Hag Sukkot Sameah!

Small things make me miss my father. The ribbon on the lulav, for example.  It's the custom in our family to decorate the lulav with a colorful silk ribbon tied around the palm frond. It's a way to beautify the mitzvah of the lulav, and as a side benefit, you can pick out your lulav from all the others that look the same as well as keep the palm from fanning out.  It's an art to wind the ribbon properly around the lulav so it's tightly aligned.

I grew up in an Orthodox synagogue where women didn't have their own lulavim.  After the service was over, my sisters and I would troop into the synagogue sukkah and solemnly make the brachah with my father's lulav. Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha'olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al n'tillat lulav. It felt like we were entrusted with a great and important mitzvah--and we were.

According to the kabbalah, the lulav represents the spine; the myrtle the eyes; the willow the lips, and the etrog, the heart. Last year, for some reason, I wanted a picture of my father with his lulav. Now, this picture reminds me of his strength of character (spine); his foresight and vision (eyes); his heartfelt prayer (lips), and his incredible kindness to others (heart). 

Below is the family sukkah on the second floor verandah at 11 Bowbazaar Street in Calcutta. Decorated with ornamental lights; the Persian lanterns my father loved (fanoos); chunchuns--shiny crinkly papers that blew in the breeze--and fruits as heavy as pineapples that would be eaten as they ripened. The sukkah was a blaze of light and beauty that you could see from the street below.

When this picture was taken I wasn't born yet, nor is my father in the photo, but you can see my grandfather on the left towards the back, and my great-uncle Elias, R-front. Sukkot was a festival of great socializing and lots of singing! The women did participate , though here there are only men. It was probably Hoshanah Rabbah, which is like a mini Yom Kippur, which features the chanting of the book of Psalms; reciting the book of Deuteronomy, selections from the Zohar, and making blessings over fruits, nuts and pastries.

Tizkoo l'shanim rabot and chag sameach!