Rain has been threatening all week here in the NYC area, threatening but not arriving. That is until today. Actually, we should have known it was going to arrive today. A lot of people had plans to put up their sukkahs today rather than wait to do it next Sunday, figuring it was easier to do it now than right after a taanis. What " better" weather to put up a sukkah in than typical sukkos weather.
My men folk are working around the brief breaks in the rain. First break, take out the sukkah parts. Brief break right now, start to get the walls up. Hopefully there will be enough breaks today to get the whole sukkah up and waiting. And it's not just us. With the doors and windows open I can can hear the hammers and drills buzzing up and down the block.
Clearly going to be a day for plenty of hot drinks and a hot, steaming dinner. The best line for today, however, was just delivered by one of my next door neighbors. They are out in the rain break putting away the patio chairs and the son asked his dad "Why are the neighbors building things in the rain?" The dad's answer? "They're Jewish." Yup, the whole explanation in a nutshell. We kill ourselves to afford a house with all the amenities, that will shelter us from all the weather elements, and then we go out in the rain and build a temporary dwelling that has none of those amenities. And we look forward to doing so.
7 comments:
Hot drinks and dinner sound really good right now, but here in Toronto the fast won't end for another 7.5 hours...
About the same time here Rabbi T until the taanis ends--amazing though how the thought of all that warm drink and food can keep you going. Some people cannot be anywhere around the smell of food when they are fasting. Mostly in my family a whiff of something simmering on a back burner for later is enough to get them energized and off to what they have to be doing.
Not me. I smelled my kids' lunch half an hour ago, and I still can't get back on track.
ProfK - A lot of people had plans to put up their sukkahs today rather than wait to do it next Sunday, figuring it was easier to do it now than right after a taanis.
I am very confused by this statement. Are you saying it's easier to put the sukkah up ON a taanis than after a taanis? Or are you saying that all the men woke up very early and had a hearty breakfast so they have energy to put the sukkah up?
Mark,
We may be the anomalies, but I don't think we are. The day after a major taanis like Yom Kippur is when I first feel the full affects of having fasted for 25 hours. I'm sluggish and need a push to get back into the swing of things. After a taanis like Tzom Gedaliah, when a lot of regular activities are possible, I have no after affects. On Yom Kippur I lose my energy rather quickly because there is no moving around and the concentration is on the davening and yes, on the fast itself. On Tzom Gedaliah there is still enough energy present to do something like put up the sukkah--the day after Yom Kippur doesn't have the same energy level for us.
ProfK,
Maybe it's just the difference in climate. Here in the southern part of the country, as soon as you go outside to begin any maintenance or household chore endeavor, you sweat. And you continue sweating until after you are done and have re-entered your air-conditioned home and cooled off. And 99.9% of the time, the first thing you do upon re-entering your home is to take a nice cool drink to help replenish the lost fluids while working outdoors.
Regional differences, can't underestimate them :-)
Mark,
You're quite right--the weather in NY yesterday was fairly cool, although the rain caused the humidity to be a bit higher than we would have liked. Not so sure we would have put up a sukkah had we been in LV already with its "balmy" 100+ degree weather.
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