A Soulful Journey

" On the one hand, in a Sukkah the shadow must be greater than the sun.     That is true of our lives too. On the other hand, the branches must not be so thick that they blot out the stars.  We must see them.  “You do not need stars in the daytime when you have the sun.  But at night, and death is night, you need the stars".” Rabbi Henry Fisher Question: What are “the stars” in your life? 

The lulav represents four types of Jews, but is not kosher if one of the arba minim (four species) is missing. Everyone has a place at the table.  No one can be missing.  Leave no one outside or we all suffer.

Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi used to tell this story of an encounter he had with Brother Rufus, a Native American medicine man. Reb Zalman and Brother Rufus were attending a conference of psychologists and mystics; the psychologists were studying the mystics. As Reb Zalman was explaining the Jewish festival of Sukkot, which occurs at the fall equinox, and the holiday of Passover, which comes at the spring equinox, Brother Rufus lit up! “Oh,” he said, “in the fall you teach your children the shelter survival and in the spring you teach them the food survival.” Rabbi Bonnie Koppell

The lulav and etrog are likened to four types of Jew-the good and the learned, the good but not learned, the learned but not good, and neither is the learned nor the good. And just as the four species are bound together so the four types of species form one unit, one people. We are, and always will be, one.

A man came to small town in Russia where there were no etrogim. He received numerous offers for his etrog.   Some more willing to relinquish their entire properties for the mitzvah of owning and blessing the etrog. Finally, the rabbi approached him and asked if he might purchase it and make the proper blessing for the entire town.   Man replied,   “Not for money. Give me a portion of your World to come to Come.” Unwittingly, the rabbi agreed. But before the festival he made sure that the whole town was aware not to invite this man into their Sukkah.   The man, during the holiday, found he could not gain admittance to any Sukkah.   He sat down and cried for several hours. Finally picking himself up he went to the rabbi and poured out his heart.   He said, “I sat down and wept for several hours.” Upon hearing this, the rabbi and let him into his Sukkah for now he had the proper attitude toward religious practice. Holiness is not something that is apparen...

  "A person doesn't have time in his life to have time for everything. Doesn't have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes Was wrong about that. We need to love and to hate at the same moment, to laugh and cry with the same eyes, with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them, to make love in war and war in love. And to hate and forgive and remember and forget, to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest what history takes years and years to do."   Yehuda Amichai Learn from life what is good and bad.  Then practice what life has taught yo u.

The lulav reprimanded the etrog, “Why do you hide away in a box someone will steal you? Or that you will catch a cold? Do not fear, you are not so precious. “Listen,” replied the etrog, “You can expose yourself to the wind and sleet because you are tasteless, odorless and dry. You have nothing to lose. I am filled with juice and have a beautiful aroma, which would quickly disappear if not protected. Therefore I must be very careful and safeguard my valuable qualities. Moral: The Jew, like the etrog, must not take too many liberties or he may jeopardize his character.

The day after Elie Wiesel won the Nobel prize, an aide to Peter Ueberroth, the baseball commissioner, asked Wiesel to be at the phone at a specific time the next day.   At the appointed time, the aide, called and Ueberroth got on the line. “My son had appeared at my press conference (in New York) in a New York Yankees jacket, so I though maybe he was calling to protest or something,” Wiesel said.   “Instead, he told me, I want to bestow a very great important honor on you.   Would you throw out the first ball in the World Series on Saturday?” Wiesel said he told Ueberroth that he could not because it was the Jewish Sabbath.   Ueberroth came back with a counteroffer: Sunday.   Again, Wiesel demurred, because it was Sukkoth, the Jewish holiday. Finally, Wiesel said, Ueberroth called and said he had consulted with rabbis and was told it would be all right to throw out the ball after sundown and that the game could be delayed so he wouldn’t have to travel bef...

Every fruit has its season and climate when it blooms and grows.   Some fruits only flourish in golden sunshine and cannot tolerate the cold.   Others wither and shrivel in hot weather.   However, the etrog is the only fruit which grows in winter and summer.   It is able to survive heat, cold, snow, and rain.   As are the fruits so are nations.   Each nation has its place and environment in which it thrives.   The Jews, however, are strewn throughout the world and live sometimes under harsh conditions.   Like the etrog, which is the symbol of the Jew, they overcome all obstacles and manage to survive.   Like the etrog, the Jews will never become extinct. -Unknown