Monday moed musings

This weekend was the beginning of the holiday of Sukkot (often translated as the Feast of Tabernacles). With the holidays all coming so early this year (this is about as early as the holidays can fall), we've actually had weather conducive to celebrating this holiday. Some background for those of you unfamiliar with this holiday: On Sukkot, we build temporary dwelling places and turn them into our "houses" for the week. This practice manifests itself differently in different parts of the world. See, when we all lived in the warmer climes, it was possible to do everything that you'd usually do in your house - eat, sleep, etc. - out in the sukkah. In New England, this isn't usually the case. In the 30+ years I've lived in New England, we've had almost every weather type conceivable for sukkot - hurricanes, snow, heat, drenching rain. So this year, I was pleasantly surprised to find the weather cooperating for all the meals over the weekend. Well, the bees didn't cooperate, driving us inside both days for lunch, but dinners were lovely outside (that's the downside of pleasant Sukkot weather in Boston - bees with attitudes).

This is one of two holidays that we have that is bracketed with yom tov days (Passover is the other one), making the week one that is not completely holiday but not completely weekday either. It's sort of a weird mishmash of observance - we still say prayers special to the holiday during the week, but - unlike on the yom tov days, I can work and log on and do other types of work-related things. Instead of just saying "hello" to our friends, we wish people "moed tov," which basically means "good season."

So, I wish you all - whether or not you celebrate Sukkot - a moed tov