High Holy Days

The Jewish community in Jerusalem and all over the world has been celebrating a series of holidays over the past month or so. Right now the series of holidays is finishing up until Channukah by the celebration of Torah. Basically the Jewish community reads through the Torah in a cyclical pattern and they have just finished and are starting again with Genesis 1. So, they have reason to celebrate! The other holidays in the past month have been Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur (the atonement day where they lament, fast, and plead for their eternal souls), and Succot. I love that Jews know how to celebrate their faith and even the whole city still honors these holy days. On Yom Kippur the entire city shut down, no cars were on the road (because of guidlines in the Torah), and people spent the day reflecting on their sin and pleading with the Lord. It was amazing to walk around that day and hear the sound of silence and be reminded that I don't have to plead for my soul. Succot just finished and it celebrates the feast of Tabernacles. For the sake of space I can't go into detail on all these holidays but google them and you can see what's happening on these holidays. At any rate, during Succot many Succa are built and they are little tents that people eat their meals in all week. It's fun to see them at restaurants in town....even at Arab owned places where they are not Jewish. The whole city finds reason to celebrate on these holidays and although not everybody is Jewish they still have respect for one another. Every store closes in the city, including every Friday at sundown until sundown on Saturday for Shabbat. This is amazing considering they are also at great odds with one another in the political realm. What an interesting city! Here's a couple shots of the Succa we built on campus and of what it looks like every Friday night when we have Sabbath (or Shabbat) dinner!

Our beautiful little patio is always covered by these grape vines but it was extra special to have the sheets around it to make the Succa

This is Luna and Lamara in the Succa...their dad is our friendly campus handy-man and they live on campus with us in a little apartment. These girls are very sweet and friendly.

Sorry for the angle....these are some of the girls at Shabbat dinner...they decorate the table beautifully and everyone gets dressed up