Alef: The NEXT Conversation

Harvest to Harvest: Sukkot and Thanksgiving

by Isaac Shalev

What Thanksgiving and Sukkot both share is an emphasis on opening our home to guests. The Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest travel weekend of the entire year, as family and friends unite to celebrate the holiday. On Sukkot, many Jews embrace the mystical custom of Ushpizin, and extend symbolic invitations to Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Miriam, and the other heroes and heroines of the Bible.  More concretely, people open their Sukkah to friends and neighbors, and particularly to those who do not have a Sukkah of their own.

Read the full article on The Jewish Week, but we especially liked this bit:

On Sukkot we put ourselves in God’s hands by moving to a hut that is at the mercy of the elements, and we put ourselves in the shoes of the less-fortunate, who carry home the barely-edible leavings of the harvest, yet see those limited gifts as a joyous blessing. Then we go further than that. Rather than waiting for God to intervene, we reach out to the needy, to those without food or a home, and share with them a holiday meal and celebration.

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Between Sukkot and Thanksgiving be on the look out for other stories on food issues in our own communities.  Learn more about Harvest to Harvest.

Photo by P.L. Vaarkamp Photography, licensed under Creative Commons.

Posted by Emily.Comisar@birthrightisraelnext.org, Thursday, October 1st, 2009, 4:46 pm, Harvest to Harvest.