Our Sukkah 5769

I shot some photos just before Shmini Atzeret of our sukkah with the few decorations we put up this year. Most years we had a child or two to decorate--this year, the child who graced our presence by her visit, Toodles (-or Tangus, as she is known by her pseudonym) visited for the second time this summer on the first day of chol ha-mo'ed, so the only ones who had time/patience/energy to decorate were...hubby. I was cooking at the time (a reversal, no?)

Anyway, for the rest of the kiddies who couldn't be here and for our friends who made Aliyah(Baruch and Chani and Aunt Laya and Sol and Martha and Lynn and Tzvi and Rivkie and please forgive me if I didn't name you--and for everyone else--here are some pics of our sukkah, Sukkot 5769, in galut. Enjoy.

This photo is inside the sukkah against the outer "front" door, looking into our kitchen: half of this fourth wall was the wall of our townhome (you can see the brick and patio light on the left).



This one is another angle showing the "schnapps" and candle-lighting table, and the triangular Ushpizin cards hanging on the south wall (in case you're interested, the newspaper on the green trunk is the Wall Street Journal-only paper I read...)




This next one is a closeup of the east wall, on which we hung our 'bahd,' our fabric wall with its Ushpizin and arba'ah minim design. This fabric wall we bought for our very first sukkah in Israel, thirty-one years ago...on the sukkah 'front door' to the right of the bahd is the drawing Toodles painted in pastels last year, for Sukkot 5768 (2007). She wrote a verse from the Torah which talks about rejoicing on the holiday: "ve-samachta be-chagecha, ve-hayita ach sameach."


And here is a close-up of that door and Toodles' artwork:



Here is another angle facing east showing the 'Chinese' lantern which the Ushpizin design which we've had for fifteen or more years. We'd like to buy another one, but can't seem to find one like it anywhere; the company which sold it doesn't carry these anymore, and nobody else seems to (and hubby is really good with internet searches).




Here is a close-up of the triangular Ushpizin cards which we changed every night as we recited the special Hebrew and Aramaic welcome--every night a new "exalted guest" ( one of our forefathers, starting which the first night: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and finally King David):



Looking towards the northwest corner are some symbols of various Jewish holidays, such as the apple for Rosh Hashana, the fish for Purim, the whale (which swallowed Yonah) for Yom Kippur, the sevivon (dreidel) for Chanukah, and the yellow chicken for kapparot (Yom Kippur again). To the right of yon chicken is the picture of the Gedolim mentioned in my previous post. And here is the information you (I'm absolutely certain) have waited for with bated breath: both the chicken and the Gedolim hide the two squirrel holes:


Don't believe me? Here is a closer view; you can see part of the smaller hole behind the chicken. By the way, the chicken was made (with teacher's help of course) by Rambo, when she was three or four.



This is not our sukkah; this is part of our living room with our fireplace (ok, so I got carried away).

(Leora, wherever you are--these are pics of my sukkah; these you can post on JPix!)



Glossary:

Shminit Atzeret - the eighth day of the holilday of Sukkot

Sukkah - the 'hut' that we Jews build and are supposed to dwell in (eat all meals, and some even sleep) during the holiday of Sukkot

Chol ha-mo'ed - the intermediate days of Sukkot, when if one must, one is allowed to work and do more mundane things; they are semi-holy, not as holy as the first and last days.

Galut - the diaspora; anywhere outside of the Land of Israel

Ushpizin - 'Guests' (our forefathers from the Bible) invited to the sukkah, a different guest each night

Torah - The Old Testament or Bible

Bahd - Fabric

Arba'ah Minim - The four species (lulav-=palm frond, aravot-=willow branches, hadasim=myrtle, and etrog=citron) which we 'take' , bless & shake on Sukkot (this mitzvah, or commandment, is given to us in the Bible, the Torah).

Kapparot - The "expiation" ritual for atonement we do the day before Yom Kippur with either fowl, or more customary in modern times, money.

Gedolim - The 'greats;' great sages and Rabbis of our times.