'tis the season!

In America, "The Holidays" means Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and that lovely period between those days when the freeways, movie theaters, and shopping malls are entirely stuffed.

In Israel, "The Holidays" means Rosh Hashonah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and the few non-chag days between them when life doesn't function, except to decompress from and get ready for the next holiday.

This month, the month of Tishrei (which in 2008 almost perfectly overlaps with October), is the Israeli/Jewish equivalent of the American holiday season. People have many days off, schools are closed for a good two weeks, it's primarily time spent with family and close friends, there are lots of attendance at services, and an ungodly amount of food (see my RH post for my own foray into "more time eating than praying").

There's also this electricity in the air that one really feels in the states as people get more and more excited and into the Holiday season that I really felt strongly here (albeit here there's less emphasis on consumerism). It wasn't so much in the days leading up to Rosh Hashonah, but in the days following, and leading up to the rest of the holidays. In the time period of “the chagim,” everyone is really, really excited. Everyone greets one another with “Shanah tovah” (Happy new year) all month long; it’s also, like Santa in the states, written on all of the Coke bottles.

During the past weekend, the preparation time for Sukkot (what we’re smack dab right in the middle of right now), I would see people driving around with loads of palm fronds on the top of their cars that they are bringing home to use as the roof for their sukkah. The first time I saw that, I thought, “Oh, someone has a Christmas tree. In Jerusalem? In October? Oh, it’s palm fronds.”

What also struck me is how intense this period is. Especially this year, when none of the chagim fell on Shabbat but in the middle of the week, every holiday butted up against Shabbat. Rosh Hasonah or Yom Kippur or the first day of Sukkot (a chag in it’s own right) would end, and then suddenly it’s Shabbat! There’s hardly anytime to recoup and rest up before jumping into the next holiday. It was very intense.

The final piece of the holiday-chagim parallel fell into place for me this afternoon, when I saw the most amazing Sukkot Parade. Much like the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years Day Parade, this Sukkot Parade involved elaborate floats, marching, fabulous costumes, minutely choreographed dances, and thousands of Israel-loving evangelical Christians. During Chol HaMoed Sukkot (literally, the secular days of the festival sandwiched between the chag days on the ends), thousands of Evangelical Christians, from all around the world, take some biblical phrase literally and come to Jerusalem during the “Feast of Tabernacles,” take over the main streets, and march around Jerusalem in a parade yelling, “We love Israel! Shalom! Jesus loves you Israel! We love all of you!” It was a total, kitsch loaded trip.

Here are some parade pictures: