Showing posts with label Sukkah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sukkah. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Sukkoth 2013 - 5774

Spending Sukkoth in Israel is really a great privilege.  It is probably the best time to be in Israel.  The weather is still great, there are festivals all over the country and many people are off work.  Unlike Passover, there are no onerous food restrictions.  So during the intermediate days (Hol Hamoed), many Israelis are travelling, hosting each other (often in Sukkoth) and enjoying festivals, outdoor concerts and other events.

Panorama View of Our Family Sukkah
We enjoyed a large family dinner on the first night of Sukkoth and hosted friends in our sukkah the next day.  Great start to the holiday though it seems to get more and more difficult each year to find the time right after Yom Kippur ends to put up the sukkah in timely fashion.  Especially since we are usually putting up two - one at my in-laws - a huge 4x5 metre sukkah and one at our place.  We have customarily put up the large sukkah right after Yom Kippur ends.  But this year, Yom Kippur was in mid- September and Israel did not change its clocks for the first time in quite a number of years.  Very hard to put up a big sukkah starting only at 9:30/10:00 p.m. after a day of fasting. 

2013-09-22 22.31.26
View of a Tzolk'in Board at Games Day
Sunday Sep 22, we attended the annual Jerusalem board games festival.  You might think that sounds rather boring.  Okay, for some it might be.  But for those who enjoy challenging board games, especially "Euro-games" that have been growing in popularity since 1995 or so (with the emergence of Settlers of Catan), this kind of festival is lots of fun.  We had the chance to play Puerto Rico and Tzolk`in, two terrific games.  At its peak, there were about 40 people attending, playing a wide range of board games with breaks for eating lunch and dinner in the sukkah.

Our festive day was cut short with news of the tragic death of a cousin in an early morning car accident. We left Jerusalem and attended the funeral in B'nai Ayish.  The funeral of our 27 year old cousin was only days after Yom Kippur.  I couldn't help but think of the High Holy Day liturgy that we had been reading, from the famous prayer Unetaneh Tokef - ..כְּצֵל עוֹבֵר וּכְעָנָן כָּלָה וּכְרוּחַ נוֹשָׁבֶת וּכְאָבָק פּוֹרֵחַ וְכַחֲלוֹם יָעוּף  Man is likened to a "broken shard, withering grass, a fading flower, a passing shade, a dissipating cloud, a blowing wind, flying dust, and a fleeting dream."  The words felt so real in the face of this type of horrible loss, of a cousin whose wedding we had attended so recently.  To hear the whole version of Unetaneh Tokef, try this link to an IDF version or this version, written by Yair Rosenblum


Despite the sombre mood, we still had to commemorate the holiday.  Simchat Torah, as usual, was a holiday highlight at Hod ve'Hadar.  This year, one Hakafah really stuck out for me.  ("Hakafoth" are rounds of singing and dancing in celebration of completing the annual cyle of reading the Torah.  Often accompanied by alcohol...).  For the third Hakafah, the congregation invited all those present who could not dance for physical reasons to come to the centre of the shul and sit in a circle.  Some were given Torahs to hold.  The congregants danced in a circle around this group of, mainly, elderly and disabled congregants.  It was such a beautiful, inclusive Hakafah, and the type of activity that captures the spirit and heart of Hod vHadar.  As I participated, I thought to myself that every shul should do this.   Yet in all of my years of celebrating Simchat Torah, I do not remember seeing it.   Once again, I thought of a verse from the High Holy Day liturgy, this time אל תשליכני לעת זקנה- "Do not cast me way in my old age - when my strength fails me."  For a moving musical version, try this link to Michel Cohen or this version by Avihu Medina.  This special Hakafah was an example of our shul taking this verse to heart and honouring its elderly.

I had to leave Israel after Simchat Torah to head back to Toronto, after a month or so in Israel.  I took a late night flight on United Airlines through Newark, since Air Canada only flies during the day and the prices sky rocket for a few days after the holidays end. 

