Ushpizin.

Sukkot is a time filled with guests at our house.  Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are too focused on the synagogue and long days.  Any intervening Shabbatot are desperately needed rest times.  Sukkot is the time to share.

It seems natural.  After all, our week is spent in an outdoor structure that, even with a locking door, is open to the elements and the world.  Additionally, our sukkah is a bit of a showcase.  Sean says it takes longer to hang the decorations than it does to build the darn thing.  He's probably right, but don't tell him I said so.  Our decorations consist mostly of souvenirs from our trips, plus a beloved theme of "swimmy things" for the kids and birds for me.  There are at least 13 birds.  I have lost count of the fish.  Additionally we have hanging Monticello, Mt Vernon, Shenandoah, and the Empire State Building.  We have a beaver, a penguin, and a Guantanamo Bay iguana on a spoon rest (I'm sure it is unique to our sukkah alone in North America).  We have snowflakes and a beach.  In one corner, in a place of honor, hangs a curtain with the outlines of the kids' hands every year from Keren's first Sukkot.

All these things are to entice and interest the visitors to our sukkah.  These visitors come physically and spiritually.  Sean likes small gatherings.  He doesn't want to be a slave to the dishes while commemorating our wandering after being redeemed from slavery.  For me, the bigger the crowd, the better.  I love taking the time to plan and prepare special foods for the holiday.  There is always stuffed cabbage, mandelbrot, and honey cake.  We have carrot and pumpkin soups, and lots of honey.

Beyond the physical guests in the sukkah, we invite spiritual guests.  This comes from a kabbalistic ritual, which we generally do not practice, but discussion at the table always focuses upon this.  Who would we each invite, and why?  In the past we've had some fascinating and wonderful guests.  Some were famous, others infamous.  This year Jesse wanted to invite Erwin Rommel, aka The Desert Fox.  Jesse had some questions to ask him.  Others on our lists have included Sean's Aunt Min, Rosa Robota (a cousin of mine), Woody Guthrie, Golda Meir, Rabbi AJ Heschel, Rose Schneiderman & Clara Lemlich, David Ben Gurion, Justice Louis Brandeis, King Hussein of Jordan, and Debbie Freedman.  This year included Julia Child, Julie Powell (I wanted to discuss cooking), and Julie Andrews.

Tomorrow I think I might invite A.A. Milne.  I'd like to know what he thinks of Edgar Allan Pooh (http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.ca/2011/01/pooh-talk.html and http://www.indyhumor.com/stories/raven.htm).  I'm a fan of both Poe and Pooh, but I think they've now been ruined forever.  Maybe I'll just invite Winnie himself.  That'd be nice, but we'd need more honey.