(“In Sukkot you shall sit seven days” VaYikro 23:42)

T here is a lot that is different between celebrating the week-long Holiday of Sukkot in US and Israel. The most obvious difference is the weather. In the US in Maine, where we lived, it almost always rained during Sukkot, at least a day or two, and aside from that, quite often we were sitting in the Sukkah eating a meal bundled in a warm coat and scarf, and still shaking from cold. In our Sukkah in Tzfat this year we go outside in the morning for breakfast with temperature outside of 80 degrees, and have a leisurely breakfast, and also spend there a lot of time afterwords, enjoying the shade, breeze, clean and dry air, and our view of Mount Meron. In the Sukkah we don’t feel alone – there are Sukkot everywhere. Our house is high up on the mountain of Tzfat; there are houses above and below us, and from everywhere you can hear music, singing and laughter. 

It is the third Sukkah we have built in Israel since our Alyah, and we feel it is the best one we ever had. For the first two years  we used a standard 6×6 foot sukkah kit with four wall, with no view. This year we decided to customize it, using two walls of our mirpeset (deck) as part of the Sukkah. As a result it is 50 percent larger and has incredible vistas of the Holy Land. From here, it easy to see why Tzfat has its name, which literally means “Look-Over”.

After Yom Kippur and before Sukkot, while we were shopping in the center of the town, we purchased some some bright colored made-in-China Sukkah decorations. Then on the way home we saw a little fruit stand that was selling fresh pomegranates on the branch. We thought it would make a great Sukkah decoration. Another fruit stand was selling clusters of dates on the on the long stem, which we got for our Sukkah as well. After that, completing Sukkah decorations followed naturally, including branches of olive trees growing near our house, and other of the seven species for which Israel is praised in the Torah. The bright made-in-China decorations never made it out of the shopping bag.

Our Sukkah was complete, but sadly, the Israeli Government issued a decree banning guests during Holiday, as part of Coronavirus-related restrictions. How can we celebrate Sukkot, which is the Holiday of inviting guests, whithout guests? We prayed to have guests, but resigned to do the best we could.  Then right before the start of Sukkot a friend called and asked if she can come over, and of course we invited her for a Friday night dinner, which was also a first night of Sukkot.  The next night another friend came over for advice, and joined us for a snack in the Sukkah. The very next day we got an unexpected call from a friend from another town, who came with her relatives who just made Aliah to Tzfat, and after making sure they are settled, she came to see us and joined us for a meal in the Sukkah.  She asked us to contact her relatives who did not know anybody yet in Tzfat, so we called them and they ended up joining us for dinner in the Sukkah the next day. The day after that, another friend who spent beginning of Sukkot in Haifa, returned to Tzfat and joined us in our Sukkah for breakfast. The following day yet another friend came for lunch. We realized that our prayer for guests has been answered abundantly! 

Tomorrow is the seventh day of Sukkot – Hoshana Raba, when people use branches of Arava (willow) tree as a symbolic accessory for the prayers of that day. When I walked our friend home after lunch in our Sukkah, we saw everywhere kids carrying arava branches. We stopped at the house of the family that my friend knew,  who had an arava tree in their yard. We saw the father and his kids cutting off the branches, and they were happy to share some of them with us. 

There was also one day when while in the Sukkah, a concern that I had for a while came to my mind, and I prayed about it, and saw that prayer answered the same evening. We had learned before that in Sukkah you are enveloped in G-d’s presence, but this year we could really experience it and feel the magic of the Sukkah. With this new realization in mind this Holiday seems to be approaching its end much too soon!