Thursday, October 1, 2009

why i love Sukkos

Sukkos is one of my fave holidays.
Maybe because it meant having a ton of vacay days from school when I was a kid.
Maybe because it's kind of camping-esque, without the bears.
Maybe because it comes so soon after Yom Kippur. It's like reading an Archie Comic after finishing War & Peace. Having Mango Sorbet after Meatloaf. Watching the Hills after crying through Schindler's List.
Ok, I'm being dramatic. But you know what I mean, right?
I do have to admit that the Sukkos appeal does wear off come Day 4 or 5.
Day 1 and 2 are the best - the whole experience is still new, you're excited to show off your decorations and the new x-mas holiday lights, and how much bigger your Sukkah is than everyone else's on the block. (gotta admit, there is a little bit of a 'Keeping up with the Steins' mentality in my hood.)
But then it rains. That's one of those wonderful times when ladies are just fine with 'She'Asani Kirtsono' - because we get to sit inside :) .
Or even if it doesn't rain, somehow making the trip all the way to the Jewish version of a mobile home that sits on your back deck just seems sooo long when you're barely awake to find the soy milk in the fridge for your Special K.
Is this how it was when the Jews were leaving Egypt? All happy on Day 1 of their trek through the desert, and then asking to sit out on Day 5?
Maybe that's what this holiday is partly about... overcoming our laziness, overcoming our desire for comfort, learning to stick with something for more than a few days, and not just on the good and sunny days. Maybe we're supposed to prove to ourselves and to Hashem that we can do this - even when it rains and we would rather be couch potatoing with HBO.
Because if you can make it through 8 days of eating in the Sukkah, you can do anything.
I'm no rabbi, but I think I just kinda made a Dvar Torah.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mum (z"l) used to say that Sukkot is the only time that moths are kosher - because they fly into your soup and you can't avoid eating them.
Where I grew up (Western Australia) Yom Kippur and Sukkot were always hot and a chance to show off your new summer dresses in Shule. Here in Melbourne, Springtime means wind, rain, and more wind (one year, it was so windy we had to dismantle the sukkah during sukkot, or it might have damaged our house!) with the occasional warm-ish day - enough for you to wear a summer dress to shule, and then regret it because it's so cold (and wet, and windy) walking home afterwards.
I think I'll be wearing my winter coat in the Sukkah tonight!
Jen

Eiran said...

Don't know whyyyyy.....lol

Anonymous said...

Ugly nasty cold weather and rain over here in Canada...

Still love sukkos though.

J