Joy and Thanksgiving on the Jewish Holiday of Booths

[music: Fly-away]

THERE ARE THREE JEWISH HOLIDAYS IN SEPTEMBER – ROSH HASHANAH, YOM KIPPUR AND THEIR PERHAPS LESSER KNOWN SIBLING, SUKKOT. 

SUKKOT – THE HOLIDAY OF WANDERING, THANKSGIVING AND OUTDOOR SHELTER – BEGAN LAST FRIDAY. AND MEMBERS OF NORTHWESTERN’S JEWISH COMMUNITY ARE CELEBRATING. 

[Maz Rogal] For me personally, it’s associated with a lot of good memories from my childhood because it’s also, the fall is usually really  nice weather and you’re getting outside. And a lot of times you have big meals with family and friends. 

SUKKOT IS A TORAH-COMMANDED HOLIDAY THAT COMMEMORATES THE ISRAELITES’ TIME IN THE DESSERT AS THEY LEFT EGYPT FOR THE PROMISED LAND. 

ACCORDING TO RABBI JESSICA LOTT, NORTHWESTERN’S CAMPUS RABBI, SUKKOT WIELDS ANOTHER MEANING AS WELL. THE HOLIDAY CELEBRATES THAT LONG PILGRIMAGE AS WELL AS THE ISRAELITES’ AGRICULTURAL BACKGROUND. 

[Jessica Lott] The idea of building a sukkah, which really just means shelter, is that we’re supposed to be in a temporary dwelling place for seven days. And that’s to mark that wandering time, but it also connects with the idea that during the harvest time, people would live out in the fields. So it’s sort of operating in two different planes at once. One is our nomadic history and one is our agricultural history. 

ANOTHER GREAT MITZVAH, OR COMMANDMENT, OF SUKKOT IS TO INCORPORATE THE FOUR KINDS OF ISRAEL. THEY ARE THE ETROG, WHICH IS A CITRON, THE LULAV, WHICH IS A DATE PALM BRANCH, THE MYRTLE BRANCH AND THE WILLOW BRANCH. 

AS NORTHWESTERN’S CHABAD RABBI, RABBI MENDI WEG EXPLAINS, THE FOUR COMPONENTS REPRESENT UNITY DURING THE HOLIDAY. 

[Mendi Weg] Each one of the species has a different type of quality. The etrog has a good taste and good smell, the date palm has – dates taste yummy but they don’t smell, myrtle smells good but has no taste, and the willow has neither. And each one represents a type of person. Some of us are more academically – Torah– mind drive, and some of us are more action-oriented. We focus on mitzvot and doing things. But the main idea is that we cannot be complete unless we have all four kinds. 

THE HISTORICAL ROOTS BEHIND THIS HOLIDAY RUN DEEP. SIMILARLY, THE TIES BETWEEN SENIOR MAX ROGAL AND SUKKOT RUN DEEP AS WELL – GOING BACK TO WHEN HE WAS A KID. 

[MR] I don’t know exactly how old I was, but I definitely remember being very young and like helping, in quotation marks, my dad build the sukkah where, you know, I would just kind of stand next to him as he did it. But, you know, I felt really important. 

HOWEVER, ONCE HE CAME TO COLLEGE, THE HOLIDAY STARTED LOOKING A BIT DIFFERENT. A LARGE PART OF SUKKOT IS SPENDING TIME IN THE SUKKAH, BUT THIS BECAME DIFFICULT WHILE LIVING IN A DORM OR AN APARTMENT. 

[MR] Really one of the main things is that you’re supposed to eat as many meals as you can in the sukkah. But here, I lived in a dorm, and now I live in an apartment. I don’t build my own sukkah, I come to either Chabad or Hillel, both have Sukkot. It’s a little bit harder to try to squeeze in, try to find as many meals as I can to eat in one of those two places. 

HOWEVER, IN THE WAYS THAT REALLY MATTER, THERE IS NOT SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CELEBRATING AT HOME AND ON CAMPUS, RABBI MENDI WEG SAID. 

[MW] The idea of Sukkot is about unity and about how, to borrow a term, we’re all in it together. And we cannot be complete without even, you know, one type of us or any individual person. So when we’re looking at that level, then it’s everybody. There’s no difference between celebrating with the community or family because we are all one and connected. 

FESTIVITIES CONTINUE ON TO THIS FRIDAY. THERE ARE SUKKAHS AT BOTH NORTHWESTERN’S HILLEL AND CHABAD FOR THOSE WHO CELEBRATE AND FOR ALL GENERAL SUKKAH LOVER. 

[Rabbi Mendi Weg’s Children] We love sukkahs!

FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M MICHELLE HWANG

Music from Free Music Archive

Koi-discovery Fly-away (copyright free music) 

Download free: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/koi-discovery/hypercube/fly-away/