There are many Torah observant women who try to bend halacha to give them the responsibilities of men in Jewish Life. I'm not among them at all. I'm glad that I don't have to lead a rousing prayer while fasting. It was enough to
dance along to the Yom Kippur prayers on tired legs and an empty stomach. G-d must have given lots of energy to the young men who acted as our voluntary
chazanim, cantors. I was very happy not to have to deal with all that public responsibility.
Many of us traditional Torah observant women joke that Succot is the female revenge for Passover.
Passover logistics, cleaning and organizing fall mainly on the females, while building a succah and purchasing the
arba'a minim, four botanical species fall on the males. For some men, succah construction is a total nightmare.
Not everyone enjoys the challenge of building a succah.
And for those who are looking for an easy and inexpensive way to decorate their succah, the best deal is to use the pictures in Jewish Calendars.
I hope that you haven't thrown out last year's calendar, because you can hang up the pictures. Also, if you've received more than one calendar, this year, or more than you need, you can just hang up pictures from one of the calendars. Many of the decorations we use, are free calendar pictures.
Enjoy!
Shalom!
ReplyDeleteThere were many years that I put a metal succa frame together, and later dissembled it. We later purchased wooden sections that required two people to assemble, but only one to dissemble. One year a man working on the neighbors' house was so shocked that a woman was taking apart a succa (modular wooden wall sections held together with screws) that he stopped his work and insisted on finishing the job. I tried to tell him that I was perfectly capable of doing it and that I'd done it before, but he wasn't interested in listening. He seemed to be insulted that I was refusing his assistance, so I let him do it.
I agree that calendar pictures make great decorations. Home-made paper cutouts are another favorite here.
I am among the women who believe that we should take on the responsibilities... but since it's not happening so fast. I have been leaving the succa building to the males of our tribe. Although when it was just the two of us, I did share the building with David.
ReplyDeleteThis year, we are both leaving the succa building to our sons and sons-in-law.
Now that is Yiddishe nachess!
Hadassa, I was never the succah builder but I did fight the chareidi men in Bayit V'Gan for the free sechach.
ReplyDeleteRisa, you're the one who taught Winkie about buying and building succot 41 years ago, yes, when you were minus five years old, of course.