As we prepare to drink our first cup of wine and make our first promise, we acknowledge that not everyone is able to feed their bodies with affordable nutritious food. Far too many people in our country simply do not have adequate resources to do that which so many take for granted: eat in a way that actually provides nourishment and sustenance. Our first cup of wine is our first promise:

ALL We will work to ensure that everyone has access to enough nutritious food.

LEADER We lift our glasses and read the blessings together (drink wine after the blessings):

Baruch ata Adonai Elohenu Melech ha’olam borei p’ri hagafen.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

LEADER We now say the She’hecheyanu prayer to give thanks for having an opportunity today to reflect on the problem of hunger and commit to action.

Baruch ata Adonai Elohenu Melech ha’olam she’hecheyanu ve’kiyemanu ve’higianu la’zman ha’zeh.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.

During the traditional seder, we join together and drink four cups of wine: a cup for each of the promises of freedom God made to the Israelites as God led them out of bondage. Today we join together and make four new promises — promises not about breaking the shackles of Egyptian slavery, but about breaking the bonds of hunger. We do so standing together and calling for a better tomorrow, one in which we are all blessed to have bountiful and nutritious food for our families, our neighbors, our friends, and for all people.

ALL READ IN UNISON

1. We will work to ensure that everyone has access to enough nutritious food.
2. We will learn why—in a nation of such abundance—there are still millions of people who struggle with hunger.
3. We will urge our elected officials and community leaders to support effective public policies and prioritize ending hunger.
4. We will create a world where all Americans and all people are free from hunger.

 

Sukkot is like a cozy hug, coming just five days after the deep soul work of Yom Kippur. We journey into our backyards or into a pillow fort to remind ourselves of our vulnerability and focus on gratitude. By dwelling in uncertainty, we move from the High Holidays into the rest of the year joyful, reconnected to nature and ready for what comes next. 

Use this booklet, with its mix of traditional and reimagined rituals, to guide you through the week of Sukkot. Come back any time during the year when you need to renew, refresh and reawaken.

Erev Sukkot by Julia Knobloch
The moon stood high over Yaffa Road.
Why take a photo, my companion asked,
behold the moment and enjoy the night.
Shabbat was over.
An old chazzan greeted us from the doorway
of a small shul near the shuk. For a while,
he joined our walk into the quiet new week,
singing of gold, copper, myrrh and roses.
Dates and jasmine filled the air
after bare and sour pilgrimage.
My olive harvest was destroyed.
I didn’t know if I had the strength to plough
new fields and seek uncertain gain.
On Erev Sukkot in Nachla’ot there was time 
for one more pomegranate juice,
for salvation, a few hours. 
At dawn I drove down silent hills,
I beheld the parting moon leading me into the morning—
Stranger in exile, she said, I will come back and so will you.

From the collection Do Not Return, published in 2019 by Broadstone Books