall 2006-07 | Rosh HaShanah | Sukkot | Yom KippurTHE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH:
SHARING SACRED SEASONS, 2007
Shalom, salaam, peace! --
In the fall of 2007, several sacred seasons of the Abrahamic faiths will come together. At a moment of history when religious conflict and violence have reemerged bearing lethal dangers for each other and our planet, God has given our spiritual and religious traditions an unusual gift of sacred time.
Let us celebrate this rare confluence of THE PEACE OF ABRAHAM, HAGAR, & SARAH by praying and learning with each other and by acting together to –-
SEEK PEACE, PURSUE JUSTICE,
FEED THE POOR, HEAL THE EARTH,
