It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Sukkot

it is10:00 a.m. in the holy city of safed.  my neighbor just finished putting up the frame of my sukkah.  I was not planning on putting up the sukkah this year.  the kids are spending the first part of the holiday with the Sephardi clan.  I am sure I can wrangle a place there, too.  it will be sheer madness. the ladies will be going up and down a very steep stairwell to bring the food into the sukkah.  I declined to go there the last couple of years because I dreaded the stairwell.  I haven't made up my mind yet.  who knows?  perhaps, I won't be included this year.

yesterday, I made up about 250 tiny cellophane baggies for the Sephardi family's bas mitzvah next week.  I no longer make chocolates.  I buy chewy candies and stuff one into the cellophane baggie and close it with a sticker for the appropriate occasion.  this crowd loves their candy.  I am planning on going to Jerusalem next week for a few days and the daughter-in-law is planning on going to the cousin's bat mitzvah in hadera.  I am covering all of the bases.  I am trying to be flexible.

I went to the supermarket twice and stocked up on chicken wings, lamb kabobs, hamburgers, steaks and franks for the second half of the holiday.  my son likes to barbecue in the daytime.  I cooked some chicken and meatballs and froze them for the night meal next week.  I also bought prepared salads and kugel so if I decide to stay longer in Jerusalem, we will have food already prepared. I am not much in the mood for baking so I bought prepared cakes.  I still need to make something to eat for Shabbat.  I'm not so inspired.

I managed to fall off of a plastic chair a couple of days before Rosh Hashanah.  I was hanging curtains in a bedroom downstairs and went flying off of the chair.  I broke the fall with my elbow and wrist and then the back got the shock of hitting the stone floor.  I was extremely lucky to have not fallen on my head or directly onto my back.  it was miraculous that I didn't break my arm.  I was in a lot of pain for the holiday and shabbat.  I got sick and spent the second day of Rosh Hashanah in bed.  not my finest hour.  I did manage to hear the shofar blowing in synagogue.

I got through yom kippur pretty easily.  I am still feeling sore parts of my body from the fall.  it was hard to cough at the beginning as the ribs were bruised.  I was not looking forward to lifting the metal polls of the sukkah.  I managed to bring them up from the storage area downstairs, but didn't get very far into the construction.  I didn't remember exactly how to do it.  my 9 year old grandson put it together for me last year in about 6 minutes.  I dreaded climbing the ladder to place the wooden boards on top.  now, I don't need to.  living in a Sephardi neighborhood and looking old has its benefits.

the men here are strong and macho.  building a sukkah is a guys' thing, anyway.  women are not even commanded to eat in them.  I don't know why I even bothered this year.  I am planning on being away.  I have to tie the material around the sukkah now.  it is a big drag.  I don't really feel like hanging all of my plastic fruits up,either.  my back hurts and my knee is on the fritz.  last year we had a family cook out.  we had over 20 people downstairs.  a few of the men had to squeeze into the small sukkah.  I used to put up one that was 4x2 meters.  now I only put up a 2x2 meter sukkah.  four can sit comfortably.  I am not planning on having any guests.

I saw my sister before yom kippur.  she wished me a holiday greeting and ran off.  that was our first exchange in over a year since our blow out.  it was bittersweet.  it is what it is.  I am hoping this year to be stronger and wiser.  I do not want to judge anyone nor do I want to get hurt so easily by others.  of course, this is easier said than done.  it requires building stronger personal borders and not having any expectations of people.  it also requires seeing others' differences as interesting and not hurtful.  enough of the pyscho babble for now.   I am off to the supermarket to return the empty bottles.