I arrived in Toronto at about 8:30 a.m. on Friday September 27, 2013.  For me, the holiday had officially ended but for the Jewish community outside of Israel, it was still Simchat Torah.  So I decided to celebrate Simchat Torah twice, as I have done two or three times in the past.  I showed up at shul in time to share a Torah reading table and join the Hazzan for Musaf.  We finished the service with a version of Adon Olam sang to "Rock Around the Clock" which was quite fun.  Of course, it was simply not the same as being able to celebrate with my family the previous day but it just did not seem right to go to the office, even though the holy day had officially ended for Israelis.

In Israel, there are many songs and colloquialisms that refer to "Acharei HaHagim" - "after the holidays."  Everything will be done "after the holidays."  In fact, one person at shul in K'far Saba said to us on Thursday - "do you know what day it is tomorrow? - it's after the holidays..."  So now it is after the holidays for another year.  It is time to complete this period of reflection, introspection and celebration and get back to work.  It would probably also be a good idea to try losing some weight after all of those festive holiday meals.

Shana Tova and Shavua Tov.  Here's hoping for a peaceful, fulfilling and joyous year.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Mezuzah in Connecticut Causes a Stir: Condo Board Backs Down


There is a you tube video making the rounds about an incident in Stratford, Connecticut. A condo resident, Barbara Cadranel, was ordered by her condo association to remove her Mezuzah from her door or face a fine of $50 per day. Other condo residents had crosses and Easter decorations on their doors, but they claimed that the Mezuzah had to be removed because it was actually on the door post rather than the door. Isn't it incredible how petty and nasty some people can be? Is there really any reason for insisting that someone remove a religious object from their door other than anti-Semitic or some other Xenophobic prejudice? At least in this case, the matter was resolved without litigation about one week letter. Various sites, including CTpost.com have reported that Ms Cadranel was able to keep her Mezuzah on her door without any further issues.



In Canada, a more complicated issue went all the way to the Supreme Court a few years ago. Can condominium residents put up Sukkahs on their balconies during the festival of Sukkoth, despite a condominium rule that prohibits balconies from having any kind of structure? Incredibly, there was so much hostility in the condominium complex that the parties fought this issue out at three different court levels. Perhaps even more incredibly, the Sukkah dwellers lost in the Quebec Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal. It took a narrow 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to find that people have the right to carry out a week long religious practice provided that it does not cause any interference or problems for the other condominium dwellers.

The majority of Canadian Supreme Court judges provided a practical and reasonable explanation of their decision. If the minority religious practice causes minimal disruption and does not create any harmful effect, then the rights of the members of the religious minority should trump any other right such as "private property rights." This will permit them to practice their religion and feel welcome in the country, even as a minority. Of course if the condo members wanted to erect a permanent structure or carry out a disruptive, noisy or unruly practice, the Court might have seen things differently. There are limitations as to what one can do on the basis of minority religious practice.

In a bitter dissent, the minority of the Supreme Court judges argued that a person who moves into a condo unit should be bound by whatever rules that condo happens to have in place. This logic raises more than a few questions. If they have a rule that says "no vehicles or moving objects of any kind in the condo" does that mean that residents confined to wheelchairs must move out? Can the condo board have a "no hat" policy? Or can the condo simply say no Jews, no blacks, no gays or whatever else it wishes to put into its condo rules? Not in Canada. In Canada, unlike most U.S. jurisdictions, human rights legislation is intended to govern some places that might be considered "private." So a golf club, condo board or other quasi public institution must not operate with discriminatory rules or even rules that have a discriminatory effect.

The real issue that both of these types of cases raise is the juxtaposition between minority religious practices and the rights (or prejudices) of the majority. Every liberal democracy that has a significant minority population is wrestling with and will continue to struggle with this issue. In France, one example has been the rule against the wearing of religious symbols in schools. In Israel, Jerusalem has seen a great deal of public debate over the use of gender-segregated buses, operated by ultra-religious groups or that run through ultra-religious communities. Other countries have enacted or tried to enact bans of Kosher slaughter of animals or of ritual circumcision.

There may well be some disputes that are not easily resolved. Some religious practices may well have a significant effect on others. These issues are the difficult ones that will make their way through various court systems. But prohibiting someone from putting up a Mezuzah on their doorpost? That should certainly not be seen as an issue that requires any serious reflection. Fortunately, the condo board in Connecticut agreed without having the matter percolate through the court system.