Celebrating the High Holy Days with Messiah

Creation Fellowship and the Program’s Mission

Okay, and we are live. Okay. I'm Terry cameras out here on behalf of creation fellowship Santee, where a group of friends bound by our common agreement that the creation account as told in Genesis is a true depiction of how God created light, the world and all life in just six days, about 6000 years ago, we've been meeting online in this format since May of 2020 and we've been blessed with over 80 speakers who have come and presented to us on a blend of topics that include creation science current events and other theology type topics.

You can find links to most of our past presentations by visiting tiny URL .com forward slash CF Santee that see like creation F like fellowship Santee is spelled s a n t e, while there you can also find a list of our upcoming speakers for the remainder of 2023.

And then, like I said you can click on the archives link to find links to most of our past past presentations. You can also email us at creation fellowship Santee at gmail .com to get on our on our email list.

We promise not to spam but we will send you invitations to our upcoming speakers, so you won't miss any. Tonight we're blessed to have one of those other theology topics are good friendly Lonnie Melendez is with us to share about her family's experience and also how we can incorporate celebrating the high holy days as part of our worship to the Lord.

Lailani is a homeschool mom of four, including one special needs daughter, and she has a YouTube channel called living with Eve where she chronicles her adventures and maybe some misadventures with her homeschool journey with her family.

She also works to serve homeschool families, living with Eve offers guidance resources and support so that parents can be empowered to meet their exceptional child's educational and develop developmental needs.

We're happy to have her join us tonight. With that, I'll turn it over to you Lailani. Right. Thank you, Terry. Okay.

Messianic Identity, Torah, and the High Holy Days

So tonight, I am going to be talking about the high holy days with Messiah. So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen. So you can see the presentation. So the high holy days with Messiah. Now, let me introduce this is me.

This is my family because she did mention that I'm a homeschool mom I have a YouTube channel. And so this is my wonderful family that I pretty much pour everything into. And so I'm a homeschool mom of four.

But the one thing that's really unique about who we are, or who I am, I've actually attended a messianic congregation or we actually call it a synagogue for over 20 plus years. And so my husband when I married him he was very much interested in that, and he jumped right on board and has taken a leadership role at the congregation.

And so that's pretty much our family. So we're going to talk a little bit about the high holy days. And first, knowing that I am a messianic believer, I'm not Jewish, I wasn't born Jewish. This is how I actually became a believer was through a messianic congregation.

And there's a whole story that goes along with that but I'm not going to get into that, but what is messianic Judaism. So, to sum it up, it's Jews and Gentiles coming together to worship, and there's really no distinction between the two, we're just one big family.

And I kind of joke around a lot because at our congregation you can't really tell who's Jewish and who's not. And we're also extremely multicultural so we have people everywhere from Latin America, from the Middle East, we've got Israelis we've got Africans we got people from Madagascar we've got people from Eastern Europe, Europe, you got Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, I mean we're, it's from all over and it seems like when you walk in it, you feel like you're the minority because it's so multicultural.

And it's actually very beautiful because you can't distinguish the difference. So we do believe that Jesus, and we do call him Yeshua in the congregation he's the divine son of God and only way to salvation.

And we also believe in the Trinity, and the entire Bible, nothing left out nothing added in is the only truth that is divinely inspired. We do keep some Jewish traditions, and the one thing that really does distinguish us besides the Jewish traditions is we keep Torah, and the biblical feast or the High Holy Days.

And so that's what I'm going to share with you today, explaining what the High Holidays or High Holy Days are, how we keep them and how we keep them with Messiah in mind and at the forefront. So, this is like my contribution now to science.

The Hebrew Calendar and the Biblical Feast Cycle

This talk. So, the calendar is very unique, the Hebrew calendar. The months are lunar, and so you have 29 days a month, 12 hours 44 minutes and 3 .5 seconds if you really want to break it down, but the years are solar so you've 365 days 48 minutes and 46 seconds.

And so there are exactly 11 extra days. So, in a 19 year cycle, they actually will add an extra month for your 368 1114 17 and 19 so they really thought this out. And another thing to know about the Hebrew calendar is that a day actually will start at sunset, and will end the following day at sunset.

