Feast of Tabernacles

Next year I am having a party from October 17, 2016 – October 23, 2016.  If you have signed up to receive these blog posts via email, you will be receiving a special VIP invitation. And by that I mean that I will be asking you to make something for this celebration.

Sukkot, or soccot in Hebrew, translated as the Feast of Booths, but more commonly known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of the Ingathering, is a traditional Jewish holiday that marks the end of the fall harvest.  It’s also a remembrance of the forty years the Israelites spent wandering the desert, sleeping in temporary dwellings.  During the eight day festival, people eat their meals inside tents and often sleep there as well.

This idea has been simmering for a couple of weeks now.  Instead of being disturbed and horrified by how far removed from our food we’ve become, how little we know and understand about how agriculture works, and the bad habits we’ve adopted over the years, I want to bring people together to taste and see all of the bounty the earth has produced.

You might be thinking that a week might be a long time to just hang out and feast, but I think you’re wrong!  Think of the tomatoes and squashes and pumpkins and apples and pears and beets and cucumbers and melons and spinach and peppers and chicken and pork and all of the wonderful things that can be prepared with them. 

It’s not just about the food, though, it’s about coming together as a community to celebrate all of the blessings we receive daily.  It’s being thankful that we are warm and fed, that we have each other to lean on, and that God is good.

There are a lot of details to work out, but put those dates on your calendar, air out your tent and sleeping bags, and plan to spend at least part of the week celebrating with me.  More details to come in future posts!

2 thoughts on “Feast of Tabernacles

  1. Hi,
    Will this be in Nashville? Sounds like a great idea. The Jewish student organization celebrates this every year and builds a Sukkot on campus. There are traditions in other religions that totally make sense in ours too. 🙂
    Linda

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