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Sukkot, or Feast of Booths, is celebrated from the 15th through the 21st of the Hebrew month of Tishrei (usually October), and is one of the three pilgrimage holidays, on which Jews made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The holiday commemorates the booths in which the Israelites lived in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. A sukka is a temporary dwelling, usually with wooden or cloth walls on at least three of its four sides and a roof made of tree branches (traditionally palm fronds) through which the sky can be seen.

Sukkot is also known as the Harvest holiday, as it is celebrated in the autumn, after the summer harvest and before the planting of winter crops. A central theme in the holiday prayers is rain: the farmers thank God for this year's harvest and pray for rain for the coming year.

The first day and last days are particularly festive: the first is a holy day, a rest day, when no productive work is allowed, similar to Shabbat, so most businesses are closed; the eighth day from the beginning of Sukkot is called Shemini Atseret, is a separate holiday. The intermediate days are similar to weekdays.

Holiday Customs

Building a Sukka - The sukka (booth) is customarily decorated with various fruits, paper cutouts and pictures. You will see sukkas built in the yards (or on the balconies) of all observant Jews and many secular Jews as well.

The four species - These are four types of plants (palm shoot, willow and myrtle branches and citron) used in ceremonial blessings on each day of the holiday, except Shabbat.

Important Information

Apart from the two rest days, when businesses are closed, the intermediate days are semi-holy days, and many businesses, particularly offices, operate in the mornings only. Some businesses are closed the entire week, as many Israeli families also take vacations this time of year.

The Holy Land Pilgrimage website is designed to help believers get better acquainted with the Holy Land. The site offers an inside look at various and diverse aspects of the Holy Land. It also provides practical information and useful links. What's more, the site also makes it easy to find local travel agents specialized in organizing pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Ways to Celebrate Yom Kippur with Your Child:
1. Prior to the holiday, bring food to a local food bank with your child.
2. Allow your child to pick out a toy to give to another child.
3. Let your child pick a bouquet of flowers for a neighbor or grandparent.
4. Attend a children�s service with your child to hear the final shofar blast.
5. If you have started a holiday album, take a Yom Kippur photo of your
child.

Have you visited www.sylviarouss.com?
Or, the LINKS page for details re: some of Sylvia's books?

Background & Activities for Families with Young Children
on the Holidays of Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur
by Sylvia Rouss, Early Childhood Educator and Author

A Rosh Hashanah poem from Fun With Jewish Holiday Rhymes
by Sylvia Rouss, URJ Books and Music, 1992

Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. It is a day on which adults fast and pray. We ask God to forgive us and we apologize to those we have wronged during the past year. At the end of Yom Kippur services, the shofar is sounded one last time and we break the fast with a festive meal.

Ways to Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with Your Child:
1. Attend synagogue services and let your child hear the shofar.
2. Bake �apple desserts� with your child.
3. Start a holiday photo album. Take a picture of your child celebrating each holiday.
4. Purchase a plastic shofar (available at Jewish gift shops) for your child to blow.
5. Make Rosh Hashanah cards with your child and let your child drop them in the mailbox.

Have you visited www.sylviarouss.com?
Or, the LINKS page for details re: some of Sylvia's books?

What is Rosh Hashanah? The Jewish New Year

Children's Hanukkah table activities are a very welcomed addition to any Hanukkah party or family celebration. As most people know, Hanukkah is a time when Jewish families get together and celebrate this Jewish holiday. Since this is a very important Jewish holiday, all members of the family need to be included. Therefore, finding the best activities for children as well as adults is very important.

We all know that children love to pay games and stay active all hours of the day mostly. Some children's Hanukkah table activities include: playing Dreidel, making Menorah's and/or a Star of David, greeting cards, and various coloring and sticker book activities. These activities all will take very little time to prepare and the children will have an opportunity to learn about Hanukkah while participating in various activities. The Dreidel game has been around for many years and many Jewish families have Dreidels that have been passed down for generations. Therefore, most of the children know the rules and how to play the game. Every player receives small items such as pennies, candies, or nuts to use as chips. Most often the players take turns going clockwise and spinning the Dreidel. Once everyone have equal amount of chips, the players put them in the middle of the table (or the pot) and then the Dreidel is spun.

