Israelis Move To Shelters As Iranian Attack Nears.

Hat Tip to Israel Matzav

Israelis built makeshift shelters on balconies across the country in preparation for Iranian nuclear attack. Experts said the “God Pods” would provide little protection

I do hope that this is satire, but knowing the Muslim mind....

(Jerusalem, September 19) As if sensing an imminent Iranian missile attack, Israelis moved en masse into makeshift shelters on Wednesday night, prompting diplomats and international news organizations to predict that a strike against Tehran’s fast-developing nuclear industry was imminent.

There was no official announcement, but millions of Israeli citizens made the move on Wednesday, perhaps as the result of a coded message issued by the government and unintelligible to foreigners.

Foreign media have predicted an imminent Israeli attack on Iran at least 26 times in the past five years. They live in hope.

The shelters, visible at homes across Israel, seemed to provide scant protection. Most were hurriedly constructed from wooden boards and roofed with tree branches. Some were lavishly decorated inside, while others remained bare.

The bizarre architecture seems to be based not on modern defense technology but on traditional religious plans for protective booths dating back to the early rabbis.

The shelters were soon dubbed “God Pods” by foreign media analysts.

Israelis were also laying in stocks of citrus fruit, palm branches and other natural vegetation that are believed to have medicinal properties in the event of an attack.

But experts said the God Pods would be “useless” against most modern weapons, even if fired by Iranians.

From September 18 to 25 Jews around the world celebrate the holiday of Sukkot.  During this holiday Jews eat inside "booths" made from PVC pipe, cloth, boards and a roof made of palm fronds.

 

Not a very sturdy shelter but a great God box for He resides in every one of them.

Sukkot Reposted

I originally posted this in 2009.  Instead of writing a new post I submit this for your enjoyment.

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Sukkot or the Festival of Tabernacles begins 5 days after Yom Kippur. The holiday lasts for 7 days, and is immediately followed by another festive day known as Shemini Atzeret. The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth or hut. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of the fragile dwellings in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Throughout the holiday the sukkah becomes the living area of the house, and all meals are eaten in it. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav and etrog, or Four species.

Sukkot was agricultural in origin. This is evident from the biblical name "The Feast of Ingathering," from the ceremonies accompanying it, from the season – “The festival of the seventh month” – and occasion of its celebration: "At the end of the year when you gather in your labors out of the field" (Ex. 23:16); "after you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your winepress" (Deut. 16:13). It was a thanksgiving for the fruit harvest. Coming as it did at the completion of the harvest, Sukkot was regarded as a general thanksgiving for the bounty of nature in the year that had passed.

Sukkot became one of the most important feasts in Judaism, as indicated by its designation as “the Feast of the Lord” or simply “the Feast”. Perhaps because of its wide attendance, Sukkot became the appropriate time for important state ceremonies. Moses instructed the children of Israel to gather for a reading of the Law during Sukkot every seventh year (Deut. 31:10-11). King Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem on Sukkot (1 Kings 8; 2 Chron. 7). And Sukkot was the first sacred occasion observed after the resumption of sacrifices in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:2-4).

In Leviticus, God told Moses to command the people: “On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook” (Lev. 23:40), and “You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Lev. 23:42-43). In the time of Nehemiah, after the Babylonian captivity, the Israelites celebrated Sukkot by making and dwelling in booths, a practice of which Nehemiah reports: “the Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua” (Neh. 8:13-17).

Observance of Sukkot is detailed in Mishnah (Sukkah 1:1–5:8); Tosefta (Sukkah 1:1–4:28); Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 1a); and Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 2a–56b).

According to halakha, one must eat major meals and sleep in a Sukka (a hut with an open roof). In the case of rain eating and sleeping are not a requirement. The Four species must be waved.



The holiday immediately following Sukkot is known as Shemini Atzeret. Shemini Atzeret is viewed as a separate holiday. In the diaspora, a second additional holiday, Simchat Torah is celebrated. In the Land of Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated on Shemini Atzeret. On Shemini Atzeret the sukkah is left and meals are eaten inside the house. Outside of Israel, many eat in the sukkah without making the blessing. The sukkah is not used on Simchat Torah.

Now imagine trying to explain the building of a sukkah to your landlord or local building authority. A hut with 4 walls and a roof with big holes in it. Could lead to some interesting civil discussions.

Or you have a father who cannot hammer 2 boards together, and yet insists on designing and building a sukkah (We've destroyed those pictures for the sake of family honor). Needless to say I learned some new words on those days.

I do love this holiday (one of 3 mandated in the bible).

So have a safe Sukkot! And remember that next year you can buy the pre-made Sukkah and avoid the embarrassment and laughter of your neighbors.

Sukkot! Again!

