Greetings this Jewish holiday season. I love Tishrei (the current Jewish month) and its never-ending series of holidays.

Today I began building my very first personal sukkah. I lived in apartments for many years and couldn’t have my own Sukkah. Now that I’m in a house, I bought a Sukkah kit. I can’t wait to finish it over lunch tomorrow and use it for all of Sukkot.

You can learn about many different aspects of Sukkot from basic to indepth on My Jewish Learning.

Sukkot challenges us to reflect on the meanings of shelter and the fragility of shelter. This year, with the recent devestating earthquakes, mudslides, hurricanes and storms all over the world, the message seems especially poignant. Each of us is responsible to help the homeless, the displaced and all for whom fragile housing is a daily event.

May the Holy One shelter all, whatever our ethnicity, our faith, our status or orientation.

Wishing all my Jewish readers a meaningful Yom Kippur and a relatively easy fast.

May you and yours be sealed in the Book of Life.

I spoke with a friend this evening and we talked through some rough moments in our friendship. It was a long and sometimes difficult conversation. In the end, I we improved our friendship and repaired some past hurts. This is part of what teshuvah (turning inward and bettering the ways where we have missed the mark) is all about.

I pray that your process of teshuvah, growth, reflection and repair is going well.

G’mar khatimah tovah,
May you and yours be sealed in the Book of Life.