The holiday of Sukkot is one of the most joyous ones on the calendar, in fact Zman Simchateinu (the time of our joy) is one of its names! What better way to enhance our joy by adding Sweets and Treats to our Yom Tov tables! I have even included some fun edible activities to occupy some of your childrens’ time in a fun way over the three day yom tov. My children offered some of their own insights and I will include them as well. We usually put the treats out and ask the children to give us their own explanations regarding how they relate to the weekly Parsha or holiday. This week, they participated and gave me multiple explanations for the different candy choices, some of which I will share with you. I hope they enhance your Yom Tov! Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah also lead us right into Shabbat Parshat Breisheet. As such, a Parsha treat is included as well. Chag Sameach!
Shayna Levine-Hefetz
1) Edible Activities:
Special thanks to my son, Moshe Tzvi, for helping create the edible Torahs and Sukkah pictured. The Torahs (for Simchat Torah) are made using two pretzel sticks wrapped with Fruit by the Foot. The Sukkah is made with graham cracker walls held together with Marshmallow Fluff and topped with pretzel stick schach. We were careful to space the schach so one would still see the stars in the night sky. Moshe Tzvi made a door for the Sukkah and even added some decorations made out of Fruit by the Foot. For another idea to create edible Torahs, please refer back to the blog post from Parshat Nitzavim VaYelech (Parshas Nitzavim and Vayelech)
2) Candies for Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret
– Marshmallows symbolize the clouds that protected the Jewish people as we walked in the dessert for 40 years. We sit in a Sukkah to commemorate this.
– The candy lulav and etrog sets are made out of lemon drops and green gummy worms (that were pretty straight). Another alternative for a lulav could be green sour sticks or Laffy Taffy rope.
– The three feet symbolize the Shalosh Regalim, the three festivals in which the Jews traveled to the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple) in Jerusalem, of which Sukkot is one. One of my children also suggested that they could represent the Jews walking in the dessert and being protected by Hashem.
– The candy fruit symbolize one of Sukkot’s names, Chag HaAsif, the Festival of Gathering, as we gathered all of the fruit that we harvested.
– The Lemon Heads have big smiles on their faces, as Sukkot is Zman Simchateinu, the Time of our Happiness. The jelly beans have big happy faces on them for the same reason. One of my children thought the Lemon Heads also looked like an etrog.
– The blue rock candy bits look like water. During Sukkot, there was a special celebration in the Beit HaMikdash called a Simchat Beit HaShoevah – The Rejoicing of the House of the Drawing (water), in which water was poured over the altar. It is written in the Talmud (Sukkah 51a) that “Whoever did not see this celebration never saw a celebration in his days.” It is customary in many communities to have big parties to commemorate the Simchat Beit HaShoeva on the intermediate days of Sukkot. I highly recommend attending at least one this holiday. Alternative ideas for the rock candy include the stars and the sky that one must be able to see through the schach on their Sukkah.
– The peach hearts represent the love that Gd has for us as a nation. Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah (which in Israel is celebrated in one day and outside of Israel is celebrated as two separate days) is an additional holiday added on to the end of Sukkot. Hashem loves us so much that He wanted us to have one more day to celebrate at the end of Sukkot – it is an additional holiday, not one of the 7 days of Sukkot. My 13 year old daughter Rena gave a beautiful alternative explanation for the hearts. She said that the etrog is symbolic of the heart (as they are similarly shaped) There is an explanation that the four special species we are commanded to use on Sukkot are symbolic of the parts of the body (the lulav is a spine, hadasim the eyes and aravot the lips); when brought together we indicate our desire to use our entire body to serve Gd.
3) Parshat Breisheet
Parshat Breisheet is the first Torah Portion in the Torah. Since all of creation is created in six days in this Parsha, with the seventh day set aside for Shabbat – rest, it lends itself to almost any candy choice. It also includes the story of Adam and Eve and their sin which exiled them out of the Garden of Eden. For this candy treat I chose to include gummy snakes. The snake plays a very important role in the story of the sin of Adam and Eve. We are told that the snake used to walk and talk like humans. After the snake convinced Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit, the snake was punished and its legs and power of speech were taken away. It is now only able to slither in the dirt. The story of the snake in the Garden of Eden is a reminder that we are all given many talents, but that they should only be used for good.