I originally posted this in 2010 and since Sukkot starts tonight, I've gone lazy and decided to repost this instead of writing a new post.

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Feast of Tabernacles is once again here.  7 days of eating in a booth or tabernacle built by the family.

From Chabad:

For forty years, as our ancestors traversed the Sinai Desert prior to their entry into the Holy Land, miraculous "clouds of glory" surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember G‑d's kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah – a hut of temporary construction with a roof-covering of branches – for the duration of the autumn Sukkot festival. For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah – reciting a special blessing – and otherwise regard it as our home.

Another mitzvah that is unique to Sukkot is the taking of the Four Kinds: an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), at least three hadassim (myrtle branches) and two aravot (willow branches). The Midrash tells us that the Four Kinds represent the various types and personalities that comprise the community of Israel, whose intrinsic unity we emphasize on Sukkot.

On each day of the festival (except Shabbat), during the daytime hours, we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing over them, bring them together in our hands and wave them in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and to the rear. (The Four Kinds are also an integral part of the holiday's daily morning service.)

Sukkot is also called The Time of Our Joy; indeed, a special joy pervades the festival. Nightly "Water-Drawing Celebrations," reminiscent of the evening-to-dawn festivities held in the Holy Temple in preparation for the drawing of water for use in the festival service, fill the synagogues and streets with song, music, and dance until the wee hours of the morning.

Sukkot runs from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of Tishrei. The first two days of this festival (in Israel only the first day) are a major holiday, when most forms of work are prohibited. On the preceding nights, women and girls light candles, reciting the appropriate blessings, and we enjoy nightly and daily festive meals, accompanied by the Kiddush.

Now imagine trying to explain the building of a sukkah to your landlord or local building authority. A hut with 4 wallsof cloth  and a roof with big holes in it. Could lead to some interesting civil discussions.

Or you have a father who cannot hammer 2 boards together, and yet insists on designing and building a sukkah (We've destroyed those pictures for the sake of family honor). Needless to say I learned some new words on those days.

I do love this holiday (one of 3 mandated in the bible).

So have a safe Sukkot! And remember that next year you can buy the pre-made Sukkah and avoid the embarrassment and laughter of your neighbors.

Sukkot 2011

How can one explain Sukkot?  We sit in a rickety shed made of cloth or wood with a leaky roof.  There we shake the 4 species and eat our meals.  No the 4 species aren't Klingon, Vulcan, Romulan and Human.  And we do this for 7 days.  Or I could do this:

From Chabad

For forty years, as our ancestors traversed the Sinai Desert prior to their entry into the Holy Land, miraculous "clouds of glory" surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember G‑d's kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah - a hut of temporary construction with a roof-covering of branches - for the duration of the autumn Sukkot festival. For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah - reciting a special blessing - and otherwise regard it as our home.

Another mitzvah that is unique to Sukkot is the taking of the Four Kinds: an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), at least three hadassim (myrtle branches) and two aravot (willow branches). The Midrash tells us that the Four Kinds represent the various types and personalities that comprise the community of Israel, whose intrinsic unity we emphasize on Sukkot.

On each day of the festival (except Shabbat), during the daytime hours, we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing over them, bring them together in our hands and wave them in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and to the rear. (The Four Kinds are also an integral part of the holiday's daily morning service.)

Sukkot is also called The Time of Our Joy; indeed, a special joy pervades the festival. Nightly "Water-Drawing Celebrations," reminiscent of the evening-to-dawn festivities held in the Holy Temple in preparation for the drawing of water for use in the festival service, fill the synagogues and streets with song, music, and dance until the wee hours of the morning.

Sukkot runs from sundown of October 12 through nightfall of October 19, 2011 (the 15th through the 21st of the Jewish month of Tishrei). The first two days of this festival (in Israel only the first day) are a major holiday, when most forms of work are prohibited. On the preceding nights, women and girls light candles, reciting the appropriate blessings, and we enjoy nightly and daily festive meals, accompanied by the Kiddush.

Now imagine trying to explain the building of a sukkah to your landlord or local building authority. A hut with 4 walls of cloth and a roof with big holes in it. Could lead to some interesting civil discussions.

Or you have a father who cannot hammer 2 boards together, and yet insists on designing and building a sukkah (We've destroyed those pictures for the sake of family honor). Needless to say I learned some new words on those days.

I do love this holiday (One of 3 mandated in the bible).

 HAG SAMEAH!!!

Sukkot!

Feast of Tabernacles is once again here.  7 days of eating in a booth or tabernacle built by the family.

From Chabad:

For forty years, as our ancestors traversed the Sinai Desert prior to their entry into the Holy Land, miraculous "clouds of glory" surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember G‑d's kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah – a hut of temporary construction with a roof-covering of branches – for the duration of the autumn Sukkot festival. For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah – reciting a special blessing – and otherwise regard it as our home.

