Simchas Beis Hashoeiva Schedule

Sunday Night - R’ Dovid Kaplan 18 Underwood Dr. Also sponsored by Rebbetzin M. Wichnin 'תחי

Monday Night - R’ Yitzy Lipszyc 21 Brockton Rd., Spring Valley

Tuesday Night - R’ Yossi Wolfson 10 Klingher Ct., Pomona.

Wednesday Night - Community-wide SBH @ Wesley Kosher Plaza [sponsored by Beis Menachem Mendel of Pomona and the NCFJE of Rockland -] 7:00pm (kids program at 6:00pm)

Thursday night - R' Gil Hami 17 Blueberry Hill Road (after Kinus Torah)

Friday Night at the home of R’ Mendel Vogel 5 Mariner Way, Monsey

Simchas Beis Hashoeiva - Heichal Menachem

Some Important Halachah Points About Sukkos

By Rabbi Simcha Werner

Candle Lighting

You should have enough Tea Lights/Candle holders for both nights, since it is questionable if you may clean out the wax on the second day of Yom Tov when you light candles. It is forbidden to melt the wax of a candle on Yom Tov to make it stick. When lighting candles on the second day of Yom Tov, make sure that the fire comes from an existing flame. 

Regarding the Lulov and Esrog

The Daled Minim must belong to you the first two days. The same Halachos which are in regard to children before Bar and Bas Mitzvah the first day, pertain to them the second day. Therefore, just like you cannot give them to your child on the first day, unless you hold the Lulov and Esrog with him, so it does not become his, the same pertains on the second day. When all the adults are through benching Lulov and Esrog the second day, then you may give it to your child.

Very Important

There are three Mitzvos of the Torah, Tefillin, Tzitzis and Sukkah which has a Torah obligation to have in mind the reason of the Mitzvah. One who doesn’t, even though he fulfils the Mitzvah, it is not being done properly. It's missing the effect that the Mitzvah has to have on him. “A person has to have in mind when he sits in the Sukkah, that he is sitting there in order to fulfil the Mitzvah of Hashem, that He commanded us to sit in a Sukkah, a remembrance that he took us out of Mitzrayim.” This is a free translation of the Alter Rebbe’s words. This Kavanah is a must. Before eating something in the Sukkah, especially the Challah on the first and second night, we should have in mind that Hashem commands us to make a Sukkah in order to remember the Clouds of Glory (Ananey Hakavod) that surrounded us when He took us out of Egypt so that we remember His wonders and awesome actions.

Wine on Yomtov

During the meal on Yom Tov men over Bar Mitzvah should drink a Revi’is of wine for Simchas Yom Tov. On Chol Hamoed, during the day one must drink a Revi’is of wine. 

Children in The Sukkah

Boys who are not dependent on their mothers should eat in the Sukkah. This is usually from age six or if he is smart and mature, it could be even younger.

Chol Hamoed

A common activity for Chol Hamoed is fruit picking. One may only collect that being used for Chol Hamoed or Yom Tov.

Sukkot Perspective

By Rabbi Yisroel Shusterman

This Sukkot Perspective is dedicated by Mr. Binyomin Philipson in memory of his late mother Mrs. Ellen (Elka bas Zisel) Philipson OBM

One Friday night a neighborhood experienced a blackout. As people made their way home from the synagogue, there was speculation on how much of the neighborhood was affected, when the lights would come back on and how best to serve undercooked, lukewarm cholent. One in the group commented on the serenity of the moment, and said with a wistful sigh: "This is how it used to be, just the soft moonlight." Which prompted a reply, "We didn't like it the way it used to be, that's why we invented lights!"

Judaism is forward thinking, eager to embrace innovation and fresh perspective. We are single minded in our focus to improve the world, shepherd it to its destination. We check the rear view mirror for guidance, but never dwell on "what used to be." Even our remembrances are designed to provide us with perspective on how to deal with the present and the future. So how does the concept of Sukkot - abandoning our homes and living in thatched huts, as we did 3,300 years ago, jive with this idea?

When the Torah commands us to live in sukkot (temporary huts) to commemorate our experience in the wilderness, it seems to suggest that we recreate that existence. Yet dwelling in those huts was not a destination, but merely a temporary situation, on our way to the Holy Land. So why reenact it?

But perhaps the holiday of Sukkot is not about returning to "simpler, more primitive times." Maybe Sukkot is in fact the ultimate progression, a leap forward to somewhere one otherwise would never have reached. When we stay right where we are, in the groove of a (healthy) routine, we face the danger of stagnation.

The Sukkah compels us to move on, to get off the hammock and onto the journey of making this world a more G‑dly place. Bereft of the security of our homes we are faced with our responsibility to accomplish more. The temporal sukkah reminds us of the temporal nature of material things. A sad lesson of hurricanes, wildfires and 9/11 is that castles made of stone vanish. The comfort our homes provide should never be confused with invincibility – and that is a good thing. For invincibility has a cousin named laziness, which spends his whole day thinking about what he won't be doing. The sukkah reminds us of our obligation to move on, to get out there and enrich the world around us.

Sitting in the vulnerability of the sukkah, we have the opportunity to experience the security only G‑d can offer, something that brick and mortar can't provide. This is progress, a leap we would never embark upon without compulsion--and could never attain without the message of thesukkah.

(Excerpts from Chabad.org – By Rabbi Baruch Epstein)