With joy you will draw water from the wells of Salvation.
--Isaiah 12:3
Mark, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the yield of your land, you shall observe the festival of the LORD (to last) seven days: a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. 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.
---Leviticus 23:39 ~ 41
In the succa, we are reminded that we are temporary dwellers
We are reminded of the divine presence, of the God who provides
and brings us to this season. It is a time to give thanks for all His abundance and to savor the blessing of being brought to this season on His appointed times.
It is a time to rejoice, as we are commanded to be joyous in the succa!
Yes, it is a command!
I couldn't believe how beautiful the sounds of singing could be, in that temporary place, with the species of plants and natural materials as the "roof", and walls open to one side. After all the eating and rejoicing, or somewhere into the feast, someone asked the cantor to sing. As he was not in the pulpit, but sitting at the table with everyone, when the cantor sang, it was spontaneously in a moment where a song was called forth, and the sounds of his voice were released like an audible fragrance and everyone's senses and whole being were attuned to his song.
When he sang, it was as if all eternity came into a sonorous presence, yes, that is how I would describe those earthy and at the same time heavenly sounds of Hebrew songs sung and springing from a mouth given by God, to be the source of song.
After several songs the air of the succa became infused with the songs, everyone was drawn into an atmosphere that was transforming, and the choir, who were also just a minute ago individuals sitting and rejoicing and eating at the table, once again became the choir and ran out for a few minutes to get their song books. They came back into the succa with songs that must be the same ones that were sung by our ancestors and are sung by the angels in heaven and that are sung in the succa each year.
Songs that have been sung and will be sung and are eternally sung.
The thing for me, was that it was my first time to hear the succa song.*
It was a summer of "Teshuva" for me, of "return" and I had never before sat in a succa like that hearing them although they have always been sung and always will be and always are sung in the succa.
When the songs were sung people sometimes joined and sometimes just listened. Nourished by song.
It was a deep listening started as a listening with ears but became a listening with hearts and with souls and then we were all transported at once and there was a kind of palpable soul-stirring from the cantor's song and I didn't quite know where I was except that I was in the succa song. Maybe the swirling of angels of heaven, preparing to take us up...but just before we were swept up into the heavens, the song came to its sonorous crescendo that was soft and sweet, and
the next thing I knew, the rabbi was saying something,
that it was time
for dessert.
＊
note: The name "succa song" is my "poetic" title for this post and a term I made up here to refer to the songs that were sung in the succa, though it is not a particular "song" title or song I am referring to, it is the whole mood of what it was like to hear the singing by the cantor in the succa at my "return" this season.
note: Succot is the holiday in the season of fall feasts that comes after the Ten days of Awe of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, after the work of repentance and reflecting and "return" come the joyous holidays of Succot and after then Simchat Torah. Related post about Succot
HERE and song and Succot
HERE.
note: After all the festivities the Torah is scrolled back to the beginning so if anyone is new to observing the cyle of the Hebrew calendar and God's appointed days, it is perfect time to start!! The list of the dates of all the Shabbat and Feasts and readings on the Torah can be found
HERE, a good printable version, or you can find it if you search for the Weekly Parsha readings 2018~2019. You can always find this link and a related link to the readings on the sidebar at right under "Pages".
This Shabbat will be the third one already of the new cycle!! Already out of the garden and after the flood!
♡