There are four sides to a Dreidel. Each side has different Hebrew letters on it and means something different. For instance, one side is, "nun," when spinning if it lands on this, then the player gets nothing. The next Hebrew letter is, "gimel," and when landing on the this symbol the player gets everything in the middle (when this happens, everyone needs to add another chip to the middle of the pot). "Hay" is another Hebrew letter that means that the player gets half of the pot . The game itself is a lot of fun and the children at your party will more than likely enjoy themselves.

Making paper Stars of David and Menorahs are also interesting table activities for children. The children will enjoy cutting, gluing and pasting these together. Avoid having the children use scissors by purchasing precut materials or cut the materials beforehand when making Star of David and Menorhas. Having a variety of crayons, glue sticks and glitter will add to this decorating activity. Since the Star of David and the Menorah are very special to this Jewish holiday, most of the children will enjoy this activity.

In addition to these children's Hanukkah table activities, have a variety of coloring books, crayons and stickers books available for your younger guests. More than likely, they will enjoy the activities and learn a great deal about this special Jewish holiday.

Mrs. Party... Gail Leino gives her two cents worth on entertaining at the holidays with a Hanukkah party. Plus, she generously provides information on free party games activities, and party supplies.
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/http://gail.articlealley.com/
hanukkah-table-activities-for-children-2032418.html
About the Author:

King Anticochus always wanted his way.
He told the Jews, �This is how you must pray!�

Judah Maccabee, a strong and brave Jew,
Said, �We won�t pray the way you want us to!�

He told King Antiochus, �You can�t stay.
The time has come for you to go away!�

The Temple was scrubbed from ceiling to floor.
The dirt was swept out the huge front door.

Then a small bit of oil was used to relight
The Temple Menorah, which lit up the night.

Let�s count the days that the oil burned, now.
Count on your fingers, I�ll show you how.

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT!
NOW THAT�S A MIRACLE THAT�S REALLY GREAT!

THE NIGHT BEFORE HANUKKAH Read Aloud ~
Hanukkah Stories for Kids ~
Bedtime Story Read Along Books

American Jewish Congress

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of in-gathering at the turn of the year. (Exodus 34:22)

Shavuot (lit. weeks), one of Judaism�s three pilgrimage festivals (along with Passover and Sukkot), marks the giving of the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) on Mt. Sinai. The holiday is celebrated exactly seven weeks after the first day of Passover, which marks the Exodus itself.

A fundamentally agricultural holiday, Shavuot is also called the Harvest Holiday and the First Fruits Holiday (as it is referred to in Numbers 28:26 and Exodus 23:16, respectively), commemorating the custom of bringing offerings to the Holy Temple from the first fruits of the harvest (Deuteronomy 26:1-11) and the first animals born to the flocks (Numbers 28:26-31). This agricultural aspect of the holiday was retained even after the destruction of the Holy Temple: among the symbols of the holiday are the seven species with which the Land of Israel is blessed - wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

Shavuot is also connected to the Biblical Book of Ruth. Ruth was an ancestor of King David, who passed away on Shavuot. As Ruth was a convert to Judaism, she actively accepted the Torah, as did the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. What�s more, the story depicted in the Book of Ruth takes place during the wheat harvest, around the time of Shavuot.

On the night of Shavuot, it is customary to eat dairy products. After the festive holiday meal, many observant Jews will follow a time-honored tradition of studying Torah all night long in their local synagogue. They then say the morning prayers at the earliest permitted time, symbolic of the enthusiasm of the Jewish people to receive the Torah.

