Judaism Journal Entry: Week Four
Make a list of Jewish guests, past or
present, whom you would invite to your Sukkah.
Explain why you’d like to have them as guests.
For my first
ever Sukkot holiday, I would want to make the holiday somewhat traditional in
nature so that I could experience all of the traditions and customs first. I would want to get the get the full essence
of the holiday before trying to replicate it in future years.
However, before
any guest invites could be extended, we would first need to build the sukkah. For this endeavor, I would invite my father
over to construct the structure. He is
one of the most meticulous and precise carpenters that I know. This would guarantee that the sukkah would be
stable enough to hold all of our guests, but it would also be recyclable, one
that we would be able to use year after year.
After the
sukkah is erected, we would then need to decorate it. This, of course, would be a family affair. I know that my kids would enjoy decorating
the sukkah with fruit, paper chains, and pumpkins. This fun tradition would enable us to teach
them about the history and reason behind Sukkot.
Once the
sukkah is built and decorated, then invites could be extended. The first people that I would invite into our
sukkah would be the most Jewish family members that I know – my husband’s
cousins, Alisa and Gabriel, and my husband’s aunt and uncle, Dione and Katz. We have had the pleasure to celebrate Shabbat
with them on several occasions and I am sure that they would assist us in hosting
a successful celebration. They could assist
in leading the blessings and the lulav/etrog ritual. Also, Dione and Alisa would be able to teach
me some delicious Jewish recipes to serve to all of my guests. And since family is synonymous with holidays,
all of our other family members would also be invited.
In
the true spirit of Sukkot, we would also invite many of our friends to join us
in our sukkah, even though many of them are not Jewish. We would even encourage them to bring a
friend so that our hospitality would be extended to strangers. My husband would truly enjoy getting to know “new”
people and Sukkot is the perfect holiday to welcome them into our home
and make them our friends.
This sounds
like the perfect holiday celebration to me – family, friends, “new” friends,
traditions, good food and tons of fun.
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