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Resource Category: Sukkot

Sukkot is affectionately referred to as the “Holiday of Joy” in rabbinic literature and is a celebration of the joy we feel when we recognize the many ways G-d takes care of us. Yet this holiday can also serve as a reminder to think about the people around us who are unable to feel joy for one reason or another, and to consider how we can make peaceful and safe spaces for those members of our community.

Imagine how the Jewish people may have felt following their departure from Egypt. Exhausted but hopeful, carrying the heavy burden of generations of physical and emotional pain, having experienced unbelievable miracles, it is likely that they were in some state of shock. The transition from the agony of slavery and oppression to a state of freedom and possibility was almost certainly too hard to process immediately. Instead, as they journeyed through the desert, the fledgling Jewish nation may have struggled with the overpowering feelings and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 
Sukkot is known in traditional rabbinic sources as a holiday of joy and gratitude, but what does this holiday look like for someone who can't feel that joy, either because of a chronic condition of a momentary challenge? How can we make our Sukkot places for sharing and love between people?
How does the Sukkah represent an ideal for safety, support, and love? And, how can we bring those lessons into our own lives and make Sukkot-Spaces of peace and safety?
Make Your Own Mental Health Lulav and Esrog! Sukkot, the Jewish harvest holiday of the “huts,” is a week of celebration that starts five days after Yom Kippur. Rabbinic tradition tells us a Sukkah, or temporary structure with at least three sides and a roof of thatch or branches, represents the dwellings the Israelites built  and lived in during their 40 years of wandering in the desert.