really resented the rain!

mama-star

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 10:08 am

pina colada wrote:

we don't know why Hashem does things, it is our duty to fulfill our mitzvos b'simcha. and women are excempt from eating in the sukka so I had no problem allowing my bas mitzva dd to eat in the house which she chose to do. sorry but you sound horrid complaining about a mitzva. If you were unhappy and did it anyway, no need to air it.

correct me if I am wrong (truly) but I thought it was our duty to fulfill mitzvos, period. to be b'simcha we certainly STRIVE FOR, but the bottom line it is our duty to simply fulfill them (again, please correct me if I am wrong).

I think it is mean-spirited to tell someone that they sound "horrid" complaining about doing a mitzva. the op posted that she felt frustrated over the rain on sukkos, such a common feeling/complaint. honestly, I think that this is one of the things this website is for, a place to air our grievances and discuss our struggles as frum women. and dealing with a rainy sukkos can certainly be a struggle/frustrating.

I don't know, that's just my opinion, for whatever it's worth.

Ruchel

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 10:26 am

[quote="Raisin"]

Ruchel wrote:

The weather has been weeeiiird.... I've been thinking hard of those who have to eat in the suka! (((hugs)))

I feel bad for those who do not have the option to eat in the sukka. when the weather is reasonable (which it is when it is not raining) it is beautiful.[/quote

I agree everyone should have the opportunity to do it when they feel like it. I don't especially enjoy eating in a suka, but I have nothing against it when it's not raining or cold. We do not "really" eat there anyway, just kiddush & motzi, when we do it.

LondonIma

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 10:53 am

Pina- I will be sure next time I post something of this nature to warn viewers in my title that I am "complaining about a mitzvah"- so that people like you dont need to be offended by my HORRID feelings. You are lucky you find the koach to fulfill all the Mitzvos b'simcha (except the ones of course where we watch how we speak to people oh and how we try to be dan l'kaf zechus before name calling). As for sharing my grievences, I would much prefer to air my grievences here on Imamother where most people can take them in the spirit that they are being written so that when I go into work tomorrow andwhen I am asked by coworkers if I enjoyed my holiday I can say with a smile on my face that of course I did, a little rain never gets me down!

In the spirit of the season, I do apologise for being "horrid" and hope that other mothers out there like mama-star (thanks for your support) can accept that this simply comes from a rained out frustrated, eruv bound mother who simply wanted some sunshine!

shosh

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 11:07 am

You are not being horrid at all.

I still remember when I lived in England, sitting in the frozen, wet sukkah, with the rain falling into our soup. And we used to hang fruit from the sechach (I wasn't yet Chabad in those days, when I was a child), but we didn't tie them very well, so we'd get the odd apple falling on our heads or into the soup as well!!!!

Those were definitely the days ...

All I can say to you is that rain is a sign of brocha, so may you have plenty of brochos in many other ways, and may the worst problems in life be an abundance of brochos within your sukkah ...

merelyme

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 12:03 pm

est wrote:

I don't think of it so much as a slap in the face.

Rain on the first night of Sukkos is compared by the mefarshim to a "slap in the face," as Hashem tells us to sit in the sukkah but then does not allow us to do so.

mama-star wrote:

We are supposed to serve Hashem besimchah - "yaan asher lo avadeta es Hashem Elokecha besimchah ..." And especially on Sukkos - "vesamachta bechagecha."

TzenaRena

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 12:54 pm

Tamiri wrote:

This is a perfect example of why Jews should live in Israel, where - although it's hot - there is never a weather excuse not to sit in the Sukka. The Chagim are planned around the weather of EY, and not chu"l.

and what's with the Medrash about how when Moshiach comes, the non-jews will want the glory and rewards of the Redemption too, so Hashem will say, didn't you refuse my Torah when I offered it to you? So they will ask for another chance, and G-d will relent, and say, okay, come sit in the sukkah! (the korbonos of a total of 70 oxen which are brought on the seven days of sukkos correspond to their number, indicating that the nations of the world have a connection to sukkos, hence this particular mitzvah is offered them) They will eagerly agree to do so.

Hashem will then test them with a heat wave, and it will prove too much for them to handle...proving that the Geulah is well deserved by us Yidden, who perservered throughout the long golus, keeping the mitzvos no matter the struggle, through heat and cold, fire and water.

A Torah insight we all learned, is that while the exodus from Mitzrayim took place in the spring (motzie assirim bakosharos at a comfortable time - tehillim 68:7), sukkos is celebrated in the fall, at a time when it's not that comfortable outside,even chilly or cold in many locations. This proves that we exit our homes, and enter the sukkah not for our enjoyment or comfort, but solely in performance of the mitzvah. The holy walls of the sukkah that surround us now, commemorate the Clouds of Glory that surrounded us during Yetzias Mitzrayim.

Yet, if we would celebrate it at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the spring, or together with Pesach this would not be evident, and it could be taken simply as the Jews enjoying the outdoors....

Now I'm having nightmares picturing Pesach and Sukkos rolled in one shock

Whew, am I ever so glad it's not! Wink

Last edited by TzenaRena on Sun, Sep 26 2010, 1:58 pm; edited 2 times in total

Barbara

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 12:59 pm

shosh wrote:

Chabad doesn't tie fruit to decorate the succah? Any idea what the reasoning is?

TehillaHadassah

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 2:07 pm

we were guests in someone's Sukkah this year and so happy to be so. We were all oldsters, (really oldsters, lol.) 2 frum and one not frum survivor who had never been a Sukkah for a meal. We had a ball. It poured at one point. The Sukkah was packed. We could not move. Very Happy

Our friend was having the time of his life. Not knowing what eating in a Sukkah was about anyway, the more it rained the funnier he got. Then he got a rain drop in his tiny vodka cup and he he looked up and addressed his Creator saying "That's the vodka!" We were laughing so hard and having so much fun the Rabbi said we should train the others. I guess with a clown at every table, perhaps we could. A yid who didn't know he was not suppose to be soaked in the Sukkah. B"H

Barbara

Sun, Sep 26 2010, 2:12 pm

shosh wrote:

We used to, where I grew up as a child. It was something they did at the shul I attended, so we thought it was a good idea. Never seen it anywhere else ...

And regarding the question about decorating sukkahs, Chabad don't put decorations on the schach so as not to detract from its beauty.

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

I've never been to a Lubavitcher sukkah, but most of the other ones I've been to are decorated with fruit (fake or real), tiny (dare I say Xmas) lights, etc.

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Sep 27 2010, 1:41 pm

If I recall, there are those who do not use fruits for succah decoration because of tamei potential from being in contact with water or dew.

There was actually a funny article referenced in JC that a certain restaurant hang a melon under the succah as an ornament last year. It fell down and exploded on someone's soup bowl...

As for the weather... C'est la vie! If it's a choice between too much rain and not enough rain, I'd definitely take the former. Having said that, I concede it's not fun having to manage just one proper meal under the succah for the first 3 days. It's even less yomtovdik when you get soaked--the worst bit is arriving at a guest's house so drenched you have to ask the hostess for a change of clothes... (It had happened to me before.)

louche

Mon, Sep 27 2010, 2:53 pm

Golly, I thought the rain was kinda fun. I was worried about my menfolks getting caught in it on the way home from shul in their YT finery, and we had to hustle to bring everything that was on the table inside. We made kiddush and motzi in the sukkah with rain dripping down on us and ate the rest of the meal inside. It had been suffocatingly hot and with the rain everything cooled off and was much more pleasant.

As to fruit...a friend of ours told us they no longer hang up produce of any kind, including old esrogim, b/c what the squirrels don't ravage, the birds do!