The Shavuot morning prayers are marked by special hymns and scriptural readings, including the Book of Ruth. Some communities decorate their synagogues with green plants and flowers, reflecting traditions that Mt. Sinai was a green mountain and that Shavuot is a day of judgment for fruit trees.

About The Author

The author invites you to visit:
http://www.holyland-pilgrimage.org

A few days ago was Tu B'Shvat, which Chazal, our Sages, call Rosh Hashana La'ilan, the new year for trees, or better, "the tree." It marks the dividing line between one year and the next regarding the agricultural laws like Trumos and Mayseros, and the like.

There is a popular song that we sing on Tu Be'Shvat, "Ilan Ilan," whose words are (more or less) the gemora in Taanis, which recalls that when Rav Yitzchak wanted to bless Rav Nachman, he expressed himself in a parable of a person in the desert who is hungry and thirsty, who finds a tree which has sweet fruit, and whose shade is cool, and which has a water source that runs underneath it. He ate and drank and rested, and then said, "ilan ilan", oh tree, oh tree, how should I bless you? That you should have sweet fruit? You already have sweet fruit. That you should have a nice shade? You have a nice shade. That a water source should run underneath you? You have a water source that runs underneath you. Rather, it should be His will that all of the saplings which are planted from you, should be just like you.

We sing this song on Tu B'Shvat because of it being the Rosh Hashana for the tree. It is also appropriate in the spirit of a Torah verse which compares a person to a tree. Well, sort of, anyway that's how it's taken "al pi drush." The custom indeed is to eat sweet fruits on Tu B'Shvat. It's a good omen, similar to what we do on Rosh Hashana.

It occurred to me to ask: In the parable, he praised the tree for its sweet fruits, nice shade, and water source passing by underneath the tree. What does the water source have to do with the quality of the tree, why is that something to praise? The sweet fruits and the nice shade are good points about the tree which it would be applicable to bless that the saplings should be like the father. But a water source underneath? This is dependent on where they plant the sapling - if they plant it on a water source, then it will have a water source running underneath, and if not, not.

In the nimshal, the comparison, if we say that water stands for Torah, or children, then it makes sense, but in the parable it would seem that it doesn't make sense.

I thought to say that the location is at least a merit, if not necessarily an intrinsic good point. Not every tree is lucky enough to have a water source flowing underneath, so just like you were found worthy, so may your saplings have the merit that they are planted by running water. Similar we find in Pirkei Avos that Rebi Yosi Ben Kisma said that he is willing to give up all the money in the world to be allowed to live in a place of Torah learning.

I met someone who added to this idea. He said that the tachlis of a tree, like all of creation, is for the use of man to do the Avodas Hashem. What is the tachlis of the fruits and the shade if not that man can enjoy them and put that enjoyment to good use. So too, the water flowing underneath, it is an additional source of pleasure for the person standing underneath the tree, part of the whole picture. Therefore, we wish for the tree that the saplings will equally be able to fulfill their tachlis just like their father, to provide enjoyment for people in order to help them with Avodas Hashem.

A PLACE OF REFUGE
_How the Wanderer Came to Rhode Island._

by Elma Ehrlich Levinger

It was bitter cold. The icy wind howling through the forest caught up the snow and whirled it in great eddies against the trees. Reuben Mendoza, staggering through the blinding snowflakes, hugged his little son Benjamin closer to his heart, and prayed desperately that the storm might cease or that he might soon come to a place of refuge. His own limbs were aching with fatigue and cold. He had eaten nothing since early morning and was faint with hunger. Wearied and heartsick, he would have been glad to lie down upon the ground, to sink into sleep, perhaps a painless death, with the snow drifting above him; but he knew that he must struggle on for the sake of the child he was warming in his bosom. Suddenly Benjamin, half asleep and numb with the cold, stirred a little and complained drowsily that he was hungry. His father paused for a moment and pressed his lean, bearded face against the child's rosy cheeks. "Be patient, little one," he comforted him, "for soon we shall find a lodging for the night. Surely, no one would turn even a Jew away in a storm like this." Again he plodded on, footsore and discouraged. The wind lashed him like a whip, and, when he raised his head, the snow cut across his forehead like stripes of fire. His lips moving almost mechanically in prayer, Reuben faltered through the storm, until at last utterly exhausted he stumbled to the ground. He tried to gain his feet again, for he thought he saw a light glimmering through the trees; but he was too tired to go farther. Why should he try to reach that light, he asked himself, as he dreamily stretched his tired limbs in the snow. But he felt little Benjamin moving beneath his cloak, and with one last effort he crawled through the drifts, clinging to the trees as he moved. A few moments later he found himself before a little shack. A single tallow candle shone through the window and cast a path of light before his weary feet. Reuben lurched forward against the door; it opened beneath his weight and he fell within the hut. He had a dim vision of two men bending over him; some one was taking little Benjamin from his arms; then the warm darkness wrapped him about like a cloak, and he knew nothing more. * * * * * When Reuben opened his eyes, he found that he was resting upon a couch of skins in one corner of the hut. It was a poor place; the walls were bare, and through their chinks snows drifted upon the frozen earthen floor. Beside the pallet there was no furniture in the room save a roughly hewn table and several chairs. Near the table sat two men, the one dressed in rich garments, a sword at his side; the other clothed in dull gray, with a broad white collar and a plain beaver hat. This man held little Benjamin on his knee and stroked his dark curls as the child drank greedily from the steaming cup which the kind-eyed stranger held to his lips. Reuben sat up among the skins and noticed in surprise that his hosts had removed his wet garments and replaced them with a long, warm cloak of bearskin. What manner of men were these, he asked himself, who treated a Jewish wanderer so kindly? As he advanced timidly toward the table, the man in gray turned to him and held out his hand. "_Shalom_," he said smiling. Reuben took his hand, astonished to hear the tongue of his fathers in the wilderness of the American forests. "_Shalom aleichem_," he faltered. "But you are not a Jew." The other shook his head and answered him in English, a language Reuben had learned from the trading Englishmen and adventurers he had met while in South America. "No, but I am a minister and have studied the Hebrew tongue. And I love its greeting of 'Peace.' Would that my people were lovers of peace, even as your's have been for so long." Benjamin ran to his father. "Father," he cried, "the good gentleman gave me warm milk to drink and bread to eat and this fine cloak to wear," and he proudly smoothed the robe wrapped about his chilled limbs. The man in gray motioned Reuben to sit beside the table and placed food and drink before him. Half-famished, Reuben ate and drank, almost fearing that it would disappear as a feast sometimes does in a dream. For surely he was dreaming: when in all his wretched wandering life, had people not of his own religion given him food and shelter and received him with gentle words? His host sat upon the couch, holding Benjamin upon his knee. Now and then he spoke to the dark, haughty man who sat watching everything lazily from beneath his half-closed lids. Twice he asked Reuben whether he desired more food or drink. At last when the guest had satisfied his hunger, the host asked him from what place he had come and to what spot he meant to journey when the storm was over. "I know not," answered the Jew. "My father's family was driven from Spain. They fled to Brazil, and later settled in Cayenne, where among our brethren from Holland we found a resting place until the French destroyed our homes and drove us forth to be wanderers on the face of the earth. When this child's mother died, I longed to go to a far country where I might forget my grief a little and begin life anew. So I took my son and came here with other voyagers to your colony of New Amsterdam. But there they gave me no welcome, because I was a Jew;--even in this new country some there are who hate the children of Jacob." He leaned forward, his thin face alight with a wistful hope. "But there they told me of a new colony in the far wilderness,--a colony where men of every race, of every creed, were welcome. Far off in the swamps and forests, they said, a man named Roger Williams had established a refuge for all those who were persecuted and despised, and had proclaimed that no man would be troubled there for the sake of his religion, that each inhabitant might worship the God of his fathers in peace. So I took my staff again and my burden upon my back and my little child within my arms, and set out for this place where my son might grow up a free man, and not be called upon to forsake the faith for which we suffered in Spain." The man in the velvet coat leaned across the table and spoke to Reuben in Spanish. "I, too, came from Spain," he said, "and I, too, came as a refugee; yea, with a price upon my head, for I had been denounced to the officers of the Inquisition and was doomed to die. Yet I am a good Catholic and loyal, and did not deserve their hatred. Those who are not of my faith in this new land mistrust and despise me; but here, in the colony of Rhode Island, I may follow the religion of my fathers, and Roger Williams has given me his hand in brotherhood." The quiet man rose and again held out his hand to the Jewish wanderer. "And now I give my hand to you," he said, heartily. "My colony of Rhode Island has need of men strong enough to die--yes, and to live--for the faith they will be allowed to follow here in peace and in safety." But Reuben had caught his hand and pressed it to his heart. "You are Roger Williams, the friend of the oppressed," he said brokenly. "Yes," answered Williams, "and this day have you found a refuge with me and my people." A look of solemn hope lighted his gentle eyes. "'Tis but a lonely spot in the wilderness, and we are few in number; but some day this wide land will be a refuge to the oppressed of every nation, and all those who are persecuted and despised will find a home within its borders." Little by little, the winds outside ceased to drive the snow against the trees; the branches no longer tossed and creaked in the gale; a great white hush seemed to bless the quiet earth. The Spaniard who had walked to the window blew out the taper and pointed toward the rosy clouds. "Dawn is breaking," he said softly, and, bowing reverently above his rosary, began to tell the beads as he recited his morning prayer. Williams took a large Bible from the shelf above the couch, opened it, and, having read his morning psalm, covered his face with his hands as he knelt beside his chair to pray. With a great joy warming his heart, Reuben, no longer a wanderer on the face of the earth, put his arm about his son, and drew him to the window that he might look upon the land that his children's children and those who came after them were to inherit as their home. Then he drew his faded, tattered _talith_ (shawl worn in prayer) from his pack, put it about his shoulders, and, facing the glowing east, the home land of his fathers, he praised the God of Israel who had brought him to this place of refuge. "_Ma tobu oholekha_" ("How goodly are thy tents"), prayed Reuben, and he sobbed like a child.

