Sukkot
I Hope to be… Maladjusted?
By Elie Mischel On December 19, 1963, Martin Luther King gave an unusual speech at Western Michigan University. He said: “Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word in modern psychology. It is the word...
Sukkah of Faith
By Chaim Barzel The Biblical commandment to build and sit in a sukkah (temporary dwelling) during the festival of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) is very beloved by the People of Israel. I recently read a story about a Jewish family in...
A Lesson From a Willow
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I grew up reading the Tolkein series, so when I first set foot in a Yeshiva (school for Torah study) and saw a room full of bearded men learning in a strange language from huge tomes, I was thrilled. I was in...
Four Species or Seven Species?
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I distinctly remember my first Sukkot holiday (Feast of Tabernacles) in Israel. I had arrived a few months earlier at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu directly from Manhattan. The day before the holiday, tables were set up in...
Don’t Forget the Kids!
By Elie Mischel Today, the second day of the Sukkot holiday immediately following the Sabbatical year, is a very special day - a “once in seven years” kind of day! In Biblical times, every seven years, immediately following the Sabbatical...
Three Inspiring Life Lessons from the Sukkah
By Rafi Weinstein Today is the first day of the seven-day holiday known as Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Though the Torah commands: "You shall live in booths seven days" (Leviticus 23:42), growing up in New York my family barely spent...
The High Holidays: Everyone’s Holiday
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz When I think about the High Holidays, I picture synagogues full of Jews, the men wrapped in snow-white prayer shawls swaying silently, the women praying fervently. They are Jewish holidays and the pinnacle of the...
A Little-Known Holiday With a Big Message
Last week was our anniversary and our kids threw us a surprise party. They invited all of our friends and brought in spectacular catering. It was amazing and the party went on until the early hours of the morning with the guests trickling...
The Priestly Blessing on the Intermediate Days of Passover
Twice a year, during the intermediary days of Passover and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), a mass priestly blessing takes place at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem. This event is usually attended by tens of thousands of Jews who are...
Chol Hamoed: Sanctifying the Mundane
The holidays of Passover and Sukkot (Feat of Tabernacles) are seven days in Israel and eight days outside of Israel. The first day each and, on Passover, the last day (first two and last two outside of Israel) are full holidays during...
