Simchat Torah

Shalom from Jerusalem!

Life is busy as always around here, so much happening sometimes it’s hard to keep up with it all.  I have finally been able to get my schedule set in place both in regards to helping my host family as well as time to prayer.  This has made life so much easier! It’s so nice to wake up and know what your day is basically going to look like. Thank you for praying that all of this would be worked out.
In my last email I didn’t really talk about the holidays we were in the middle of, so I would like to do that this time.

Succoth (most people have heard of this time referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles), is based on remembering the Lord’s faithfulness. It is a time of thanking the Lord for how He took care of them when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years, during which time they lived in temporary dwellings. So that is why during Succoth people construct temporary dwellings or Succahs in their yards (the really religious people literally move into them for the week, eat, sleep etc. in them).  If you can find the film Ushpizin I would highly recommend watching it. This film was made here in Jerusalem and gives you a good idea of what the holiday is like for the religious Jews as well as some fun things about the culture.  It is in Hebrew with English subtitles, I really don’t know if it’s very easy to find in the States. For them the holiday also involves being very hospitable to whatever guests God sends to them.

Anyway, this year Succoth ended at the beginning of Shabbat (Friday evening), and then at the end of Shabbat (Saturday evening) they had Simchat Torah. This celebration is about rejoicing over the Torah (Scriptures). They had a big celebration in the park, complete with cotton candy, hot dogs and popcorn! The rabbis and men from various Yeshivahs brought their Torah scrolls and took turns getting in groups on the stage and dancing around with them. The rest of the men and boys danced together on a lower stage while the women and older girls danced in the park. It was crowded and a ton of fun! It was really neat to see so many people grinning and dancing and singing about the Word of God. I wish more of us did this! So many times we take the Word for granted. It was a precious site to see and I had a blast dancing with the women! A friend gave me a ticket so I could get in the closer section for taking pictures. He said to turn my hat around, go to the front and pretend to be a photographer! I didn’t turn my hat around but I did go all the way to the front and ended up standing on the lower stage. It was so much fun. I will include a few pictures from the park (the lighting was not ideal for taking photos, even though I was really close!).

I hope all of this is interesting and encouraging! Thank you for your continued prayer and support, you are all such a blessing to me.  May the LORD bless you and keep you! I would love to hear the news from home, so please feel free to email me about the goings on in your neck of the woods! Much love to you all.

~Lydia

Picture #1 – me in my favorite tree, on the way #2 – men with their Torah scrolls #3 – cute grandfather and grandson