Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach! This week’s Torah Portion is for the first day of Sukkot: Leviticus 22:26–23:44 (from Parashat Emor). I hope you will join us for Erev Sukkot and Shabbat Services this week: Friday, September 25 (after pizza in the Sukkah!).

Torah Question of the Week:

How do you welcome people to your home? Are your gatherings formal or informal? And how do you determine whom to invite? On Sukkot, in addition to inviting our friends and family and the strangers in our midst to share in the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah, there is a kabbalistic tradition of inviting supernal, symbolic guests – the ushpizin and ushpizot. The ushpizin are the Kabbalist’s “founding fathers” of Judaism: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David. The ushpizot are the seven female prophets named in the Talmud: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah and Esther. If you could invite anyone to come share a meal with you in your sukkah or your home, who would it be and why?

Want to learn about the Torah portion?

Here is a written summary.

Here is the full text.

Want to learn more about Sukkot? Here are some good sources:

https://www.jtsa.edu/post-torah/holiday/sukkot/

https://www.rabbisacks.org/jewish-festivals/succot/

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/sukkot/

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/sukkot

I hope to see you at services! Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach!

— Rabbi Adrienne : )