Question of the Week:
Someone asked me why we wave the Lulav in six directions - right, left, forward, up, down, backward. I didn't really know how to answer. Is there a simple way to explain this?
Answer:
The four species that we bless on Sukkos correspond to the four letters in G-d's Hebrew name. Waving them in all six directions signifies our faith that G-d is everywhere. Specifically, we are saying that on every level, at every stage of life, in all that happens to us, G-d is there.
Right and left represent Chesed and Gevurah, the power of love and the power of discipline. G-d, like a parent, can be loving and can also be strict. Sometimes G-d's light shines on us and we feel close to Him, other times He seems distant, we feel left in the dark and have to find our own way through. Whether we receive G-d's closeness and love, or whether He gives us space to grow on our own, it is all coming from G-d. He knows exactly what we need, and that's what we get.
Up and down symbolize the highs and lows of life. When we feel we are on top of the world, we need to remember that G-d enabled us to get there. When we feel down in the dumps, we need to have faith that G-d is with us there. There is no success without help, and there is no failure without hope.
Forward and backward stand for the future and the past. We don't know what tomorrow holds, but we have faith that G-d will guide us through whatever lies ahead. And as for the past, all that has happened to us is a part of the plan. All our past experiences, even those that we would rather forget, made us who we are today. We are where we are now because that is exactly where G-d wants us to be. Our entire past was a lead up to this moment. G-d brought you here for a reason.
So the four species are waved in all directions, to recognise that G-d is everywhere, in the good and the bad, in the ups and the downs, in the uncertain future and the turbulent past. And in the middle of all that is you. You are doing the waving. Because G-d will be there for you in all you do, if only you let Him in.
Good Shabbos and Good Yomtov,
Rabbi Moss
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SERVICES & COMMUNITY INFORMATION: SUKKOS
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Here are some instructions for praying at home. Page numbers are from the blue Chabad Siddur.
Don't have one? You can download it here and print it.
We will hold services for those who would like to attend:
Friday 5:45pm
Shabbos 10am
Sunday 10am
PLEASE REGISTER HERE.
Erev Sukkos
Friday 2 October – 14 Tishrei
Light Candles........... 5:41pm
Before 5:49pm:........ Mincha p101
After 6:14pm........... Shabbos evening service p154
Kiddush for Shabbos & Festivals.... p329
First Day Sukkos
Saturday 3 October – 15 Tishrei
Morning Service for Shabbos and Sukkos:
p5-25, p181-219, Hallel p307, Torah reading for Sukkos, Mussaf for Festivals p339, Kiddush p357.
Kiddush in the Sukkah sponsored by the Martin Family in honour of the birth and Hebrew naming of Willow May- Mazal Tov!
Candlelighting... after 6:37pm
Evening Service for Second Day Sukkos... p161
Sunday 4 October – 16 Tishrei
Second Day Sukkos
Morning Service for Second Day Sukkos:
p5-25, p181-219, Hallel p307, Torah reading for Sukkos, Mussaf for Festivals p339, Kiddush for Festivals p357.
Before 6:49*pm ... Mincha p253
After 7:00*pm ..... Maariv p161
Yom Tov Ends....... 7:37*pm
Havdala p297
Latest Shema this week... 9:34*am
*Eastern Daylight savings time
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Leon Goldshaft....... 15 Tishrei/Saturday 3 October
Joshua Lever......... 16 Tishrei/Sunday 4 October
Cassia Partane...... 18 Tishrei/Tuesday 6 October
Tali Whitten.......... 18 Tishrei/Tuesday 6 October
Larnce Gold......... 19 Tishrei/Wednesday 7 October
Sharon Primack...... 19 Tishrei/Wednesday 7 October
LONG LIFE FOR YORTZHEITS
Mike Barel for his late mother Wendy Barel, Braha bat Shaptai
HaCohen...15 Tishrei/Saturday 3 October
Libby Moss for her late father Henry Irving
Tzvi ben Reuven... 20 Tishrei/Thursday 8 October
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