Notes from Cantor Avima

     As I write this, Sukkot is just about upon us as well as the 2 year anniversary of Oct. 7.  The Religious School spent the morning creating beautiful decorations for the synagogue Sukkah and we are expecting beautiful weather for most of the week. We are all hanging on to hope of an end to this terrible war which has been going on for just about two years and , well,  dare we hope for the remaining hostages to return? One of the lessons of Sukkot is "hachnasat orchim", welcoming guests. There is a mystical tradition of inviting our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and King David to our sukkah. I am sure I am not alone in having other guests in mind... dare we hope? 

I featured this song by Naomi Shemer a year ago. Naomi Shemer wrote a beautiful children's song which has become a classic. It was written about a year after the Yom Kippur war and its main mesage is one of peace. The song is: Shlomit Bonah Sukkah, Shlomit Builds a Sukkah. The Hebrew name "Shlomit" is derived from the word: "Shalom". Listen to it and I think you will agree this is as much an adult song as it is a children's song.    Shlomit Bonah Sukkah / Shlomit Builds a Sukkah of Peace  

     Here is the translation: 

Shlomit is building a sukkah, Full of light and greenery, That's why today she's so busy.
But it's not simply a sukkah, Full of light and greenery - Shlomit is building a sukkah of peace ("sukkat shalom").

She will not forget to lay out The lulav and the myrtle leaves (hadasim), A branch of green willow,
a pomegranate within its leaves, and all the fruits of autumn, with its fragrance of orange groves.

And when Shlomit says Look! It's already finished! Suddenly something wondrous will happen:all the neighbors will come,
it will be a swarm -and there will be room for everyone!

Then, through the roof of branches, With a bright glow as though it were a diamond, She will spot a star, saying:
-Shalom, wondrous sukkah, how fine and how pleasing it is - that Shlomit build a sukkah of peace.