Shalom All,

We got the sukkah up yesterday before the rain and I will be decorating it today and getting it ready for service tonight. Tonight’s service is at 7 pm. Please remember to be scent free and to bring snacks as we celebrate the first night of Sukkoth.

On Thursday, the morning service will be at 10 am and the evening service will be at 7 pm.

Our address is 11634 111A Avenue – in the back yard.

Children are welcome. I will have my two youngest grandchildren.

Sukkoth is the third pilgrimage festival, where all the tribes of Israel were to gather around the tabernacle and celebrate the year’s final harvest for eight days. It is also the time when we start the annual Torah reading cycle over again. This will occur on Saturday on October 18th.

On Saturday, we will have our Sukkoth Oneg (Feast). We have an incredible amount of food at our Rosh Hashanah feat. Please bring a main course per family with a salad or a dessert with enough to share with visitors.

We are told to have nothing but joy during Sukkoth as we celebrate the turning of the seasons and as we prepare for our lovely Canadian winter. We all celebrate the temporary nature of life and our wandering in the wilderness. We remember that we are only strangers and pilgrims in this world. We also rejoice in G-d’s provision throughout our lives and throughout our generations and we announce the coming kingdom of our blessed Messiah. His love and His provision is the only permanent thing we can count on as we travel through this temporary life.

We remember where we have been and how He has looked after us every step of the way and we renew of connection to our community and we study His Word.

This coming hear is a sabbatical year (Smitah) and there are various opinions as to what this means. It was part of the Jubilee cycle and it is observed by orthodox Jews in Israel, but not generally by Jews who live outside of the land. Rabbinic authorities say that the Jubilee year will not be observed until the majority of all the tribes once again live in the land.

Those who wish to acknowledge the Shmita need to consider that it was given as a cycle of harvest rests and debt forgiving meant to be only observed in the Holy Land as part of the covenant blessing the L-rd promised to Israel once the settled in the land. Those of us who dwell outside the land and who wish to acknowledge this custom could avoid planting a garden, but this would not apply to flowers or shrubs which do not yield food. This would be a voluntary observance in recognition of a biblical priority which was intended for those who dwell in the Holy Land. There is a way for Jewish farmers in Israel to still farm their lands during this year, but it is the controversial practice of selling their land to a non Jew for the year and thus still being able to work it and harvest it, since the Shmita is considered to only apply to Jews. This practice is called Heter Mechira and I would be willing to discuss the origin of this practice as we celebrate Sukkoth.

Come and help decorate the Sukkah as we have nothing but joy!

Shalom,

Rabbi Mike