This Week’s Torah Portion: First Day of Sukkot – יוֹם רִאשׁוֹן שֶׁל סֻכֹּת (Leviticus 23:33-44)

This week we read a special portion from the Torah which calls us to celebrate the harvest festival of Sukkot. In Biblical times they offered sacrifices by fire, gathered the branches of trees and their fruit, and dwelt in temporary shelters for the week of the festival. All this in order to offer thanks to God for redeeming us from slavery in Egypt and bringing us to the Promised Land.

Few of us bring in harvests from our fields and yet we have much to be thankful for as we celebrate this festival of Sukkot. We can offer thanks for the food we eat and the many hands which carefully bring it to our tables. Say a blessing for those who stock our grocery shelves and deliver our food, for those who produce it and bring it forth from the earth, for the earth itself which sustains us, and for God who has created it, and sustained it, and allowed us to celebrate this day. 

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הַעוֹלָם שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה

Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, shehecheyanu, v’kiyemanu, v’higianu lazman hazeh.