Reflections on Sukkot

 

Sukkot is called "our holiday of JOY!" and I always eagerly look forward to it.  First, I'll share how we observe/celebrate at home, and then at the synagogue.  God instructs us to keep this feast in Leviticus 23, Numbers 29 and Deuteronomy 16.  Yeshua celebrated it, too, and you can read about it in John 4.

This year, the holiday began without any sign of the golden rain blossoms falling.  I went to bed thinking how much I'd miss them.  The next morning, I woke up to this:

God is so good!  The blossoms had fallen during the night and I was full of JOY!  They're still falling and I think of them as golden rain from heaven - blessings abundant - like the mercies my Father blesses us with every morning!  Here are some photos of how heavy the rain is this year.  The blossoms covered the pathway to Golden Pond, which is totally covered:

 

On the Shabbat before Sukkot began, we had a celebration along with our regular worship service - music, dancing, and food, of course!  Rabbi Jem taught about the holiday and gave instructions about building the sukkah.

The next day, some members of the congregation came over to Golden Cottage and helped us build the sukkah.

We decided to leave the palm branches off the top because we had a golden rain tree branch that was the perfect roof.

We had a wonderful time rejoicing, reflecting, worshiping, eating meals and having quiet time together.  

 

I especially love Sundays in the sukkah - that's Pampered Princess Day - and Jem always makes breakfast.  Above is his Golden Hash Browns topped with an over-light egg.  So good!

And below are his yummy Golden Blueberry Pancakes.  We were blessed with two Sundays in the sukkah and I enjoyed them immensely! 

Our dog loves sitting in the sukkah with us.

In the Sukkot celebration at the synagogue, we always have a Torah procession.  This is so moving for me.  I love seeing the expressions on people's faces as they kiss the scroll.  It brings tears to their eyes as well as my own.  Everyone has the opportunity to carry the scroll.  

After everyone had the blessing of carrying the Torah, we danced and rejoiced that Adonai has preserved His Holy Word for thousands of years. 

Then, we each waved the lulav - a reminder that God provides, and that His presence surrounds and supports us.  

Then, we did the water pouring ceremony (outside). This part reminds us that God provides our life-sustaining water, and of the day that Yeshua was celebrating Sukkot in Jerusalem (John 4).  You can read about this part of the observance in this post on my blog:  Sadly, I did not get any photos of this part of our synagogue's celebration.

Afterward, we had a feast!  Of course we did!!!!

Durking Sukkot, I painted a watercolor of a sukkah. I call it "Holy Hug" because these seven days are a time to be still and draw near to Him.  He draws near and His presence is felt in an awesome way.

 Blessings and love to you all dear Gail-Friends.  I'll have more news of happenings around Golden Cottage in the week ahead -- I hope.  Life has been very busy lately.