The time of our joy

Friday evening was the start of Sukkot, also referred to as זמן שמחתנו z'man simchateinu, the time of our joy, though it's hard to find that joy when you don't have a yard and can't build a sukkah, and can't invite anyone over to it for dinner even if you have one. I don't have a yard, but Mishkan set up a Sukkot event in the West Ridge Nature Preserve on the far side of Rosehill Cemetery, so on Sunday morning I woke up, took a shower, and went to that. The cemetery has been closed to the general public since April and I didn't even know that there was a park attached to it, so going around to the north-west side and seeing the lake and the trails around it was a nice surprise. The sukkah wasn't kosher, but it was better than anything I'd be able to build in my top-floor home. I listened to the brief speech the rabbi gave, shook the lulav and etrog and said the prayer, and then walked around the lake while listening to a walking meditation that Mishkan had put out on their official podcast.

I'm going to go back in a couple weeks when the leaves around here start changing, and maybe then I'll post some pictures. But it was nice to see people in person that I haven't seen since Purim.