Another mitzvah that is unique to Sukkot is the taking of the Four Kinds: an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), at least three hadassim (myrtle branches) and two aravot (willow branches). The Midrash tells us that the Four Kinds represent the various types and personalities that comprise the community of Israel, whose intrinsic unity we emphasize on Sukkot.

On each day of the festival (except Shabbat), during the daytime hours, we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing over them, bring them together in our hands and wave them in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and to the rear. (The Four Kinds are also an integral part of the holiday's daily morning service.)

Sukkot is also called The Time of Our Joy; indeed, a special joy pervades the festival. Nightly "Water-Drawing Celebrations," reminiscent of the evening-to-dawn festivities held in the Holy Temple in preparation for the drawing of water for use in the festival service, fill the synagogues and streets with song, music, and dance until the wee hours of the morning.

Sukkot runs from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of Tishrei. The first two days of this festival (in Israel only the first day) are a major holiday, when most forms of work are prohibited. On the preceding nights, women and girls light candles, reciting the appropriate blessings, and we enjoy nightly and daily festive meals, accompanied by the Kiddush.

Now imagine trying to explain the building of a sukkah to your landlord or local building authority. A hut with 4 wallsof cloth  and a roof with big holes in it. Could lead to some interesting civil discussions.

Or you have a father who cannot hammer 2 boards together, and yet insists on designing and building a sukkah (We've destroyed those pictures for the sake of family honor). Needless to say I learned some new words on those days.

I do love this holiday (one of 3 mandated in the bible).

So have a safe Sukkot! And remember that next year you can buy the pre-made Sukkah and avoid the embarrassment and laughter of your neighbors.

Sukkot

Sukkot or the Festival of Tabernacles begins 5 days after Yom Kippur. The holiday lasts for 7 days, and is immediately followed by another festive day known as Shemini Atzeret. The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth or hut. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of the fragile dwellings in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Throughout the holiday the sukkah becomes the living area of the house, and all meals are eaten in it. On each day of the holiday, members of the household recite a blessing over the lulav and etrog, or Four species.

Sukkot was agricultural in origin. This is evident from the biblical name "The Feast of Ingathering," from the ceremonies accompanying it, from the season – “The festival of the seventh month” – and occasion of its celebration: "At the end of the year when you gather in your labors out of the field" (Ex. 23:16); "after you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your winepress" (Deut. 16:13). It was a thanksgiving for the fruit harvest. Coming as it did at the completion of the harvest, Sukkot was regarded as a general thanksgiving for the bounty of nature in the year that had passed.

Sukkot became one of the most important feasts in Judaism, as indicated by its designation as “the Feast of the Lord” or simply “the Feast”. Perhaps because of its wide attendance, Sukkot became the appropriate time for important state ceremonies. Moses instructed the children of Israel to gather for a reading of the Law during Sukkot every seventh year (Deut. 31:10-11). King Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem on Sukkot (1 Kings 8; 2 Chron. 7). And Sukkot was the first sacred occasion observed after the resumption of sacrifices in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:2-4).

In Leviticus, God told Moses to command the people: “On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook” (Lev. 23:40), and “You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Lev. 23:42-43). In the time of Nehemiah, after the Babylonian captivity, the Israelites celebrated Sukkot by making and dwelling in booths, a practice of which Nehemiah reports: “the Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua” (Neh. 8:13-17).

Observance of Sukkot is detailed in Mishnah (Sukkah 1:1–5:8); Tosefta (Sukkah 1:1–4:28); Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 1a); and Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 2a–56b).

According to halakha, one must eat major meals and sleep in a Sukka (a hut with an open roof). In the case of rain eating and sleeping are not a requirement. The Four species must be waved.



The holiday immediately following Sukkot is known as Shemini Atzeret. Shemini Atzeret is viewed as a separate holiday. In the diaspora, a second additional holiday, Simchat Torah is celebrated. In the Land of Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated on Shemini Atzeret. On Shemini Atzeret the sukkah is left and meals are eaten inside the house. Outside of Israel, many eat in the sukkah without making the blessing. The sukkah is not used on Simchat Torah.

Now imagine trying to explain the building of a sukkah to your landlord or local building authority. A hut with 4 walls and a roof with big holes in it. Could lead to some interesting civil discussions.

Or you have a father who cannot hammer 2 boards together, and yet insists on designing and building a sukkah (We've destroyed those pictures for the sake of family honor). Needless to say I learned some new words on those days.

I do love this holiday (one of 3 mandated in the bible).

So have a safe Sukkot! And remember that next year you can buy the pre-made Sukkah and avoid the embarrassment and laughter of your neighbors.