Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Kohelet, Hallel, Hoshanot: The Liturgy of Sukkot

 



HEEEEEEBREW!

1.      Names of the Vowels

2.      https://www.learnhebrewpod.com/vocabularies/13/vegetables

3.      Numbers

4.      https://youtu.be/FAwMzJBJqEk?si=hynvdrYs7-F6GN5N

5.      The chant!

6.      https://www.studystack.com/picmatch-3369632


AES RS OCT 07 2024


not the average lulav

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eBQG0HeeA2k

   What to love and hate about this video

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/K9lYjW_Tnjs

hoshanot: not complicated music, but a parade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oafdAVed3E

Start at 125pm

Kohelet

Turn turn Turn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3xgcmIS3YU

Kohelet—why on Sukkot?

What kohelet sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I_32I_jwnc


 

 

 

 

Hallel Made Simple

HALLEL IS six of our ancestor’s prayers known as Teheilim/Psalms (113–118), which are recited as a unit in Synagouge in the morning, on joyous occasions including the Three Pilgrimage Festivals mentioned in the Torah, Passover (Pesach), Shavuot, and Sukkot, as well as at Hanukkah and Rosh Chodesh (beginning of the new month). It is also recited in the Passover seder,  the first two psalms before the 2nd cup of wine and the rest after Birkat Hamazon.

Most of it is sung to happy melodies.

Here’s one Psalm that is part of Hallel in Haggadah- Psalm #114,  “Bitzeyt Yisrael /Mah lecha Hayam”. 

Listen to how it is sung from a bunch of different eras and communities.  Think of three words you would use to describe each one.

1.           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN8bCwhIyFw

2.           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5UbEMO2Fwo

3.           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L48-yy-eZPU  at 2:12

4.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kYL9pDNwYc

5.           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFrbPMzeBd8

 

 

 

 

 

1.   True or False: Sukkot is one of the four great festivals of the year.

 

2.  True or False: The Hebrew word for holiday—“Chag”, actually means pilgrimage.

 

3.  True or False: Sukkot commemorates the Exodus from Egypt

 

4.  True or False : On Sukkot, ancestors are symbolically invited into the Sukkah in a ceremony called  Tachanun

 

5.  Frue or Talse: The prayers said during the Sukkot processions are called Hoshanot.

 

6.  True or False: Sukkot is also called  HeHag - the holiday

 

7.  True or False: Sukkot is also called  Zman Simchatenu - season of our joy

 

8. True or False:  Sukkot is also called Zman Ha’Flotzim

 

9.  True or False: Sukkot is also called Hag Ha'Asif - the harvest holiday

 

 

10.                 True or False:   It is a requirement for a Sukkah to have no electrical wiring.

 

11.                   True or False: The 'four species' we wave on Sukkot are:  palm, myrtle, cytron, willow.

 

12.                 True or false: The central commandment of Sukkot is 'leshev b'sukkah.' This means to decorate the sukkah.

 

What you need to know about . . . Sukkot and its observances

 

Things about the holiday

·      It is a holiday commanded by the Torah.

·      It is seven days long.

·      We are commanded to dwell in the sukkah for all those days.  This includes eating all our regular meals and sleeping in the sukkah (when possible).

·      Outside of Israel,  the first two days are Yom Tov-  Festival days where the Torah prohibits work

·      The remaining days are “Chol-Hamoed”,  when we work but still dwell in the sukkah and say special prayers at home and at Synagogue.

·      On Chol-Hamoed Sukkot, some or all of the biblical book Kohelet  (Ecclesiastes in English) is read before Torah reading.  There are a number of reasons we read this work at this time of year, in particular because it helps us focus on being thankful for the good things we  have.

 

Things  about the Sukkah

·      There is a maximum and minimum height.

·      There is a minimum number of sides.

·      There is a reason for that rule.

·      There is an exception to that rule.

·      The Sukkah may not be permanent- parts of it can be, but not all.

·      The Sukkah is covered in  a roof of Schach,  which must provide more shade than sun. It must be from plants (wood, branches, blossoms or leaves)

·      The Sukkah teaches us many lessons- to remember the homeless, to be in tune with the season, to act as our ancestors did, to be open to guests,  and more…. 

·       

Things about the Lulav and Etrog

·      It has four species of plants:

o  Citrus medica – citron-etrog

o  Myrtus communis- myrtle- hadas

o  Salix acmophylla Boiss - willow-  arava

o  Phoenix dactylifera - lulav-  palm frond

·      Each species  has simanim-  signs to properly identify the four species.

·      You can not use a lulav, etrog,  hadas or aravah if you stole them..

·      The are taken (and waved about)  every day except Shabbat.

·      There are many symbolic meanings assigned to the set,  e.g. Parts of the body (heart, spine, eyes, ears),  parts of the Jewish people,  types of people.

 

Prayers Added during Sukkot

1.             Hoshanot

2.   Hallel

3.   Ya’aleh V’yavo

4.   Musaf

 

 

Turn, Turn, Turn

The song’s words are a text of the Hebrew Bible,  adopted and set to music  by folk legend Pete Seeger.

 When covered by the Folk/Rock band “The Byrds”, the song shot up the chards, reaching #1 on December 4th, 1965.

 

 


 Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), Chapter 3: 1-8


 


 

The words of Kohelet son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Hevel Hevelim!—said Koheleth—

Hevel Hevelim!  Everything is hevel!

What real value is there for a person

In all the gains one makes beneath the sun?

One generation goes, another comes,

But the earth remains the same forever.

The sun rises, and the sun sets—

And glides back to where it rises.

Southward blowing,

Turning northward,

Ever turning blows the wind;

On its rounds the wind returns.

All streams flow into the sea,

Yet the sea is never full;

To the place [from] which they flow

The streams flow back again.

Only that shall happen

Which has happened,

Only that occur

Which has occurred;

There is nothing new

Beneath the sun!

Sometimes there is a phenomenon of which they say, “Look, this one is new!”—it occurred long since, in ages that went by before us.

 

---------------------------

There is nothing worthwhile for a man but to eat and drink and afford himself enjoyment with his means. And even that, I noted, comes from God.

------------------

A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven:

A time for being born and a time for dying,

A time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted;

A time for slaying and a time for healing,

A time for tearing down and a time for building up;

A time for weeping and a time for laughing,

A time for wailing and a time for dancing;

A time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,

A time for embracing and a time for shunning embraces;

A time for seeking and a time for losing,

A time for keeping and a time for discarding;

A time for ripping and a time for sewing,

A time for silence and a time for speaking;

A time for loving and a time for hating;

A time for war and a time for peace.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

 Kohe-what?  Or is this book so rarely studied because it’s so hard to spell?   L

What is this about casting away stones?

 

If you could add a pair of ideas, what would that be? (In other words, what do you think is missing?)

 

And do you think there is there a pattern or structure to these pairs?

 

In your own words, what is the life advice of the author?

 

Why do we read this book on Sukkot?



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)