SUKKOT Shabbat Service 2011 Leviticus 23:33-37 ADONAI said to Moshe, 34"Tell the people of Isra'el, 'On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of Sukkot for seven days to ADONAI. 35On the first day there is to be a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work. 36For seven days you are to bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI; on the eighth day you are to have a holy convocation and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI ; it is a day of public assembly; do not do any kind of ordinary work. 37"'These are the designated times of ADONAI that you are to proclaim as holy convocations and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI -a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, each on its own day Leviticus 23:40-43. On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate in the presence of ADONAI your God for seven days. 41You are to observe it as a feast to ADONAI seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation, generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month. 42You are to live in sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Isra'el is to live in a sukkah, 43so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Isra'el live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am ADONAI your God.'" On Sukkot, we bind all the branches together – willows, palm branch, and myrtles. We hold this bundle in our right hand, and then lift them together with the Esrog. We then shake them all together, three times in each of the cardinal directions. The "Etrog," the Citron, resembles in its shape, the heart, the driving force behind all our actions. The "Lulav," the Palm Branch, resembles the spine, which holds the body together and, without which, we would be unable to move. The Myrtle Branches, resemble, in their almond-shape, the eyes, with which we behold God's World and the Willow Branches, resemble the lips, with which we give expression to our thoughts and feelings while speaking the Word in power. These four implements held together reveal that a person should devote all of his-or- her strength, abilities, and heart to God and His Service. Holding these four in a tight bond represents the unity that is God's goal for the His People. The bond represents the convergence of separate individuals into a People, a One New Man, with common vision, common goal, and common purpose for service to the King. "Baruch ata Adonoy, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam, asher kid'shanu bi'mitzvo-sav, vi'tzivanu al ni-tilas lulav." Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who sanctified us with His mitzvot, and instructed us to raise up the Lulav. Celebrating Sukkot and the Biblical Feasts for that matter can be difficult at best in America. Why? Because the biblical feasts are counter culture to America's commercialism based celebrations that revolve around commercialism, spending us much money as possible in an attempt to buy joy and happiness which is the polar opposite of the Feast Days.