SEPTEMBER

SOMETIMES WHILE I'M READING GOD WILL SHOW ME A WORD THAT'S NOT THERE. I KNOW IT SOUNDs WEIRD BUT IT'S TRUE. I MET SOMEONE A WHILE BACK AND ONE DAY I WAS SOMEWHERE AND I SAW THE WORD 'MUSLIM' WHILE LOOKING AT A SIGN. I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THE SIGN ACTUALLY SAID BUT IT WAS NOWHERE CLOSE TO MUSLIM. I KNEW GOD WAS TELLING ME THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS PERSON WHO HAD TOLD ME HE WAS A CHRISTIAN. TODAY I GLANCED DOWN AT SOME PAPERWORK AND SAW THE WORD SUKKOT; I KNEW IT WAS A JEWISH WORD BUT I DID NOT KNOW WHAT IT MEANT. GOD HAS LED ME TO OBSERVE JEWISH HOLIDAYS AT TIMES,MOSTLY PRAYING AND FASTING DURING THAT TIME. TODAY GOD ALSO TOLD ME THAT I NEEDED TO WORSHIP ..NOT JUST TO WORSHIP BUT TO WORSHIP LIKE I HAD NEVER WORSHIPPED BEFORE. ANYWAY THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER IS A VERY SIGNIFICANT TIME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE; THIS MONTH HAS ROSH HASHANAH (OBSERVED SEPTEMBER 16-18) WHICH IS THE "HEAD OF THE YEAR", THE FIRST DAY OF THE JEWISH YEAR;YOM KIPPUR (SEPTEMBER 25-26) WHICH IS THE DAY OF ATONEMENT, PEOPLE USUALLY FAST DURING THIS TIME; AND SUKKOT SEPTEMBER 30 THROUGH OCTOBER 7...BELOW IS INFORMATION I HAVE GOTTEN ABOUT SUKKOT FROM VARIOUS SITES:
What is Sukkot? The Sukkah, the Four Kinds, the "Water-Drawing Celebrations," the meaning of unity, the dynamics of joy...
For forty years, as our ancestors traversed the Sinai Desert, following the Exodus from Egypt, miraculous "clouds of glory" surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember God's kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah--a hut of temporary construction with a roof covering of branches--for the duration of the Sukkot festival (on the Jewish calendar Tishrei 15-21). For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah and otherwise regard it as our home. Another Sukkot observance is the taking of the Four Kinds: an etrog (citron), a lulav (palm frond), three hadassim (myrtle twigs) and two aravot (willow twigs). On each day of the festival (excepting Shabbat), we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing over them, bring them together in our hands and wave them in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and backward. Our sages in the midrash tell us that the Four Kinds represent the various types and personalities that comprise the community of Israel, whose intrinsic unity we emphasize on Sukkot. Sukkot is also called The Time of Our Joy; indeed, a special joy pervades the festival. nightly Water-Drawing Celebrations, reminiscent of the evening-to-dawn festivities held in the Holy Temple in preparation for the drawing of water for use in the festival service, fill the synagogues and streets with song, music and dance until the wee hours of the morning. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshaana Rabbah ("Great Salvation") and closes the period of Divine judgment begun on Rosh Hashanah. A special observance is the aravah--the taking of a bundle of willow branches.