So for example on Friday nights is when our Shabbat starts, and it ends on Saturday night, which is really cool so Rosh Hashanah, which is one of the ones that we're going to be talking about today. That one is actually going to start tomorrow night when the sun sets, and then it ends when the sun sets on the following day.

So, the High Holy Days, so there's a lot of, I mean I'm just going to get down to the nitty gritty the ones that are mentioned in Scripture. Now there's Passover now there's actually an order. So, the first one in the first month, actually, is Pesach, which is Passover.

And so, biblically speaking, the beginning of the year is going to happen in that March, April time, which is Passover. Now, you're going to hear me talk about Rosh Hashanah being the head of the year.

That is not biblical that is more having to do with, I guess the best analogy to put it this way, is if you look at America how we run things, the beginning of the year is January 1, and that's how we follow the calendar year, but the beginning of the school year is going to be in August.

And that's kind of how this works Passover is the beginning of the year, but then Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of like the school year, if that makes sense. So Passover is the beginning of the year and then we have Shavuot, Yom Teruah, which is Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement, and Sukkot, which is the Festival of Booths.

And I did not mention Purim, or Hanukkah, or the trees, and that's because those are not high holy days. Those are holidays, but they're not the holy days that are mentioned in Leviticus 23. So I'm really just going to focus in on those, but I'm also going to break that down a little bit more, because Passover, Pesach, and Shavuot are going to be the spring festivals, and Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot are the fall festivals.

And because we're moving into the fall season, I am going to focus a little bit more on those fall festivals. I will be honest, Passover in and of itself is so intricate. I could talk an entire hour about how every little thing about Passover just symbolizes and just represents and points to our Messiah.

It's almost ridiculous. It's not ridiculous, I shouldn't say that. It's really cool, actually, and especially how it moves into Shavuot is really, really cool. So I'm not going to spend too much time on that.

But I do want to point out, why would a Christian even want to celebrate these holidays? So there's a couple reasons that come to mind. It marks through the year what our Messiah has done and will do for us.

All of these, and it's so cool, actually, because the Jewish community who don't recognize Jesus as their Messiah is celebrating these things. And it's actually kind of mind boggling sometimes that they don't see this, because I see it so plainly.

It's so beautiful. You can't walk through these High Holy Days without recognizing him through going through these. And it's just, I don't know, you'll see as I go through this talk. Okay, so it also illustrates the love of God for his people.

So it actually, when you walk through each of these five, it's going to illustrate a pattern of a wedding. And I'll talk a little bit about that as we go through. It also helps us understand how the sacrificial system connects with Messiah.

And I know a lot of people will skip over that because sometimes the sacrificial system is a little bit boring for some, not for everyone. I love reading about that stuff. But it really, really connects with the Messiah.

And it just, I always laugh because I love reading through Leviticus. There are little things that you would never guess connect to Messiah. But when you read them and see how they're quoted in the New Testament, it's just, every time I go through it, it's something new and exciting.

So it also helps us understand why the Lord gave the biblical feast to us in the first place. And when I say us, I do incorporate Jew and Gentiles because it is, it's still there. I mean, Christians are going to look at the entire Bible.

So they are there. And it also connects the Old and New Testament together. And one of my favorite things, well, all of this is really, really good. I shouldn't say favorite, but when you go through, it's like, you know, kinesthetic learners.

Okay. I'm a kinesthetic learner. Learning, learn through doing things together as a community, as you're walking through these things, especially with your kid, it's really imprinting these ideas in their minds and just what Jesus has done for us.

And what he's going to do for us, it just, it adds an extra level of intimacy with him. So that's why I would think a Christian would want to celebrate it. So where does it start? We're going to talk about briefly, this is so hard to do briefly Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the Omer Count

So, I mean, I don't even know where to begin, but I'll try. This one usually falls around Easter, a lot of resurrection Sunday, and it usually falls during that week, sometime during that week. So you've got, you know, obviously the Passover, right?

When Judas, you know, and he was taken in and then he died, he resurrected and then redemption, all of that whole everything. And even the Passover Seder itself, there's so much symbolism. I mean, there's this thing called the Afikoman.

