Gail-Friends: Sukkot 5775

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Sukkot 5775

The lulav

We are coming in to what Americans call the holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. As Messianic believers, we have G-d's holidays all year long. His holidays are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim, Passover, and Shavuot. You can learn more about these by clicking on the subjects on the left side of my blog.

Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles is one of the feasts and festivals Adonai has commanded us to observe in Leviticus 23:33 - 44. During Sukkot, we dwell in the sukkah, which is three sided structure made of branches. The sukkah roof is made of loosely laid branches, so that we can see the stars at night, just as the children of Israel did when they fled Egypt.

Each year, we build a sukkah at the synagogue to demonstrate how it is done, and we encourage each family to build their own at home. We usually build the sukkah outside, but we decided to do it inside, since we were doing it at night, following the Shabbat service.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my good camera, and was so busy, I only took a few pictures. There were several other children there, but I don't know where they'd gone during the picture taking. Two of our boys, Luke and Joseph, are excellent sukkah builders, but they're not in the picture. (sad face)

Yes, the two boys in the photo are twins - Jacob and Brace, with their sister Alexa, and our sweet Naomi. The children had fun building and decorating the sukkah.

After we built the sukkah, we danced, sang and worshiped the L-rd, and then waved the lulav (see below). This ceremony is to remind us that Adonai is always surrounding us, and that He always provides our needs.

After Shabbat, we took the sukkah down and then rebuilt it in our backyard so that we could sit in it during the days of Sukkot. We have a large patch of bamboo in our yard, so we always have plenty to build our sukkah, and to give away to other families. The photo below shows the bamboo with some pale pink bougainvillea that has grown up in it.

Our doxie is blind, but she has to help, too. Sukkot is a happy time for us, and we enjoy spending time in the sukkah, especially at sundown. Sometimes we eat our evening meal there, or bring the firepit close by and enjoy being outside under the stars. It is a good time to be still and turn away from the world to focus on Adonai.

You can learn more about this joyous time HERE, and see some of our past celebrations.

If you are a believer in Yeshua, you have been grafted in to Israel, and you get to enjoy His holidays, too. I think you're missing a great many blessings if you don't. So observe and remember -- and enjoy!

My next post will be about our Simchat Torah celebration.

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