חג סוכות בבאר שבע, עם גשם

So many residents of Be'er Sheva celebrate Sukkot that it's hard to walk the neighborhood WITHOUT seeing a sukkah. They're made out of just about everything: from tarpaulin and camping material to wood, they're generally fairly eye-catching. Because they follow the Torah's specifications, they all have roofs made from natural materials and they're all placed so they're uncovered by natural or unnatural structures. This means, therefore, that we had quite a few Sukkot blocking our neighborhood's roadways so that it became a one-way street at times.

I spent the first night of Sukkot with my second adoptive family, along with my teaching partner. The host mom (Racheli) is a teacher at my school; her husband is fortunately very good with English (since we still hadn't had Ulpan yet), which he apparently got from living with his parents in Ireland for a few years. We had very good conversations about just about everything, especially when his parents joined the group. Also, the tunes for their prayers and songs were familiar to me (much like at Yom Kippur services) so I had an easy time joining in.

The food was amazing - especially since Racheli took the time to ensure I had vegetarian options to eat. And wow, is she a great cook! We had mushroom soup, mushroom stuffed bread, humus galore, and so much Israeli salad. Have I mentioned yet that I love Israeli food? Because I do! And I'm very much in awe of everything Racheli manages to get done between teaching full-time, being a wife, and being a mother to five children! It exhausts me just thinking about it. Basically, I've decided she's superwoman.

The family's Sukkah was made of tent material, including custom window flaps and a metal frame. The roof was made of thin wooden slats and was decorated with plastic streamers and lights. The walls had Sukkot-themed decorations, which were clearly organized with the help of the children (super cute). They even had an air conditioner, since it can still be pretty warm by that time of year (yet another similarity with Phoenix, AZ)! There was plenty of room for their family of 7, Racheli's in-laws, and my teaching partner and me.

The most memorable moment, however, was when it started to rain during dinner: it began as a sprinkle, but as dinner progressed it intensified and the wooden slats unfortunately let the rain through. It was hilarious, especially the kid's reactions. My host parents were pretty shocked to have actually got rain during Sukkot (I understand that's pretty rare here), and we eventually moved ourselves back into their apartment for dessert. Racheli's husband and two boys stayed the night in the Sukkot though, so all the mitzvot were met.

My favorite takeaway from the night was the chocolate cake and shoko (שוקו or chocolate milk) for breakfast. It's a nice tradition that I've happily adopted for my own special occasions and Shabbat mornings. I enjoyed getting to know Racheli's in-laws, who extended an invitation to stay with them some Shabbat. There's apparently a bit of a singles crisis in Jerusalem: the way she explained it, there were a bunch of single, religious men and women in Jerusalem who weren't making matches with one another. She thought it a good idea to bring me around, I guess to shake out a husband form the crowd of single, religious men? I'm still not really sure just what my limits are with religious significant others, but I imagine I'd figure it out when it came up. Now that I've re-settled, I think I should give them a call. If for no other reason, I've begun to appreciate the wonder of Shabbat in Jerusalem.

I've stayed over Racheli and her family several times since Sukkot and I'm looking forward to spending Shabbat with them again soon. Maybe I'll even wake up on Shabbat morning for tfillah services...