Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, is actually two Appointed Times back-to-back: the festival of Sukkot for seven days followed by Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day Assembly. Sukkot begins on the fifteenth day of Tishrei, or Tuesday, September 21, 2021, and goes through Monday, September 27. Shemini Atzeret is on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. More accurately, these dates like all other Hebrew dates begin at sundown the evening prior.

When the patriarch Jacob awoke to find he was married to the wrong sister, he was told, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn.” Sometimes what people view as acceptable in relationships is largely a cultural issue.

This past week I took some things over to my son’s home, and when I went into the living room my 10-year old grandson was sitting on the couch. He looked up at me and said, “I’m reading the Bible.”

How pure is pure? Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver. Ivory Soap is “ninety-nine and forty-four one hundredths percent pure.” Those numbers, no matter how good they may sound, mean that each contains something regarded as impure.

Tefillat Amidah, or the Standing Prayer, is perhaps the most commonly referenced liturgical prayer in the Jewish or Hebrew faith. Traditionally, observant Jews pray the Amidah three times a day.