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1. The clang of metal poles and the sounds of hammering are practically constant as Jerusalem's apartment dwellers hurry to erect their sukkot and squeeze them into small balconies, odd-shaped gardens and otherwise derelict rooftops. 2. The tourists have landed! Overwhelmingly religious, English and French speaking, they jam the city's take-out places and restaurants, and may be seen in packs wandering up and down Emek Refaim Street and through the glitzy Mamilla Mall talking to their friends at top volume on their cell phones. 3. Almost every non-profit group worth their salt has scheduled a fund-raising and/or familiarization event for...

The Sukkot festival is almost here. A few days after Yom Kippur (that falls this Friday night and Saturday), Israelis celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, as it’s known in English. For seven days, Jews commemorate the time spent wandering in the desert as well as pondering the temporary nature of our own existence. How do we do this? By actually building and living in temporary booths (that’s the meaning of the word Sukkot) and Jerusalem is one of the best places to see how many variations and interpretations of a “booth” people can come up with and attach to their...

More than 35,000 people took part in the annual Jerusalem March on Wednesday, thronging the streets of the capital in celebration of Succot. Despite forecasts of rainy conditions, more than 15,000 Israeli hikers from around the country made their way along one of three routes in the morning from the outskirts of the city toward Jerusalem's Gan Sacher, recreating the pilgrimage atmosphere from the days of the Temple. The most robust of hikers made a 22-kilometer trek starting from the Castel, the site of the Independence War battle in Mevasseret Zion, while the easiest route was a five-kilometer walk from...

What could the USS Kitty Hawk and Citigroup possibly have in common? I'll start with the aircraft carrier because I'm still stewing over what happened when the People's Republic of China abruptly denied the USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying ships and submarines their routine, scheduled Thanksgiving berth in Hong Kong, where hundreds of crew members' families had gathered (at considerable expense) to celebrate the holiday with their loved ones. First, there was the nasty act itself. News accounts speculated about the "reason" -- was it President Bush's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama? Our latest arms agreement with Taiwan?...

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's financial secretary has ordered regulators to study how to reconcile Muslim financial rules with local laws in hopes of launching a market for Islamic bonds, according to a speech transcript reviewed Tuesday. Secretary John Tsang said he hopes to promote Hong Kong, a popular stock market for Chinese companies, as a gateway for Middle Eastern investment in China, according to transcripts from a Monday speech at a financial conference. "Islamic finance is an important element of the global financial system," he said. "For Hong Kong to be a major international financial center — not just...

The ceremony has become a tradition ever since the liberation of the Temple Mount during the Six-Day War in 1967 and is seen as an observance of the Jewish obligation to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Temple three times a year, on Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles). During the weeklong Pesach and Sukkot holidays, the ceremony is held on the second of the Hol haMoed (intermediate) days. Hundreds of kohanim, Jews who trace their lineage to Aaron, the first High Priest, stood closest to the Western Wall to take part in the special blessings....

MOSCOW, Russia - A huge sukka will be soon put up in Moscow to serve the needs of local Jews over the holiday of Sukkot thanks to the support of FJC CIS President Lev Leviev. The sukka taking up1500 square meters will be hosting daily festive events including Hebrew classes and lessons of Jewish traditions, lectures and reception events. Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar will be present at these festivities. The Sukka is large enough to seat 1000 people at once. The Community members will be able to perform the commandment of Arba Minim and enjoy a tasty meal...

Feeling At Home Amidst G-dliness (Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) To be Surrounded by a Mitzvah The Torah commands, "For seven days you shall dwell in sukkos [booths, tabernacles]." In defining this mitzvah, our Sages state, "You must live [in the sukkah] just as you live [in your home]." For the seven days of the holiday, all of the daily routines of our life must be carried out in the sukkah. As our Sages explain: "For all of these seven days, one should consider the sukkah as one's permanent dwelling, and one's home as temporary.... A person...

Each of the Jewish holidays is characterized by a special biblical book (megillah). On Passover, we read Song Of Songs. On Shavuot, we read Ruth. On Sukkot, we read Ecclesiastes, known in Hebrew as "Kohelet," the name by which Solomon calls himself in the book.Ecclesiastes begins, "Vanity of vanity, says Kohelet, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." It then catalogs the many life philosophies and lifestyles its author, the King of Jerusalem, experimented with and ultimately concluded were vain and empty. For this reason, people often view Kohelet as pessimistic and downbeat.Nothing is further from the truth. And that is...

People who know me know that I grew up in an apartment building in Manhattan, on 105th street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.I enjoy telling people that because of the reaction it usually elicits."Spanish Harlem? You grew up in Spanish Harlem?""Man, that's a rough neighborhood. Did you get beat up often?""Nah, you must mean West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, right?"I sort of wear my roots like a badge of courage or a medal of martyrdom, shocking people with the notion of a scrawny, Brillo-haired, yarmulke-clad kid living in the 'jungle' with inner city delinquents and rabid Jew-haters. Those familiar...

