Our kids are coming home! They are coming from the four corners of the earth ( ok I’m exaggerating, but none of them live in Atlanta).
The ingathering is quite a miracle really.
As exciting as it is there is always the prayer that everyone will get along.
When children come home they sometimes revert to should we call them, old patterns?
What’s the occasion you may ask?
They are returning home to celebrate the upcoming holiday of Sukkot.
There are many rituals that are associated with the holiday, like eating meals in a Sukka, which is a flimsy type of hut reminiscent of the structures the Jewish people lived in during their trek through the desert. Sitting in the Sukka is a lovely experience. We leave our sturdy homes (unless we live in the path of Ian) and move into a temporary structure. This makes us pause as we take a moment to recognize the blessings in our lives as we focus on the gifts we have been given. Much of the familiar and material is put aside and we feel grateful for the gifts of our existence. It’s a time to enjoy wonderful meals with family and friends in a setting open to nature, under the stars.
Think Pizza in the Hut.
Another practice of Sukkot is the taking of the Four Species, the Lulav, a palm frond, an Etrog a citron, Hadassim myrtle branches and Aravot- willows. The four are held together as part of the rituals of Sukkot. Each of the species represent a different type of person. The Lulav represents one blessed with Torah wisdom, the Etrog intuits a person who is blessed with Torah and good deeds, the Hadassim reflects a person with exhibits good deeds and the Aravot is symbolic of a person who has neither good deeds nor wisdom.
The powerful message of the taking of the Four Species is that the mitzva requires taking all four together. If one is missing, the mitzva is incomplete. This indicates that the Jewish people is only complete when we all join together and support one another. We all need each other and we all complete each other.
The Jewish people can only have a relationship with the Divine if we can all accept and embrace one another, despite any lacking or differences.
Carrying around the Four Species creates quite the visual.
Even the TSA had to be briefed on the unusual flora, and they have codified in their regulations that travelers may take the Species on the plane and they are not any type of weaponry no matter the fact that the Lulav may look somewhat intimidating.
Many years ago, a few years after World War II, a young Polish boy named Vladek was tending his parents flock when he saw a strange sight. He saw a number of men carrying a long palm frond and what looked like a large lemon. He stared at the unlikely sight and it niggled a memory in his mind. All of a sudden he was overwhelmed with a deeply buried memory of his father, who he instantly realized was his real father, walking with the Four Species many years before. Vladek chased the men and with tears in his eyes begged them to take him with them, as he realized that his present reality was not in fact his real family.
It turned out that these gentleman were walking the roads of Poland during Sukkot with the Four Species in hand, hoping that the unusual sight would awaken latent youthful memories.
Just as it did for Vladek.
So the kids are coming home.
They will share many memories of childhood and probably a few old “discussions” may reappear.
But I am hopeful, and pray deeply, that the messages of Sukkot - those of unity, and relying on one another and needing each other, will create the optimal reality.
That’s the real Sukkot miracle.
Wishing you all a Chag Sameach!
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!