Yom Sukkah

בס”ד

Most of my activities today essentially had to do with Sukkah.  We had two shiurim this morning at the yeshiva, both about sukkah.  One, by Josh Kulp (my Talmud teacher for Elul), dealt with the difference in opinion about the symbolism behind the sukkah.  There is a debate in rabbinic literature about the sukkah commemorating actual sukkot or the “clouds of glory” that protected the Israelites on their journey.  The other shiur we had was with Reb Shmuel about the purposes and laws of the sukkah.  Very practical on many levels.

Shortly afterwards we got free pizza at the yeshiva.  They ordered from Sababa – we agreed that it’s not the best pizza in town, but it’s free pizza, who cares?  I stayed back to read Sefer Ha-Toda’ah about sukkot to get ready and then went up for a nap.

After my nap, we built the Nativ sukkot.  Music blazed throughout the campus to have people pumped to work on the sukkot; it worked very well.  People worked on the sukkot themselves as well as their decorations.  I helped put up one of the sukkot.  Lots of fun, and certain rules we learned with Reb Shmuel served practical!

Last night, I began to work with my buddy Josh Sacks a little bit on guitar.  Not too shabby!  He has two guitars with him, so I am now holding on to one of them.  So I jammed a little bit tonight.  I also went down to the auditorium to play some piano.  It was good to play some music tonight.

Many people are studying for end of minimester tests and papers tonight, so it’s been very chill.  David and I sat outside with our laptops for a while, and he did me a great service in helping me get laundry done.  I also had a marvelous conversation with Jules via David’s skype – what a great man!