Jewish people have just come to the end of a long series of festivals that we celebrate around the autumn equinox, after our New Year.
The last of these festivals, and the most joyful, was Sukkot (translated in some Christian bibles as Tabernacles).
In the lovely autumn weather, we leave our homes to build a temporary dwelling outdoors - a simple wooden hut or booth - in our gardens or in the synagogue courtyard.
We cover the roof with leaves, but not completely, so you can still see the sky when you sit inside.
This sukkah is decorated with colourful fruit, flowers and paper decorations. In warmer lands, like Israel, some people sleep in their sukkah, but here in chilly Redbridge, it’s enough just to eat, drink and relax outdoors with family and friends.
Sukkot lasts for just a week. Then we return indoors, back into our solid brick homes.
The spiritual message is clear – our time on this lovely earth is temporary, everything will pass.
We must learn to live with insecurity and transience, at the same time enjoying and thanking God for the beauty and bounty of our lovely planet, our Garden of Eden.
World leaders will shortly be assembling in Glasgow for COP26. May they be inspired to work together to protect our delicate and insecure earth, so that our planet may be appreciated and enjoyed by our children long after we have departed.
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