Home for the Holidays.....from our friends in Jerusalem.

"I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be 
uprooted from the land I have given them," says the 
LORD your God. Amos 9:15

Friday, September 20, 2013

Home for the Holidays.....

This is a phrase that was used in a recent video we watched, which 

will be included in this blog.  It's referring to the holidays that God 

said in the Bible that people were supposed to make a pilgrimage 

to Jerusalem each year - to "come home for the holidays!"  We have 

been so very much enjoying the holidays, we wanted to offer a few 

links that have come our way with those of you who may have 

interest in learning more about Israel, the Jewish people, and 

the Feasts of the Bible. 

For anyone wanting to view the Western Wall (Kotel) Live, here 

is a link to do so.  Please remember that on Shabbats (both weekly 

and other Biblical Sabbaths) the link will not air.  Also be aware 

that Israel is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard timezone.  You 

can click on the TV-Set icon below the live feed to make the 

image become full screen on your computer - then ESC to escape.

http://english.thekotel.org/cameras.asp

Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles - is a big celebration for 

the Christian community to come to Israel and show their support.  

ICEJ - International Christian Embassy - has a conference each 

year which can be viewed live as well.  Keep in mind that Israel 

is 7 hours ahead of EST.  You will need to fill out a very simple 

registration to have a username and password to watch each 

event.  The first event is tonight - Friday, 20 September 

beginning at 7 pm Israel time.  We will be attending this 

evening's outdoor event located on the Dead Sea.

http://feast.icej.org/live?

For a really good explanation, there is a video about 1/2 hour 

long explaining the Biblical Feasts.  It is a program called Day 

of Discovery, and the show is called The Appointed Times: 

Jesus in the Feasts of Israel.  It is very well done and filmed 

here in Jerusalem showing some of the sights mentioned in 

the Bible pertaining to the Feasts.

https://dod.org/dod2355.html

Another excellent 1/2 hour program that was filmed recently 

in Israel, also is pertaining to the Biblical Fall Feasts and shows 

clips of life in Israel, especially Jerusalem.  We recommend 

this video as well, to learn more - "From Reverence to Rejoicing." 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGd0DDoq70&feature=youtu.be

For a really good movie to watch, to enjoy and  also learn more 

about Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), we recommend 

Ushpizin - meaning "Guests."  It is our favorite movie!  

It is in Hebrew, but has English subtitles.  It is a quality full 

length movie filmed in Jerusalem.  The husband and wife 

actors are married in real life.  This movie will make you 

laugh and cry, and touch your heart.  We highly recommend it.  

You can watch it below on YouTube, or rent it, or find it however

 else you find movies to watch. :)

Trailer    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I98QNhD8TQo

Full length movie   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgiCDDGdnv4

Here's a few pictures of the inside of our Sukkah.  Our new 

apartment is on the top floor, and has a closed in balcony - 

BUT - the roof retracts so you can build a Sukkah!!! :)

Chag Sameach!!!! ~ Happy Holidays!!!!

Sitting in the Sukkah - Lorelai Lorelai

Lorelai Lorelai (our Facebook friend shared this)

I sat in the Sukkah at Schwarma Bar on Agrippas with a large Sephardi Israeli family. I was showing them pictures on my iPhone of my family in America when an older Ashkenazi Israeli woman also sat down at the table with us. She began to cry and told her story of how her two grown married children never call or invite her for Shabbos or the Chaggim, etc. 

By the end of her story the Sephardi family had tears in their eyes and discovered they ALL actually lived within a block of each other in the Arnona neighborhood, and they invited the woman to come to their Sukkah for Shabbos tonight. 

The Sukkah is where it all can get fixed, folks. Even those of us whose families are far away either geographically or G*d forbid, emotionally. The Sukkah is where we make new connections and strangers become family, if only for a night.

Chag Sameach, Shabbat Sukkat Shalom to everyone far and near!

From the editor, for further insight:

Some sukkahs in Jerusalem:

Sukkah

A sukkah is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes. Wikipedia

Sukkah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the tractate of the Talmud, see Sukkah (Talmud).