It's part of the matzah and there's like three pieces. You take the middle one out, you break it, like his body was broken for us. You hide it, the kids find it. You can't continue with the Passover until you have the Afikoman.

And actually the Afikoman is part, because it is, it's basically a communion. You cannot complete the Seder without the Afikoman and the Afikoman is literally the last thing that you eat during the Passover Seder for the night.

So it's just, it's so beautiful and how the kids are so involved. That's just a little taste of it. So marriage. All right. This is how it relates to the marriage. Redeeming of the bride. So it is actually a tradition to read through the Song of Solomon during Passover.

Experience what the disciples did with Yeshua on Passover. I mentioned that and just lots and lots of symbolism. So just quoting from Leviticus 23, because all of these high holy days are going to be coming from Leviticus 23.

So this one says in the first month, which this is the first month on the 14th day of the month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Then on the 15th day, this is actually cool. On the 15th day of the same month, there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord.

For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall have a holy convocation, which is basically getting together with your community. And you shall not do any work. You get to be lazy and enjoy each other and worship the Lord.

But for seven days, you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious works. So the first and the seventh day, you don't work.

Now it does say offer by fire. We don't have a temple or anything like that. So that can't happen. But there's no work first and seventh day of unleavened bread. It's set for cooking. Actually, that's an exception mentioned in Exodus 12, 16.

Holy convocation, prayer, worship, scripture reading, praising with your community, unleavened bread. So that's a testimony of the Jews leaving Egypt, and there was no time for the dough to rise. And unleavened actually represents sin.

That's from 1 Corinthians 5, 7 through 8. Resurrection Sunday is usually the Sunday during Feast of Unleavened Bread. So it's really funny too, because I didn't mention this. Every time I go to Easter lunch or dinner with my in-laws, I always have to bring matzo because we can't eat anything.

So, I mean, we can eat stuff. We just have to bring matzo with us and we can't eat dinner rolls. And it's funny because my husband's side of the family, they really will partake in the matzo. And it's really kind of cool.

So, okay, so the next thing that happens, and it kind of runs into it, which is the Omer and counting of the Omer, and that's also Leviticus 23, 9 through 16. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, when you enter the land, which I'm going to give to you and you gather its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

You shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted. On that day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect as a burnt offering to the Lord.

Okay, so there's this idea of sacrificial lamb, which memorial blood on the doorpost, death of the firstborn, pointing to death of Messiah, our freedom came at a great price, and we are beyond thankful.

So actually one of the songs that we sing during the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover is called Dayenu, which is, you've done enough. It's this idea of, I am sure a lot of you have heard it, Dayenu, you've done enough, and you just keep giving us blessings.

So, and we are just beyond thankful. So it's really cool song. So you shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath. From the day when you brought in the sheaf, the wave offering, there shall be seven complete Sabbaths.

You shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. A lot of that, I'm not going to go in depth with that, but basically what's really cool is after, or at a certain point during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, you're going to count down to Shavuot by offering the first fruits of your harvest.

And obviously we just count the Omer, we just say a prayer in the morning, we're just counting down to Shavuot. It's like this anticipation of a greater harvest. So we're going to have faith and trust that the Lord is going to give us something more, and in anticipation.

So it's like a countdown to that, right? It's kind of, to me, it kind of reminds me of the countdown to Christmas that we do. I've always wanted to make one of those things for the Omer where you open the little door and get a candy for the day.

I've always thought about that as a fun little kid's craft, but I haven't done it yet. So it's the same idea. You're anticipating a greater harvest. So, and this was the time when Jesus spent with the disciples after the resurrection.

So, and he said to them, It is not for you to know times, which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witness both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth.

And that's from Acts 7 through 8. So then we get to Shavuot. Yay! So this is, this is just, I love this holiday. It's just so, it's the, it's when the Torah was given to Moses and also, so this one has been fulfilled.

That's another thing I forgot to mention too, is Passover has been fulfilled. Shavuot has been fulfilled because the Torah was given to Moses and the Spirit of God was poured out during this holy day in Acts 2.

And it's just a really, really exciting, fun day. In regards to marriage, this is like the marriage contract that, you know, the Torah was given to Moses. This is the promise that he's going to keep, right?

