The Moshav Part 2: Sukkot

I had such a delightful time at the Moshav during Rosh Hashanah that I went back for Sukkot. Sukkot is the biblical "Feast of Tabernacles," in which the Israelites were commanded to live in booths for seven days so that, according to the Leviticus 23, "your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt."

In Israel, Sukkot is a festival of rejoicing. Having just finished Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (both of which are very serious holidays), a week of Sukkot is like a week of partying here in Israel. One of my favorite parts of Sukkot, however, is the huge variety of sukkah that Jews build to eat (and sometimes sleep) in during the week.

This is a picture of Vered's family's sukkah.

A fun thing to do during Sukkot is to walk around West Jerusalem and the Old City and see the different types of sukkah set up all over. These next few pictures are just a few sukkot (plural of sukkah) in the Old City of Jerusalem.








This last one is overlooking the broad wall in Jerusalem, which dates back to the 8th century BC (and where the Assyrians and the Israelites duked it out during the reign of Hezekiah...the sukkah is inside the wall of Jerusalem, while I am standing where the Assyrians would have been, outside the wall). I get really excited about this wall because I love this story. Eat it, Assyrians!

Anyway. Many Jews in Israel eat in the sukkah, even the ones who aren't religious, but usually only the ultra-orthodox (and the children, who think it's great fun) sleep in the sukkah.

The trip out to the moshav was uneventful. Getting around Israel is quite simple, convenient, and cheap, comparatively--I went to the central bus station, got on a bus, paid about $5, and rode for about an hour before I got to the moshav. While Israeli bus drivers may not be the nicest people in the world (although some are!) and often make me feel like an idiot (I had to say the name of the moshav at least 6 times before the bus driver understood what I was saying, and he wasn't exactly patient with me!), they are usually pretty willing to tell you when you get to your stop. Just don't be offended if they grunt at you when you ask them to tell you when to get off.

This is what the bus stop closest to the moshav looks like: fresh air and miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers just doesn't have the same ring) of open space.

In my opinion, Jerusalem is a very exhausting city to live in (the clash of politics and history and culture seems to permeate everything), so it is wonderful to leave for a while and take a breath of fresh air. It's kind of like working in an office where everyone is smoking--no matter how much you love your work, it's such a relief to leave the smoke-filled rooms and step outside for a few hours!

My time at the moshav was wonderful. Vered and her family are superb hosts (and hopefully one day she will come visit Utah!) and although it was much less eventful than my adventure-filled stay during Rosh Hashanah, we ate our meals in the sukkah, which was delightful. And Vered is hilarious. Just a few examples: I have a bad habit of wiping my wet hands on my jeans after washing them in the kitchen (too many years of not having a dry dishcloth available, I guess). Anyway, Vered caught me once as I started wiping my hands on my jeans and said, "Use the dishcloth! Your pants will thank me." Another time I was telling her that in one of my apartments in Taiwan I poured bleach down the drain to kill the cockroaches that would come up out of the sink every day. When I mentioned that the bleach killed the cockroaches, she said, "Maybe. Or maybe they just came up the next day with blonde hair! 'Thank you' [she said as she flipped her long black hair], 'thanks for the new hair color!'"

I don't know if you all find that as funny as I did, but I was laughing about it for days and days.

My favorite thing, though, was when I told her I was Mormon. "You are?!! But you're so...normal! I thought Mormons wore long dresses and black suit coats with top hats..."

"Well, they did in the 1800's," I said, "but so did everyone else!" I laughed for hours when I realized that she thought Mormons and Amish were the same thing (we're not, by the way!).

[Side note: her mother did know what Mormons are and told me that she absolutely loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. "One day I was driving home and one of their broadcasts came on," she told me. "When I got home I just sat in the car to finish the broadcast, because I couldn't bear to miss even three minutes of the concert to come inside and turn on the radio!"]

So happy Sukkot, everyone. The holidays are over now and life is back to normal. My grad classes start tomorrow, and I will admit that I am just a little bit terrified! I'm not sure what to even expect, but I'm sure it will be the ride of my life...