Erev Sukkot Tefilah will take place at Bridgeport on October 12 at 7pm. This fall harvest holiday invites us to stop and consider all the blessings we harvest every day of our lives, and respond to them in the following ways:

1. We are obligated to give thanks for the successful gathering of the harvest by sharing it: Shir Tikvah does a food drive for the Oregon Food Bank every fall. If you haven’t yet sent in a check to the OFB or brought a bag of food to services with you, you still can any time, right through the end of September.

2. Help build Shir Tikvah’s communal Sukkah! Hosted this year by Joyce Shields (her address is in your Membership Directory). Join the Tefilah Committee in the mitzvah of getting the Sukkah built asap after Yom Kippur, Sunday October 9 4.30pm. Watch the website for more details soon.

Build a sukkah at your home if you can, and eat a meal in it. The sukkah reminds us of the fragility of all our dwelling places. In these difficult economic times we especially think of all those who have lost their homes due to foreclosure.

3. Decorate the sukkah! The more you fuss over a sukkah, the more you can help your kids fight their Xmas tree envy! You can use colored lights, crepe paper, or whatever you wish to make your Sukkah gorgeous. And you’re fulfilling the mitzvah of hiddur mitzvah, making whatever mitzvah you do as nice and as beautiful as you can.

Sunday October 16 4pm: Sukkot celebration and congregational potluck – Join in celebrating Sukkot with your Shir Tikvah congregational family! All ages welcome to Joyce Shields’ home (address in Membership Directory) for decorating and taking turns doing the mitzvah of reciting the Sukkot blessings with the lulav and etrog. Bring yours if you bought a set, or borrow someone else’s when you get there.

4. Invite the ushpizin, the traditional guests, to your sukkah, along with the guests from among your friends who might drop by. For more on the ushpizin, click here.

5. Buy a lulav and etrog (all the way from Israel!) and use them for Hallel during Sukkot tefilot all week long. Contact the Shir Tikvah office to reserve yours. Orders go in at noon on Sept 28 (but Avrahim says we can add more on until Oct 6 .)