Tu BiShvat

Tu BiShvat Holiday Cartoon -
The Nice Jewish Time Traveler

ATTENTION PARENTS: Below is a powerful and essentially non-verbal piece.
Yet, one that speaks volumes for the hope of a better world,
thanks to God and the innocence plus the wisdom of children.
Please watch this with your girls and boys. Then, discuss it, at an appropriate age level.

Music provides a special way for children to pray, relate to their faith, and to praise God. Watch as these young children go on a religious, musical journey.

Jewish Scholarships � Show Your Perseverance and Win

Author: Carol Evanson

Learn Hebrew Online Free - Why learn Modern Hebrew?

Unique Translation of the Paleo-hebrew Tanach

The Sukkot holiday

What is Rosh Hashanah? The Jewish New Year

American Jewish Congress

Tu BiShvat

Tu BiShvat Holiday Cartoon -
The Nice Jewish Time Traveler

Jewish Scholarships � Show Your Perseverance and Win

Author: Carol Evanson

Learn Hebrew Online Free - Why learn Modern Hebrew?

Unique Translation of the Paleo-hebrew Tanach

The Sukkot holiday

What is Rosh Hashanah? The Jewish New Year

American Jewish Congress

Tu BiShvat

Tu BiShvat Holiday Cartoon - The Nice Jewish Time Traveler

Tu BiShvat Holiday Cartoon -
The Nice Jewish Time Traveler