Sukkot at BCC
Sukkot is a biblical Jewish holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (varies from late September to late October). During the existence of the Jerusalem Temple it was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which the Israelites were commanded to perform a pilgrimage to the Temple. More on Sukkot
Erev Sukkot Services & Catered Dinner
Wednesday, October 4 at 6pm
Sign up for our catered dinner before the Sukkot service. Pre-paid Dinner is $25/adults and $20/child. The pre-order deadline is today, Tuesday, October 3. Click HERE to RSVP Today. You can also bring your own dinner.
Dinner is followed by a Sukkot Service, our yearly tradition of giving thanks for the bounty of the earth during the fall harvest. Join Rabbi Lisa Edwards, Rabbi Heather Miller and Cantor Juval Porat for services in our Sukkah! Join us for some fresh October evening air and wave the lulav and etrog.
Shabbat Services in the Sukkah
Friday, October 6 at 8pm
Join Rabbi Heather Miller and song leader Robin Berkovitz for singing and prayers as we welcome shabbat in the community sukkah. Services are followed by refreshments. New friends are welcome!
Great Chefs – Great Homes: Brunch in the Sukkah
Sunday, October 8 at 11am.
Brunch in the Sukkah hosted by Maggie & Dave Parkhurst. A vegetarian brunch by the beach awaits you. Only 10 seats available. $54 per person. Register here
Torah Study in the Sukkah
Tuesday, October 10 at 7:15pm
Another Opportunity to Study Torah in the Sukkah. Join Rabbi Lisa for Torah study in the sukkah. No need to sign-up or to RSVP, drop-ins are welcome, as well as students of all scholarly levels. Hebrew not required. All materials for studying are provided. Enjoy some evening air and torah!
Simchat Torah
Friday, October 13, 2017
6:45pm- Bring your own dinner and children’s activities
7:30pm – Unrolling of the Torah and ending and beginning the Torah reading cycle
7:45pm – Dancing with the Torah, Shabbat & Yizkor service
Following services, join us for a special oneg sponsored by Maggie & Dave Parkhurst in honor of their son-in-law Gary Hoggatt’s birthday.
BCC Gen X / Millennial Havurah Social activity group for LGBTQ Jews & friends, let’s Simchat Torah Dance! We’ll meet at BCC & dance with torahs, then take our freylach to West Hollywood dance clubs!
More on Sukkot
Sukkot, Succot or Sukkos is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (shalosh regalim) alongside Passover and Shavu’ot, on which the Israelites would make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The Festival of Sukkot begins on Tishri 15, the fifth day after Yom Kippur. It is quite a drastic transition, from one of the most solemn holidays in our year to one of the most joyous. Sukkot is so unreservedly joyful that it is commonly referred to in Jewish prayer and literature as Z’man Simchateinu, the Season of our Rejoicing.
The holiday lasts seven days in Israel and eight in the diaspora. The first day (and second day in the diaspora) is a Shabbat-like holiday when work is forbidden, followed by intermediate days called Chol Hamoed. The festival is closed with another Shabbat-like holiday called Shemini Atzeret (two days in the diaspora, where the second day is called Simchat Torah, because this is a holiday celebrating the end and beginning of the cycle of weekly Torah readings. )
The Hebrew word sukkōt is the plural of sukkah, “booth” or “tabernacle”, which is a walled structure covered with s’chach (plant material such as overgrowth or palm leaves). The sukkah is intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which, according to the Torah, the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and some people sleep there as well. A sukkah is also for the temporary dwelling in which agricultural workers would live during harvesting.
On each day of the holiday it is mandatory to perform a waving ceremony with the Four Species.
“On the first day, you will take for yourselves a fruit of a beautiful tree, palm branches, twigs of a braided tree and brook willows, and you will rejoice before the L-RD your G-d for seven days.” -Leviticus 23:40
Sources: Wikipedia, Judaism101