A marriage contract, actually what's fun, it's called a ketubah. So it's just a beautiful love relationship that God has with his people. So Shavuot is just very, very loving, loving holiday. So then we get a big giant break after Shavuot.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Teruah, and the Call to Repentance

Huge break, because Shavuot usually happens around April, May, and then we get the summer off. There's no little holidays between there. So then we get, we might get Holocaust Remembrance Day. I know they do that in Israel, but that's not a high holy day.

So then we get Yom Teruah. And that actually is what's, it's the start of the fall feast. And that one is what is starting tomorrow night at sunset. So it's, a lot of people know it by Rosh Hashanah. Scripturally, it's Yom Teruah.

Yom Teruah translates to Day of the Blowing. And blowing what? Blowing shofars is actually what it is. It gives a lot of, the translation sometimes says trumpets, but it's shofar, which is actually a ram's horn.

Rosh Hashanah actually means head of the year. And so when you translate it, a lot of people will just say feast of trumpets or blowing of the trumpets. And so going back to Leviticus 23 -24, it says, speak to the sons of Israel saying, in the seventh month on the first of the month, you shall have a rest and remind again, resting.

I love this because every single one of these high holy days, we get to rest and be with our community. So in the seventh month on the first of the month, you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

You shall not do any laborious works, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. So Yom Teruah Rosh Hashanah. Some traditionally, it does say a memorial. Some people will say it's a memorial of the creation of the world.

They get that from Job 38 -7. Some will say it's a memorial of the substitution of a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. They get that from Genesis 22. But basically, it is blowing of shofar. It's a call to repentance, reflection, and getting our relationship right, getting our attention.

Because when we enter into these high, it lasts for about a month, these high holy days, the shofar blast is like, hey, wake up. Now you're going to spend time with me. And we really, I know for us as a homeschool family, we really pull back on a lot of the homeschool.

So we're at service a lot. We're with our friends more. And I'll show you, I'll explain a little bit later why we're with our friends a lot during this time. But it's getting ourselves right with the Lord, but it's also spending time with Him.

And it's, I don't know how to explain it. It's just so beautiful. So I put some scripture verses underneath that yellow line, just to kind of give you some idea of the shofar. Sounded when Moses received the Torah, Exodus 19.

Signals the time of war, Judges 3 .27. Start of the Jubilee year, which is actually really interesting. That's Leviticus 25 .9. Coordination of a new king. So another thing that we, I'm probably going to say this on another slide, but there's this idea of making bread in the shape of a crown.

And it's this idea that our king sits on the throne, but on Judgment Day, he's going to give us a crown. And we're going to be his. And so it's just, there's so much beauty behind it. Warning of danger when you hear the shofar.

Arrival of Messiah, Zechariah 9 .14. I mean, I could spend forever talking about these scriptures and there's just this one, this specific one, I would say has not been fulfilled. And it's just this anticipation, of course.

I know, let's see, maybe it's in the, yeah, I'm going to go to the next slide. So Yom Teruah Rosh Hashanah, some traditions. Let me go into that first. So food, apples and honey. Because I mentioned earlier that this is the start of the, it's called the civil year.

Actually, I didn't mention that. It's the head of the civil year. Just like the school when you start school in August, that's the head of the school year. But the civil year. And that's the sweet new year.

Apples and honey represent sweet new year. And then the round challah, there you go. I mentioned the crown, the kingship of our Lord. Now, the book of life is actually something that comes from the Talmud.

Now, I am, me personally, I am not a fan of the Talmud. But I know a lot of people are. And there are some things from the Talmud that are very interesting to read. So the book of life actually is Talmudic, Judgment Day is what it talks about.

Those who return to God are actually written in the book of life. So obviously we know because of our Messiah and because of what he did for us, we're in the book of life, no matter what we do. It is what he did that has saved us.

There's nothing we could do. Us celebrating Rosh Hashanah doesn't get us an in. It's what he did. And that is something that's so beautiful that we know. And so I just think that's a really interesting thing to talk about during Yom Teruah.

Some other traditions. This one is absolutely beautiful. And that's my daughter, if you see her holding the bread. By the way, I will point out that all of these slides have pictures of people in my congregation and actually some of them I took.

