Sukkah the Hut

There's a nip of autumn in the air in Jerusalem. Tuesday was the first morning that I awoke to cloudy skies and intermittent rainy weather.

For the uninitiated, the non-practicing, or the unaware, things have been awfully off in Israel recently, as everyone's life has been taken up by the "Haggim" or "Holidays."

Imagine if you will, a string of National holidays taking over a country’s collective consciousness for a solid three weeks. You know how, in America, there’s that one-week period between Christmas and New Year’s when schools are off and people tend to get a few days off from work? Now stretch that societal limbo over the period of three weeks. And it’s not like the August in France, where everyone just heads out of town for the month. People here not only participate in the celebrations, but thousands of tourists descend on the country, just to observe the holidays. So no one expects any business to get done, and kids haven’t started school yet. People try to make plans, and invariably yet another holiday celebration interferes, bollixing things up.

And suddenly, two weeks into this holiday period, restaurants, cafes, and hotels all over town start building small huts outside of their establishments. And this is literally all over town. Picture Manny Brown’s, Abilene, and Malokai’s blocking South Street foot traffic with little wooden huts with bamboo roofs so people can opt to eat and drink in the succah (the Hebrew word for the aforementioned huts), if it is their religious preference. Imagine all the Indian places in Central Square offering a lunch buffet in the succah while 1369 Cafe comes up with a special Succah Shake for the week. Chew on the image of your local Burger King putting up a hut next to the kiddie playground area.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succot, are the holidays that have pretty much paralyzed Jerusalem for the past few weeks; a paralysis that will continue through next Thursday. Rosh Hashanah, a new years holiday that lacks both binge drinking and Dick Clark, was the Chag that most approximated my experiences in America. Over the course of two days, you're either praying or eating big meals. It's the type of thing where lunch and dinner merge into a massive late-afternoon meal where you eat so much you're tuckered out by 8pm. We were fortunate enough to be invited out for all three of the main Rosh Hashanah meals, and all were sumptuous feasts.

On the other end of the spectrum, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, was a new experience. The best part about Yom Kippur, aside from the fasting which of course everyone loves and wishes happened more often, is the fact that the roads are almost entirely deserted. And this is, I should note, very different than the typical Shabbat in Jerusalem. Sure, most people don't drive in Jerusalem on Shabbat. But on Yom Kippur, it's totally empty, except for the police cars that drive around to prevent locals from throwing rocks at the less-than-wise people who decided that Yom Kippur was an opportune way to beat traffic. So instead of cars, the roads are full of kids on bikes, roller blades, scooters, and power-wheels. It's unreal and it's everywhere. All I'm saying is, I've never seen this on say, Rt. 70. Oh, and the fasting ended at 5:45pm. That's because Israel changes the clock back between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, making the fast so much more manageable. Seriously, easiest day of not eating ever. And then after we broke the fast, a bunch of us went out to celebrate Annie's birthday. Yes, her birthday was on Yom Kippur. No, I don't think it was as bad as one might expect. It was good times and maybe I'll even post some pictures someday.

Succot, the third of the Haggim, is the festival of huts or something like that. I kind of already described what Succot looks like, but the more relevant issue with Succot is the fact that it last for a week. The first day is the only day that's technically a holy day where no work is allowed, but over the rest of the holiday, business hours are hazy and many people go on vacation.

Thankfully / unfortunately, all of this comes to an end this coming Wednesday night, when we tack on one more holiday where we dance with Torahs. More on this next time.

We're going to Tel Aviv for the weekend, and there's a pretty good chance I'll actually be able to watch the Eagles game on Sunday.

And when are we going to see some indictments at the White House? Is anyone else as excited about this as I am?