Chag Sameach Sukkot! Happy Sukkot!

 

Shalom

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:  Say to the Israelite people:
On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) to the LORD, (to last) seven days.    ---Leviticus 23:33~34

On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.   You shall observe it as a festival of the LORD for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages.   You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, 

I am the LORD your God.    --Leviticus 23: 40 ~ 43

＊

I made a succa on the verandah!
I feel like such a child, and maybe, maybe ,
 I do hope...  Father in Heaven is smiling!   ---a feeling I had after making a succa on our verandah.  During this holiday we make a `tent` and spend time in the succa over the 7 days of the holiday, as per Leviticus 23、above scriptures.  

A succa is booth, or tent, made for this festival of Sukkot.
It represents the booths, or tents, that the children of Israel lived in the years in the wilderness.

They had no permanent physical homes or shelters, as they were wandering and on their way to the Promised Land of Israel.  They were living so closely and dwelling intimately with God in those days, as He guided them through the wilderness.  They saw that all their provisions came from Him.  When they were hungry, he provided them with manna from heaven and continued to do so in all their days in the wilderness, and when they were thirsty He gave them to drink water from a rock.

Of course, He is the Bread from Heaven and He is the Rock!!

Today when we make a succa, it is to remember those times in the desert/wilderness and it is also to remember that no matter what we have in the physical realm, it is temporary.  Only God is eternal, and our constant Provider.  It is also a tent of God`s love, as after the High Holy Days, cleansing, repentance, and forgiveness, we rejoice in His Love, in the intimacy of dwelling with Him under His wings, in His protection, in  the Succa!!

My daughter came out to see what I was doing, when I called her to see the moon through the tent!
I think she was surprised!  At dinner I told her about the Feast of Sukkot and what the tents represented, and she understood it in some way.  But I think when she came out and saw the moon through the tent, and the intimate dwelling place that it was on the balcony, I do think she had some feeling in her heart of being in the `succa`.

I admit, I was late to make my succa.  I really hadn`t planned on it, but as the day was getting near to a close, approaching erev Succot (the eve when the holiday begins), I just scurried out to gather some materials to make a succa!

 Returning to my opening sentence, I think being late was less important than realizing in my heart how much I longed to make a succa and dwell in G-d`s presence beneath it!!!

Love and blessings to you in this week of Sukkot!

＊

Shout for joy, Fair Zion!  For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst---declares the LORD.

 ---Zecharaiah 2:10

＊

Photos below:
The moon through the tent, and reading Psalms in the Moonlight!　

Psalm 72

Let them fear You as long as the sun shines,

while the moon lasts, generations on end.  

 ---Psalm 72:5, 

illuminated in the moonlight ( with a flashlight )

＊

The first meal in the succa--Red Bean Buns !  (somehow I had the inspiration to make them this holiday, red beans in rice are celebratory in Japan, so I felt that celebrating Succot in Japan went with red bean bread, in Japanese called `an-pan).

Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah (Amen).

Making a lulav and etrog using a Kabosu and some 100 yen shop leaves and grasses!!

 Other posts on Succot to follow!  How to make Succah Sun Catcher Citron decorations HERE

this leaf says `Shalom` in Japanese writing

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  

---John 1:14