Sukkot - links and refresher and a kavanah

[David Seidenberg]

Links below include a Hebrew translation of the October 7 poem I sent out.

A rough draft of a kavvanah for the Sukkah:

May we enter the Sukkah this year for the sake of peace; may we find protection and peace under the fragile leaves of the skhakh; may we savor the fruits and the joy of the holiday in the name of peace for all peoples; may we imagine a world that is safe enough for everyone to recline in sukkot, dwellings open to the sky; may there be stars for us and all humanity, not rocket flares; may there be sukkot, not bomb shelters; and may we leave the Sukkah ready to create and support peace, justice, and democracy in the world.

A refresher:

Each of the four species of plant represents one of the four types of habitats in Israel.

1) Lulav-Palm branch = desert
2) Hadas-Myrtle = mountains
3) Aravot-Willow = rivers and streams
4) Etrog-Citron = lowlands, agricultural land

Each one needs the most water of all the species that grow in its region. Between them, they make a kind of ecological map of Israel, and they represent last year's rainfall. And we use them to ask for this year's rain.

(http://www.neohasid.org/stoptheflood/sukkot_in-between/)

Links:

Egalitarian Ushpizin/Ushpizata (Inviting the Ancestors - Mothers and Fathers) in Aramaic:

http://www.neohasid.org/pdf/ushpizin2014.pdf

Kabbalistic explanations for the Mothers invited in Ushpizin:

http://www.neohasid.org/resources/ushpizin/

All the resources for Sukkot on neohasid.org:

http://neohasid.org/zman/sukkot/

October 7 poem in Hebrew and English:

http://neohasid.org/pdf/the-smell-of-a-field-blessed.pdf

Chag Sameach!

David Mevorach Seidenberg