It began on Wednesday evening, as Israel began settling down for the first day of the weeklong Sukkot holiday. A Kassam rocket fired from northern PA-controlled Gaza slammed into Haggai Street in S’derot at about 17:00, critically wounding two small children who were playing together in a yard. Dorit Aniso, 18-months, and Yuval Abebeh, 4, died of their massive injuries a short time following the attack. About 25 persons were transported to hospital, with 18 reportedly treated for hysteria and anxiety. One person was seriously injured, one moderately, and the remainder light. Dorit and Yuval will be laid to rest...

An Israeli report, based on Egyptian findings, states that there is an immediate risk that the Temple Mount could collapse when many thousands of Moslems arrive for Ramadan prayers in three weeks. A report by the Israel Antiquities Authority, based on the findings of an Egyptian engineering team, states that there is an immediate risk that the Solomon's Stables area of the Temple Mount could collapse when many tens of thousands of Moslem worshipers arrive for Ramadan prayers in three weeks' time. The Authority's report says that the danger is "almost certain." Israeli security officials are taking the warnings seriously,...

Oct. 16, 2003 Vandals destroy Sukkah at Canadian university By MICHAEL FREUND Jewish students at Toronto's York University were stunned earlier this week to discover that vandals had attacked and torn down the campus Sukkah, which had been erected for Sukkot. "The Sukkah is a purely religious symbol", said Zac Kaye, Executive Director of Hillel of Greater Toronto, the campus Jewish organization. "This senseless act of desecration must act as a wake-up call for all members of the university community. Enough is enough." It is believed that the vandals responsible for the destruction of the Sukkah struck twice over the...

(IsraelNN.com) Ongoing Hamas terror attack have not succeeded in breaking the spirit of the nation. Today, officials reported an unprecedented 35,000 holiday worshipers were on hand for the traditional Birkat Cohanim prayer at the Kotel (Western Wall). Over 10,000 persons opted to visit the President’s Residence, to bestow wishes of a happy holiday on President Moshe Katsav. Even the prime minister had company. Dozens of lone soldiers visited Mr. Sharon’s sukka today, receiving warm holiday wishes from the prime minister. Jerusalem was reportedly bustling with visitors today, all seeking to share in the holiness of the city during the special...

Oct. 13, 2003 (Supreme Court of Israel:) Ultra-nationalists barred from Temple Mount By ETGAR LEFKOVITS Acting on police recommendations, the Supreme Court on Monday barred the leader of the fringe Temple Mount Faithful group, and the head of another small ultra-nationalist organization, from ascending the Temple Mount on Monday morning. The high court rejected an appeal by Gershon Solomon, and Yehuda Etzion to enter the ancient compound, after police warned that visits by either men could lead to bloodshed at the bitterly contested holy site. The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims two months ago, after nearly three years when...

Mon Oct 13,12:31 PM ET Sukkot : Orthodox Jews attend the Jewish priest's blessing ceremony for Sukkot, the feast of the Tabernacles, at the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem. (AFP/Menahem Kahana) Mon Oct 13,12:18 PM ET Orthodox Jews of the Cohanim Priestly caste participate in a blessing as they hold the four items used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, next to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City Monday Oct. 13, 2003. The holiday of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles is named for the huts the Israelites lived in as they wandered...

Sukkot Miracle In Netzer Hazani 18:21 Oct 12, '03 / 16 Tishrei 5764 Yoni and Mazal Tzen'ani and their four children were miraculously spared when a mortar shell scored a direct hit on their home in Gush Katif early Shabbat morning. "We woke up at 4 AM to the tremendous boom of a mortar shell entering our house," Yoni Tzen'ani, of Netzer Hazani, told Arutz-7 this morning. "The whole house trembled. Thank G-d we are miraculously OK. The shell landed in the living room, near the front door, and caused much destruction; this is a house that we built with...

Building The Old City 14:17 Oct 12, '03 / 16 Tishrei 5764 Tens of thousands of people are expected to visit Jerusalem daily during this Sukkot holiday week, and dozens of events are planned throughout the country. After three years of difficult renovations on a burnt-out hovel, a new Jewish property will be dedicated in the Old Citys Moslem Quartertoday: Beit Reuven, named for a victim of the 1929 Arab pogroms in the Holy Land. Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev of the National Religious Party will affix the mezuzah to the doorpost this afternoon, and a Jewish family will move...

Supporting Each Other On Sukkot 15:25 Oct 10, '03 / 14 Tishrei 5764 Soldiers of the Netzach Yehuda brigade - otherwise known as Nachal Hareidi, the military brigade established for hareidi youth - made use of a break in their ongoing security operations in the Jordan Valley this week for packing and distributing food packages to needy families for the upcoming Sukkot holiday. The packages went to hundreds of families throughout the country, through the Orot Chesed charitable organization. Orot Chesed distributes food packages before every holiday and Sabbath to needy families. Package preparation and distribution is generally carried out...