Many thanks to our terrific sukkah builders and decorators. Please come by to see the sukkah if you haven't already - and please borrow one of our synagogue lulavim and "bensch lulav" in the sukkah (i.e., recite the proper blessings and wave the lulav in the six cardinal directions).  Speaking of lulavim, when you come by, be sure to take a look at the locally grown etrog that Carol and David Lintz grew on their own etrog tree here in Needham! Here's a picture of it:

Fortunately, the weather has been fantastic. (Well, OK, it wasn't so fantastic for the sukkah builders and the sukkah decorators, but by the time the holiday began on Sunday evening, the rain had tapered off.) I hope that we'll continue to be able to make use of our sukkah during the rest of the holiday.

There's more to come. Here are some highlights:

• On Shabbat Hol HaMoed Sukkot (October 6^th; 9:15 am to 12:00 noon), members of our congregation will chant selections from the book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) at services. We will also be holding a TAK26 family service that morning, beginning at 10:30 am. 

• On Sunday morning, which is Hoshanna Rabbah, the last day of Sukkot proper (October 7th; 9:00 to 10:30 am), we will have the chance to experience the most active and unusual service of the entire year. Not only will we march in a procession seven times around the reading table with our lulavim and etrogim, but we will then take hold of bunches of willow branches (called aravot) and beat them into the ground until their leaves fall off. I kid you not. If you've never experienced this, you owe it to yourself to come. Services will be followed by a nice breakfast. If you want to learn more about Hoshana Rabbah, click here. (Note the picture of the beating of willows at the Ziegler Rabbinical School on the right side of the page.)

• Everyone is invited to stop by the Ledley sukkah on Sunday afternoon, October 7^th (starting at 4:00 pm) for a performance by the Shpilkes Klezmer band, to be followed by our Erev Shmini Atzeret Maariv minyan (at the Ledley's) at 6:15 pm.

• On Monday morning (October 8^th; 9:00 am to noon), we will hold Shmini Atzeret Yom Tov services. Yizkor will be recited.

• On Monday evening (October 8^th; beginning at 6:15 pm), we will hold a service and special program in honor of Simchat Torah. Following Maariv and several hakafot (processions with the Torah scrolls) we will unroll one of our sifrei torah (torah scrolls) and expose it for all of us to see from beginning to end. It's quite an awesome experience to see a torah scroll from beginning to end, so I invite you to join us if you weren't present the last time we did this, almost five years ago.

• Tuesday morning (October 9th; 9:00 am to noon), we will hold Simchat Torah morning services. We'll complete the reading the book of Deuteronomy and begin, once again, the first chapter of Genesis, thereby stressing the continuity of our study of, and devotion to, the Torah.

Please join us for this most joyous of joyous holidays. Remember: REALLY rejoice; it's Sukkot!

Sincerely,

Rabbi Carl M. Perkins

P.S. One final note: One of the great themes of Sukkot is, not surprisingly, hospitality. What better way to express your gratitude for the earth's bounty than to seek to share it with others? I encourage you to invite others into your sukkot this week -- even if only to sit for a few minutes and chat, or to share light refreshments. (If you don't have a sukkah of your own, you can do the same at the synagogue sukkah.) Making use of the sukkah in this way symbolizes what we all know deep down inside, namely, that the earth doesn't belong to any of us; we are all guests on God's earth (see Leviticus 25:23) - and we should all, humbly, act accordingly. Hag Sameach!