Sukkoth

This is sooo cool! We are thoroughly enjoying being in the thick of things during the holiday season here in Israel. It has been amazing to experience the ways in which this culture celebrates their holidays. Tonight begins the week of Sukkoth (pronounced Soo-coat), which is the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, that we read about in Scripture. Last week, we walked past a home that was just starting to build their sukkah. Tim sat the boys down to tell them about it first. We then stumbled across a palm branch on the sidewalk, and each of the kids wanted to try holding it. They would've fallen over if it hadn't been for Tim holding them up! Farther down the street was a huge pile of palm branches in front of a synagogue, where people could come and purchase them for the use of covering the roof of their sukkah. We laughed when we saw a car drive past us with palm branches on its roof. It reminded us of Christmas trees on the roofs of cars in the U.S!

Yesterday morning we took a "field trip" as a family and walked into the Jewish Quarter of the Old City through the Zion Gate, which is very near JUC (Tim's school). We saw several sukkoth and saw the energy in the people as they busy themselves to be prepared for the holiday (similar feeling to Christmas Eve in the United States).

A Sukkah in the Old City

More sukkoth, also in the Old City (notice the three sukkoth in the background on the upper level)

This morning we took a bus for the first time and rode to the Shuk (pronounced like "shoe" but with the /k/ on the end), which is the huge open-air market here in Jerusalem. The people were bustling around, getting ready for Sukkoth. In Leviticus 23:40, God instructs the people of Israel to bring four species before Him: choice fruit from the trees (they use a citron - like a lemon), palm fronds, leafy branches (myrtle), and poplars (willow). It was fascinating to watch how seriously the Jewish people take this law, and how they want their items to be perfect for their families. We saw many people examining each citron that they picked up, making sure it was the right one.

Examining the palm fronds

Examining the myrtle branches

Tim and Caleb after purchasing the four species of Sukkoth

You can see the four species a little better here.

Tonight we took a stroll through a largely Jewish community and saw the many sukkoth that were built and being used. During the Feast of Sukkoth, families spend their evenings and nights in their sukkah. They eat dinner in it and often sleep inside it during the week. They invite guests over and dine together. Our favorite part of our stroll tonight was the sounds - the sounds of community as people gathered to eat and just be together.

Here are a few other pictures of our walk through the Old City yesterday morning:

The route to the Zion Gate

The Zion Gate Entrance

Just through the Gate (Mount of Olives in the background)

Looking back at the Gate from inside the city wall

The Cardo - Street that was built by the Romans in the 2nd Century AD. (Notice the mural at the end of the road - then see picture below.)

The boys pretending to be a part of the mural

Standing among the columns on the Cardo

Some of the original street is still there.

Lunch Break at the Cardo Pizza Place - notice the cardboard paper that is used as paper plates.

Abby spends a lot of time nestled in her stroller!

We found a small play structure where we could let the boys play.

We ended the day by letting the boys sit on the lion sculptures near a boy who was selling the four species for Sukkoth. Tim had a nice chat with him in his limited Hebrew and the boy's limited English.

Thank you, family and friends, for all of your prayers and support. We are thankful for the time we could spend together as a family this week, and that we had a couple of breaks from homeschooling after our rough day earlier this week. We have learned so much and pray we will be able to fully experience Sukkoth in the coming week. The Lord continues to bless us in amazing ways, providing for our every need.

"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land -- a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing...." - Deut. 8:7-9