Main article: Sukkot

Wooden sukkot in Jerusalem

Canvas-sided sukkah on a roof, topped with palm branches and bamboo s'chach

A sukkah (Hebrew: סוכה‎, plural, סוכות sukkot ; sukkoth, often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic themes. The Book of Vayikra (Leviticus) describes it as a symbolic wilderness shelter, commemorating the time God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness they inhabited after they were freed from slavery in Egypt.^[1] It is common for Jews to eat, sleep and otherwise spend time in the sukkah. In Judaism, Sukkot is considered a joyous occasion and is referred to in Hebrew as Yom Simchateinu (the day of our rejoicing) or Z'man Simchateinu (the time of our rejoicing), but the sukkah itself symbolizes the frailty and transience of life and its dependence on God.^[2]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Associated activities
• 2 Structure
  • 2.1 Roof covering
  • 2.2 Decorations
  • 2.3 Drive-through
• 3 Associated prayers
  • 3.1 Blessing
  • 3.2 Ushpizin
  • 3.3 Sukkah City
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Associated activities

A sukkah in Herzliya.

The halakha requires eating and sleeping in the sukkah. However, Jews are not expected to remain in the sukkah if they would be very uncomfortable there.^[3] For this reason, Jews living at northern latitudes will generally not sleep in the sukkah due to the cold temperatures of autumn nights. Some Jews in these locales will spend some time in the sukkah eating and relaxing but go indoors to sleep.

When rain falls on the sukkah, one is not required to stay inside. The Mishna in Sukkah 28b compares rain falling on a sukkah to a master who receives a drink from his servant and then throws it back in the servant's face. The analogy is that through the rainfall, God is showing displeasure with the performance of the mitzvah by not allowing the Jews to fulfill their obligation of sitting in the sukkah.^[4]

In Israel and other temperate climates (such as Florida, Australia, and Southern California), observant Jews will often conduct all their eating, studying, and sleeping activities in the sukkah. Many Jews will not eat or drink anything outside the sukkah. Others will drink or eat fruit outside the sukkah.

In Israel, it is common practice for hotels, restaurants, snack shops, and outdoor tourist attractions (such as zoos) to provide a sukkah for customers to dine in.

All Lubavitcher Hasidim^[5] and some Belzer Hasidim^[6] (especially outside Israel) do not sleep in the sukkah due to its intrinsic holiness. Though the halakha doesn't obligate one to eat or sleep in the sukkah if it is raining, Lubavitcher Hasidim will still eat there.

A popular social activity which involves people visiting each other's Sukkot has become known as "Sukkah hopping". Food is laid out so that participants will be able to recite the various required blessings.^[7]

Structure

Sukkot on graded apartment balconies in Jerusalem

According to halakha, a sukkah is a structure consisting of a roof made of organic material which has been disconnected from the ground (the s'chach). A sukkah must have 3 walls. It should be at least three feet tall, and be positioned so that all or part of its roof is open to the sky (only the part which is under the sky is kosher.)

In practice, the walls of a sukkah can be constructed from any material which will withstand a normally anticipated terrestrial wind. If the material is not rigid, and therefore will sway in the wind, the sukkah is not kosher (Talmud, Sukkah 24b). Accordingly, there is a discussion among contemporary halakhic authorities whether canvas may be used for walls: Some, such as R. Ovadiah Yosef (Shu"t Yechaveh Da'at 3:46) hold that even the slightest degree of swaying in the wind will disqualify the sukkah walls, and thus canvas cannot realistically be employed. Others, such as the Chazon Ish, permit motion to and fro of less than three handbreadths, thereby facilitating the usage of canvas walls. The specific details of what constitutes a wall, the minimum and maximum wall heights, whether there can be spaces between the walls and the roof, and the exact material required for the s'chach (roofing) can be found in various exegetical texts.

Porch sukkahs in Bnei Brak.

A sukkah can be built on the ground or on an open porch or balcony. Indeed, many observant Jews who design their home's porch or deck will do so in a fashion that aligns with their sukkah building needs. Portable sukkot made of a collapsible metal frame and cloth walls have recently become available for those who have little space, or for those who are traveling (in order to have a place to eat one's meals).

Roof covering

Different types of kosher s'chach serve as roofs for sukkot: woven bamboo mats (far left and right); palm leaves (center).

