Words From Rabbi White

I am writing from Boca Raton, Florida, where I am spending part of the holiday with my son and his family.

I remember my first Sukkot in Montreal, when the sukka was covered with snow. Here it is the opposite: 88 degrees with high humidity! (Brings to mind the gemara at the beginning of tractate AZ, about the people who kicked the sukkah because it was too hot!)

Sunday is Hoshana Rabba. I remember well a class from the 60's that Rav Soloveitchik zt'l gave before Hoshana Rabba, when he explained that the time period between Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabba is the time for us to implement the resolutions that we made on Yom Kippur. So let's get to work!

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We all know that Sukkot is associated with simcha, joy.

But according to the medieval Sephardi scholar Rabbeinu Bahya, there is another dimension: life! After Yom Kippur, we are rejuvenated (or should I say re-Jew-venated?)

We are, so to speak, starting a new life. The numerical value of "lulav" in Hebrew is 68, which is the same as the value of the word "hayyim,'" life.

May we all have a good, healthy year, תזכו לשנים רבות טובות ובריאות

Rabbi Menahem White