Lulav and Etrog

Stop? Assembly? Who knows….

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Last night was the 7th day of Sukot- but it has a special name-  Hoshana Raba.  Kind of like a mini-Yom Kipur.  During services, we destroy the willow branches that are part of the Lulav and Etrog (see the picture below) we’ve employed during this seven day festival.  We either do this because it was part of the rain-bringing rituals that existed centuries ago- or to remind us of repentance.  (The origin of the practice is simply not clear to us today.)

Lulav and Etrog
Udi Merioz. Lulav and Etrog

But, tonight (continuing, for some, until the Sabbath) begins a most unusual holiday. This is the last one that will preclude me from work for a while- all the way until April!  (Now, this is really good news.  Because, it means I can finally make some money!) The Tora gives us very little clue about this holiday and its requirements.  It’s simply called the Eighth Day of Assembly (Shmini Atzeret).

Some folks consider it the eighth day of Sukot that began last Wednesday night.  My tradition never considered that definition correct.  We stopped eating in a sukah (again, as discussed a week ago) as soon as this 8th day of celebration began. (Note:  The Tora says, “It was evening, it was morning”;  all of our “days” begin in the evening.) To our tradition, this is  a new holiday.  And, the only requirement that exists for this holiday is that we celebrate life and our religion.

Of course, this holiday means we will add some special prayers to our service,  Geshem or the Prayer for Rain.   (Oh, now you see how the rain-bringing ritual fits in to the picture.)  It’s the start of the rainy season in Israel, and these new prayers ask the Supreme Being to ensure that there is sufficient rain afforded for plentiful crops.  (On Passover [Pesach], we substitute this prayer for one requesting ample Dew, since the rainy season ends at that time of year.)

Simchat Tora

This Shmini Atzeret holiday also coincides with another observance called Simchat Tora.  (This is a celebration we  [the people] created.)  The Jewish tradition involves weekly readings from the Tora (the bible), aka the Five Books of Moses [the first five books of the bible].  On this holiday, we have completed the cycle of reading all five books, with its description of the death of Moses- and immediately begin reading from the very first part of the Tora, the story of creation.

May this new cycle bring you everything you need- but especially health, happiness, and peace.

Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

 

By the way, Thursday (tomorrow) is Columbus Day.  One we don’t really celebrate much anymore. But,  there’s more and more evidence that he was Jewish (and took a fair number of Jews banished from Spain on the 9th of Av; the date the banishment became law- and with his journey probably financed by the wealth stolen from the Jews by Isabella and Ferdinand). 

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10 thoughts on “Stop? Assembly? Who knows….”

  1. Rain – so precious. The daughter of someone I work with lives in Santa Rosa. Conditions there are incredibly serious. The works of nature (when not helped along by things like a tossed cigarette) are awesome, and it is well we celebrate, and ask for rain for the coming crops.
    Alana recently posted..Fall Fancies-Scarecrows

  2. Roy, wow, as always a power-packed post. I love your little zinger about Columbus Day at the end. Very interesting idea that he was Jewish! I was stupefied to learn, in studying Church history, that a woman spearheaded the Inquisition: Isabella. [Tears!] And yes, my website url is correct and safe.

    1. Absolutely like everyone else, Barbara! Our holidays are pretty much front-end loaded. From the start of the New Year until Shmini Atzeret. Then, we have a few very minor holidays (Chanuka, Tu B’Shavat, and Purim)- until April when Pesach (Passover) comes around. Then, 50 days later, it’s Shvuot. And, then we wait for Rosh Hashana, all over again.

  3. I always learn so much when you share the information about the Jewish holidays. I do enjoy them all the more because I am a student of the teaching of all of the bible including both the new and old testament and some of the dead sea scrolls. I find that some much is overlooked by so many because they are never investigate what they are taught in school

  4. Did you just start praying for rain? Someone beat you to it! Monday was a complete washout, with the backyard turning into a small pond! Despite the excessive precipitation, this looks like a fascinating holiday. I enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing this tradition.

    1. So, Alice, you just figured something out. Realistically, the Prayers for Rain should happen almost immediately after Yom Kipur. But, the rabbis figured out that would be a really bad idea- because we’d be praying for rain to come while we were eating and sleeping in our sukot. Not the brightest move- so they wait until we no longer use the suka – and pray for rain then. 🙂

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