The roof covering, known as s'chach in Hebrew, must consist of something that grew from the earth but is currently disconnected from it. Palm leaves, bamboo sticks, pine branches, wood and the like can all be used for s'chach, unless they were processed previously for a different use.^[8]

There must be enough s'chach that inside the sukkah there should be more shade than sun. However, there must be sufficient gaps between the pieces of s'chach so that rain could come through.

Decorations

Safra Square Sukkah, Jerusalem, 2009

Many people hang decorations such as streamers, shiny ornaments, and pictures from the interior walls and ceiling beams of a sukkah. Fresh, dried or plastic fruit — including etrogs and the seven species for which Israel is praised (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates; see Deuteronomy 8:8) — are popular decorations.

Some families also line the interior walls with white sheeting, in order to recall the "Clouds of Glory" that surrounded the Jewish nation during their wanderings in the desert. The Chabad custom is not to decorate the sukkah, as the sukkah itself is considered to be an object of beauty.^[9]

Drive-through

Feast of Tabernacles - ICEJ Style!

ICEJ Braces For Thousands Of Feast of Tabernacles Visitors

Posted by: Staff Writer September 20, 2013 , 11:35 am

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“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples and they shall bring thy sons…” (Isaiah 49:22)

Thousands of Christian Evangelists attend a parade in the center of Jerusalem, marking the Jewish holiday of Sukkot or the Feast of the Tabernacles. Oct 04, 2012. (Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Known as Israel’s largest single tourism event of the year, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem’s (ICEJ) Feast of Tabernacles which takes place each year during Sukkot, might be the ICEJ’s highest profile event, but their work to support Aliyah is truly at the heart of the global ministry’s efforts throughout the year.

5,000 Christians from over 100 nations are expected to descend on Jerusalem for the annual Feast of the Tabernacles to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot alongside Israelis and Jews around the world. The event is expected to generate $16 million dollars in revenue for the State of Israel.

The ICEJ was founded in 1980 in response to worldwide diplomatic protest of Israel’s official declaration of Jerusalem as its undivided and eternal capital. When embassies in Jerusalem were being closed left and right, a group of Christians living in Israel decided to open their own “Embassy” in Jerusalem. It was a symbolic show of support that quickly turned into tangible support for Israel and Jewish people around the world.

Since the fall of communism and the flood of Jewish emigration from Soviet countries, the Christian Embassy has actively supported the return of the Jewish Diaspora to their historic homeland. They have sponsored 54 chartered flights in addition to numerous group and individual flights, helping over 110,000 Jews from all around the world return home to Israel. The dedicated employees of the Embassy have worked tirelessly, hand in hand with their Jewish neighbors, to witness the realization of Biblical prophecy in modern Israel.

Most recently, the ICEJ has cooperated with Israel Returns, an organization founded by Michael Freund, to support the immigration of the Bnei Menashe community from India back to Israel. Over one thousand members of this lost tribe successfully arrived and settled in Israel in 2007 but there are 7,000 more that are anxiously awaiting for the results of an upcoming Israel cabinet vote whether to allow them to return home or not.

“Our support for the return of the Bnei Menashe is based on God’s promises to Israel to ‘bring your descendants from the east’, as we read in Isaiah 43:5”, said Dr. Juergen Buehler, the ICEJ Executive Director. “We are thrilled to partner with Shavei Israel [Israel Returns] in making this dream come true for these precious sons and daughters of Zion.”

In light of their steadfast commitment to Aliyah, Christians all over the world are partnering with Israel Returns during the Feast of Tabernacles to participate in the Four Corners Prayer Journey calling Christians and Jews worldwide to pray for the final ingathering of Jews from the four corners of the world back to the Land of Israel.

Jerusalem365 - Gather From All Nations

I will assemble you from the nations and gather you in from the Lands where you have been scattered and give you the Land of Israel.  EZEKIEL (11:17) וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הָעַמִּים וְאָסַפְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הָאֲרָצוֹת  אֲשֶׁר נְפֹצוֹתֶם בָּהֶם וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת אַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל יחזקאל יא:יז ve-kee-batz-TEE et-KHEM meen ha-ah-MEEM ve-ah-saf-TEE et-KHEM meen ha-ar-TZOTE ah-SHARE ne-foe-tzoe-TEM ba-HEM ve-na-ta-TEE la-KHEM et ad-MOTE yees-ra-ALE