But so that's my daughter and her two friends. Anyway, so Tashlik, this is us doing Tashlik. And it's casting stones or bread. So you find an area that's flowing water and you cast stones or bread into the water.

It's almost like casting sin. I mean, obviously, we're not the Lord himself is the one that takes away our sin. And so I put Yeshua, Jesus, has taken our sin away from us and removed them as far as the east is from the west.

He has made us clean by his sacrifice. And so I know when we don't do Tashlik, we go out to the bay and we throw that bread. And it's just a reminder that the fish eat it up and our sin is no longer seen.

We're just clean because of what he did for us. So and it's a nice little tradition because we talk about this with our kids and they're doing it at the same time and they're doing it with their friends.

I don't I just it's such a perfect teaching. I don't know. I love it. So, yeah, that's my daughter, by the way. She's I remember doing this when she was trying to eat it. And so we're like, no, throw through.

But who is who is a God like you who pardons wrongdoing and passes over a rebellious act of the remnant of his possessions? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again take pity on us.

He will trample on our wrongdoings. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and favor to Abraham, which you swore to our forefathers from the days of old.

And that's from Micah 7, 18 through 20. So Rosh Hashanah also carries with it an eschatological emphasis. So it's looking into the future when Yeshua or Jesus will reign as king upon this earth. When he comes, the shofar will sound.

First Thessalonians 4, 16, announcing his kingship. And he will set up his throne in Jerusalem. And we celebrate Rosh Hashanah. We thus anticipate the coming in of our king Messiah. For to him, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord.

And so this is a nice little quote I found from Tim Haig from one of his books, Torah Living. He is a Messianic believer and it's just beautiful, the season. But then we have 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur, the High Priest, and the Cleansing of the Bride

And so there is kind of a stigma with Yom Kippur as being so incredibly depressing. And I'm going to make it sound like the coolest holiday because, and not that I play favorites or anything, but I really, really love Yom Kippur so much.

I love Passover, but Yom Kippur has to be up there on my top holidays. So there's 10 days that you spend between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And traditionally they're called the 10 days of awe. And all it really means is we're just really reflecting on us.

And just reflecting on our sin, reflecting on what the Lord has done for us. And I know that our, we actually call him a rabbi, congregational leader. And he actually writes many times, I'm pretty sure he does this every year, writes like a little devotional that we can do.

And we go together as a community through it. And it's just a nice little time to reflect and pray and just take time because then when you get to Yom Kippur. So what it says here, it says on Yom Kippur, the high priest enters the Holy of Holies.

It only happens one time a year. So there's a connection in what he wears to the sacrifices and task to Messiah. And so I wrote some, if you guys want to jot that down and look it up later, feel free.

It's like Leviticus 1 -8, chapters 1 -8 and Exodus 28. I'm not going to get into all of it. But the big thing though for Yom Kippur, because one, he's our high priest, right? But that's the biggest thing.

I don't even know why there's anything bigger. But the thing that people don't like about Yom Kippur is the fasting all day. Which usually you do it together with your congregation or your community. And I actually really enjoy doing this because when I don't eat for a really long period of time, I get real with people.

And everybody is really, you see everybody's true colors come out. Because when I say that we spend the day together, the only thing we don't spend together is when we're all asleep in our own homes. Because we have service that night through the night.

We all go home extremely tired. We wake up the next morning. We show up to synagogue and we have service until sunset. And then we break the fast together and eat a big meal together. And we are literally with each other.

We're watching each other's kids. We're praying together. I mean, I'll show you in another slide, but you'll see. It's really, really cool because you see the ugly in people. And because it's Yom Kippur and we're all reflecting on repentance, we're reflecting on what Messiah has done for us.

There's like this extra sense of sensitivity. I can't really explain it, but it's beautiful. So, Leviticus 23, 27. Also, the 10th day of the seventh month shall be the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you.

You shall afflict your souls and afflict your souls like fast and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. So, this is actually traditionally the holiest day of the year concerning ourselves with the cleansing, atoning work of Messiah.

Praise and joy because he did it. Now, this is a picture of my congregation. It is a tradition to wear all white because of what he's done for us. And you can see that we're a pretty large congregation.

