Tonight we start the holiday of Sukkot - the Festival of Booths - which commemorates G-d providing the Jewish people with temporary shelter while wandering in the desert for 40 years. It is said that Sukkot is "zman simchateinu" or the time of our happiness/joy. Sukkot is definitely a fun celebratory holiday, one that comes after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, holidays that require some introspection which is, for many people, quite difficult. Last night, Josh and I spoke about the analogy of the holiday to different types of love. Sukkot is the big fat teddy bear hug that you give with all your heart and soul! It is truly embracing the community, embracing your fellow man, embracing your new self, what a great time. I have much to be thankful for, even though this isn't exactly a Thanksgiving holiday, but worth the consideration anyway.
Some of us took an optional trip to the shuk/market today at Machane Yehuda. Fresh spices, fresh fruits and vegetables, usually offered at a cheaper price to the grocery stores (although not always as I found out later). I needed to buy ingredients for a green salad I was bringing to the potluck dinner, and obviously my number one concern of the day was making it to Marzipan, the BEST rugelach I have ever had. I promised the group to buy 1 kilo of the cracklike substance, for the potluck tonight. So I had my work cut out for me - the market is busy because of the holiday rushing in and my list is not getting any smaller. We wander through the different aisles and alleyways of the shuk. It's a little too crazy and busy and intense for me so I try to just get in and out. We make all of our purchases (including many rugelach at Marzipan) and head down Agripas Street to the bottom of the hill to get falafel for lunch! I haven't had it in a while so I should keep up with my quota. It's only 12 shekels for falafel b'pita eem hummus, melafafonim, v'chatzilim. Falafel in a pita with hummus, cucumbers, and eggplant. SO YUMMY!
We hop onto the 71 bus going back toward Derech Beit Lechem where we boarded this morning as a group (yes, again as a group, this Birthright thing just doesn't want to leave me) and when we arrive we all drop off our new purchases in our apartments, some of us planning to head out to the grocery store for our last provisions before the holiday. I couldn't get all that I was looking for at the market so my list was fairly extensive. I think I tried to squeeze out everything in about 20 minutes. Then I spent about the same amount of time in line just to check out. Two grocery bags later (including one canvas one from my roommate Marlowe) and we are all heading back to Tsipora Street. Time to get crackin' in the kitchen! Unloading, unpacking. I really wanted to take a nap or a break and just relax, but I found out we are leaving at 4pm, not 5pm, to head to the Kotel/Western Wall. Not that much time left, I have to get to making this salad!
Salad's done just in time, I put on my skirt (with leggings underneath of course) and comfortable walking shoes. As a group, Nir tells us that our plans have changed due to security concerns, and we are walking, but to a different place, Yamin Moshe. There is a beautiful overlook of the Old City walls and the sun is setting when we arrive there. The clouds are beautiful in the sky, turning from yellow to orange to pink. We have a short group gathering and read some poems related to Sukkot before walking to The Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. I have passed it by and from the outside it looks beautiful; I'm sure this is a site not to be missed! We have to split up by sex; the women go upstairs to the balcony while the men stay downstairs. We arrive just a few minutes before the evening service begins. We are all using different prayer books so we are all on different page numbers, how confusing!
6pm - the cantor and choir begin the Ma'ariv/evening service and I follow pretty well. The siddur/prayer book I'm using is called Art Scroll, which has a lot of commentary and helpful information about the service. Naturally, I'm a bit distracted from the service itself, so I look at some of the commentary and sidenotes which I find very interesting, particularly about the Shema prayer which declares the unity of G-d. I don't have my own copy of Art Scroll but it might be a good investment. The service goes by very quickly and we all meet again downstairs at about 6:45 to walk back together to the Sukkah. By 7:15, we are all back in the area and I need to get to the kitchen to bring my food over! Dinner stars around 7:30 and our sukkah is packed to the brim. Every seat is taken, as we have many guests and friends joining us this evening.
The meal is lovely, the wine is all consumed, and Yonit has us playing a sing-off and charades all night. What a raucous group we are! It was really a blast to have had a potluck dinner created by our own hands and our own ideas. We had to include singing to Seth for his birthday, so with the extra Marzipan I bought at the store today, I created a pyramid of rugelach (his favorite dessert, and therefore his "birthday cake") and brought it out to his place setting. He smiled and laughed; I'm glad he liked it. Everyone had made my birthday so wonderful and I wanted him to be happy on his birthday as well.
We all left the sukkah, one by one, and for most of my evening, I spent time talking to Suri and Marlowe, my roommates. About lots of various topics (none of your business on here, blog readers) and we had lots of giggles. I'm lucky to be getting to know some people with significant insight on life and world experiences. It's only the beginning to what I know is going to be a great 5 months of my life.
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