Building Connections, Celebrating Family

By Rabbi Jordan Helfman.

The seasons are changing, and Sukkot – the season of joy – comes to an end with our Simchat Torah celebration and dancing (7pm this Monday night).

Some teach that Sukkot is the reason for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – that the shofar blast and fasting are preparation for the harvest and the celebration of thanks and joy at this moment.  I hope you will join us at its joyful conclusion.

While Sukkot is this time of joy and celebration over our connection to the land and the safety we have of our homes, it also reminds us that the cold is coming.

As we prepare here in Canada for the colder months to come, with the frigid air comes some blessings, including the start of our congregational Mincha services on Saturday night.

To spice up the first Shabbat Mincha service, food blogger Sara Rosen is teaming up with her mother, Avra Rosen, to help us gather as a community around family and warm soup.

Please put Saturday, November 12th at 5pm in your calendars, as this is a brand-new service at Holy Blossom Temple. We are working on forming the community which will make these monthly services part of our congregation’s winter rhythm.

Following the service, those 19 and over are invited to join with a Parent / Guardian to drink wine, prepare some appetizers, and make soup to bring home for dinner.  This is an inter-generational program – bring your mother, father, or other significant adult or your adult children.  The cost will be $10.  (Those that would like to be paired with a partner, put in a request to JoAnne Beiman and we will do our best to assist). We only have space for 10 adult child/parent couples, so please RSVP soon to JoAnne Bieman, jbieman@holyblossom.org. An inter-generational program.

While we are still in this season of joy; come visit our congregational Sukkah – bedecked with mittens, scarves and hats for donation to Out of the Cold, shake a Lulav and Etrog with our daily minyan in the morning, find time for friends in your house and/or your sukkah.  And as we look through the roof of the sukkah, may we remember those in our world who live without the joys and protections we have in our lives and may we remember them in our actions and in our giving.

May we all have a joyous Sukkot.