Tomorrow night begins the 7th day of Sukot- and it has a special name-  Hoshana Raba.  It’s kind of like a mini-Yom Kipur.  During the morning  services, we destroy the willow branches that are part of the Lulav and Etrog (see the picture below) we’ve employed during this seven day festival.  We either do this because it was part of the rain-bringing rituals that existed centuries ago- or to remind us of repentance.  (The origin of the practice is simply not clear to us today.)  This day marks the period of atonement and introspection that we began some 50 days ago when the new moon (month) of Elul rolled around.

That then augurs a most unusual holiday that begins Sunday night. This is the last one that will preclude me from work for a while- all the way until April!  (Now, this is really good news.  Because, it means I can finally make some money!) The Tora gives us very little clue about this holiday and its requirements.  It’s simply called the Eighth Day of Assembly (Shmini Atzeret).

Some folks consider it the eighth day of Sukot that began last Sunday night.  My tradition never considered that definition correct. It is our practice to cease eating in a suka (again, as discussed a week ago) as soon as this 8th day of celebration began. (Note:  The Tora says, “It was evening, it was morning”;  all of our “days” begin in the evening.) To our tradition, this is  a new holiday.  And, the only requirement that exists for this holiday is that we celebrate life and our religion.

Of course, this holiday means we will add some special prayers to our morning service;  the primary addition is called Geshem or the Prayer for Rain.   (Oh, now you see how the rain-bringing ritual fits in to the picture.)

It’s the start of the rainy season in Israel, and these new prayers ask the Supreme Being to ensure that there is sufficient rain afforded for plentiful crops.  (On Passover [Pesach], we add a different special  prayer; that is one requesting ample Dew, since the rainy season ends at that time of year.)

This Shmini Atzeret holiday also coincides with another observance called Simchat Tora.  (This is a celebration we  [the people] created.)  Our Jewish tradition involves weekly readings from the Tora (the bible), aka the Five Books of Moses [the first five books of the bible], which are divided into weekly portions.  (Note:  We have 3 leap years every 11 years to keep the seasons aligned with the lunar patterns- and that means another MONTH is added, so the number of weeks in a year is not constant.).  On this holiday, (either celebrated in conjunction with Shmini Atzeret, or with an additional day added to the celebrations) we have completed the cycle of reading all five books, with its description of the death of Moses- and immediately begin reading from the very first part of the Tora, the story of creation.

May this new cycle bring you everything you need- but especially health, happiness, and peace.

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