Yep, it seems hard to believe there can be so many holidays bunched together. About this time, some of us start to suffer from a sort of holy day burn-out and just give up. But, fortunately, the really serious stuff is over now.
This evening is the start of the festival of Succot which, like a lot of Jewish holidays, has a combination of religious, historical and agricultural components. During this holiday we're supposed to eat and sleep in a temporary shelter (called a succah) in remembrance of the dwellings our ancestors used while they wandered in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. But it's also a harvest holiday during which we celebrate the abundance yielded by the land. A little something for everyone.
I've always found this holiday a bit confusing because, depending on how you look at it and where you look at it from, it lasts either seven, eight or nine days. So Succot itself lasts seven days, followed immediately by the separate but connected holy day of Shemini Atzeret (Eighth Day Feast). The day after Shemini Atzeret is yet another holy day called Simchat Torah (Rejoicing in the Torah). In Israel, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are celebrated on the same day, so that the entire holiday period lasts eight days. Everywhere else, it lasts nine days. Is this fun, or what?
Anyway, Simchat Torah marks the end of this string of holidays, and there won't be any more for quite a while. So visit a succah, eat an apple, look at the stars and enjoy.
Shabbat Shalom.
Chag Sameach (Happy holiday).
