Winter is rapidly approaching, and I am patiently waiting for a few dry days so that my Sukkah boards will dry out.  Personally, I don’t like winter, and I don’t enjoy the snow, however, from a Jewish perspective, winter isn’t really so bad.  One reason that we are positive about winter in traditional Jewish thought is due to the fact that when winter arrives the nights are longer. Nights are ...

Five days after the solemnity and intensity of Yom Kippur, Sukkot, the festival of joy and happiness, begins.  The Torah describes the festival as follows: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the festival of Sukkot, a seven-day period for G-d: On the first day shall be a sacred holy day when you shall not do any laborious work… On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather ...