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Feast of Tabernacles

Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

Sondra Oster Baras, an Orthodox Jew who has devoted her life to reaching out to Christians all over the world to bless Israel, explains the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) so that Christians can gain a better understanding of how Jews revere and observe this holy day.

Spread His shelter of peace over us!

There is something very innate about wanting to create a space or shelter for ourselves. This is why I’ve always liked the holiday of Sukkot. During this week-long festival we get to live in temporary huts topped with branches and often beautifully decorated with artwork, flowers, and foliage.

Celebrating the Covenant of Abraham

Feast Tour Sondra Baras Sukkah

But beyond the joy that we all feel in the birth of a new baby, the Brit itself has such a special significance to us as individuals and as a people.  Some 4,000 years ago, an old man named Abraham heard the call from  G-d to leave his home and go forward to the Land of Israel.  Some years after his arrival in the land, G-d commanded him to circumcise himself as an act of covenant between him and G-d, an act of covenant that would be repeated by his descendants forever.  At the original covenant with Abraham, G-d changed Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham.

Reflections on Prayer for Rain

The rains started last week. It was a long dry spell—too long– and when the meteorologists started predicting a storm, it was all people could talk about. The anticipation in the air was almost celebratory… as if an important guest was coming to town, or a popular sporting event was about to begin. The rain … Read more

People in My Neighborhood: Meet Albert

November 2011 I went to our neighborhood’s Li’V’Lach store yesterday to buy chalk for my grandson’s new blackboard. A handful of people were standing around the locked door, waiting for Albert to arrive and open for business. It was 20 minutes past opening time but nobody seemed annoyed. It’s very hard to be annoyed with … Read more

Reflections on Sukkot

October 2011 I found myself daydreaming last night while washing the dishes from dinner. My sink looks out onto our porch where our Feast of Tabernacle booth, our Sukka, stands, slightly darkening the kitchen. The Feast of Tabernacles is one of my favorite Jewish holidays. Maybe because it comes on the heels of the High … Read more

Reflections on Simchat Torah

October 2009 Two weeks ago we celebrated “Sukkot”- our beloved Feast of Tabernacles. But there’s a one day holiday tagged on to the tail-end of that week long festival, which I feel, sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. In Hebrew it’s called “Simchat Torah” and it means “Rejoicing with the Torah”. It follows the last … Read more

Reflections on the Yizkor Service

May 2011   Last week I attended the ceremony commemorating Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror at my son’s school. Every school, every city, every small community, has a ceremony commemorating the country’s heroes– those who fell in the battlefields of our endlessly long list of wars, and those who fell … Read more