And we do love each other. Here's another scripture. But when Messiah appeared as a high priest of the good things having to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands.

That is, not of this creation and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood. He entered the place, the holy place, once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption. So, it's Hebrews 9, 11 through 12.

And so, this is what I was trying to talk about earlier where it's like we get real and we get ugly with each other. And this is literally pictures from Yom Kippur. We wear all white. We dance. That's another thing that's really fun is we'll dance together.

We do something called remembrance candles, which is just a, it's a traditional thing where we remember the people that have passed away over the years. And we just, we remember them. We light a candle for them.

And it's just a sweet little tradition. We do read the book of Jonah because, I don't know, that's the fun redemption story. And, oh, Jonah's really cool because, I mean, every year with Yom Kippur, we go through Jonah.

And there's just so many connections with Messiah through that entire book. It's so awesome. We do prayer and liturgy. And then at the end of the day, we break the fast together, which is, we're all like, oh, I'm so hungry.

And then, and it's so funny because all the leadership tend to go last and it's, I don't know, I can't explain it. It's like getting together with your family and starving all day and then having a meal.

And it's just beautiful. There, Ne 'ilah is actually the Hebrew term, the shofar blast at the end to end the fast. So there's a shofar that sounded to end and break the fast. Marriage-wise, this represents the cleansing of the bride because, you know, it's this idea that the bride has been unfaithful to her husband in the past.

And so she's cleansed before she's, and that's why, you know, women wear white when they go get married. But it's this cleansing of the bride before she actually gets married. There's some really deep symbolism there.

I don't know if I have time to get into it because I have several more slides, but it's a beautiful picture. Okay. And then we finish Yom Kippur and we get a little break. Not much because then we have Sukkot and Sukkot is the fun one.

Sukkot, the Harvest Festival, and Dwelling with the King

So this is actually, I'll tell you straight up. This is a picture of my backyard and that's my son and that's our Sukkah. So Sukkot, Leviticus 23, 33 through 44 is where it's mentioned. And this one actually will last for seven days.

The first and the last day is a Shabbat and a holy convocation. It is actually the marriage ceremony and the dwelling together forever with the king and forever with your husband or wife. So this is when you're married and live together.

And this is the idea prophetically when we will be with him. So we are supposed to actually live in a Sukkot or a Sukkah or a Hutz, it's spelled differently, or booths during the seven days. We don't live because it's really humid in Florida, but we do eat our meals out in the Sukkah.

In Israel, they have these Sukkahs everywhere. We're actually also commanded to rejoice. And traditionally, and this is fun, we read Ecclesiastes joyfully. As hard as some of us may find it, but you read it with joy in mind.

These are pictures of some Sukkahs in Israel. And you can see they're pretty serious. They literally are putting them out on their balconies to live in them. And what's nice about Israel is actually during this time of year, it's very not humid, very dry, and it doesn't rain.

So they can just leave pictures out, they could leave food out. It's just, I mean, maybe not food because the bugs will eat it. But if they do a painting, they can put the painting up on the wall of the Sukkah.

The kids will do paintings, will also make these paper chains, and they'll hang paper chains. I know in Florida, we make the chains out of foam because it rains a lot during this time of year. And the foam won't get destroyed while paper will.

That's a little trick I've learned over the years. But Israel is very serious about having these beautiful Sukkahs just everywhere, all over. They say going to Israel during Sukkot is one of the most beautiful, beautiful times.

It's beautiful because everybody's commanded to rejoice so everybody's happy. So I put in here Leviticus 23, 39 through 44. On exactly the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops, remember there's also harvest festival.

Gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day, you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches, and branches of trees with thick branches and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

So you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a permanent statue throughout your generations, and you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days.

All the native born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord. So talking about all those things like the foliage of beautiful tree, palm branches, that kind of stuff. I'm going to talk about that next slide.

But first, commanded to be joyful. This is a joyful gathering. Here is how we do it. I have pictures from my congregation. The day before Sukkot actually happens, before sunset, we actually will gather together and build and decorate the sukkah.

So you can see everybody grabbing the flowers. We have like, you know how people have Christmas bins, and they have decorations in their Christmas bins and tinsel? We literally have like sukkah bins of like flowers and leaves and decorations.