{"id":76810,"date":"2023-09-29T10:23:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T15:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=76810"},"modified":"2023-09-29T10:23:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T15:23:51","slug":"the-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/the-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"THE Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n

Amid its many definitions and lengthy discussion of the word \u201cthe\u201d and its usage, the Oxford English Dictionary states that the definite article may be \u201cUsed emphatically, in the sense of \u2018the pre-eminent\u2019, \u2018the typical\u2019, or \u2018the only\u2026 worth mentioning\u2019; as \u2018Caesar was the<\/em> general of Rome\u2019, i.e. the general par excellence<\/em>; the<\/em> being often stressed in speech and printed in italics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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See, for example, I Kings 8:2 \u2013 \u201cAll the men of Israel gathered before Solomon at the Festival, during the month of Eitanim: that is, the seventh month (i.e., Tishri).\u201d  See also Leviticus 23:29; Mishnah Succah 3:13-14, 4:2, etc.  In each case, Succot is called \u201cChag\u201d \u2013 \u201cTHE <\/em>Festival\u201d \u2013 as if no further descriptor were required.<\/p>\n

There are other festivals; whence the superior stature of Succot? Perhaps Succot is elevated by the Days of Awe which immediately precede it. Perhaps because Succot is the culmination of the cycle of all three pilgrimage festivals. Perhaps because Succot\u2019s central observances of Succah and Lulav put us more intimately in touch with nature\u2026 and, therefore, with the Creator.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps I should say, THE<\/em> Creator.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of \u201cMasorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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