We have recently finished Yom Kippur, the Holiest Day of the year and we are thrusted into the preparations of Sukkot. The streets in Jerusalem are bustling with people buying their lulavim and esrogim, the sounds of hammers and drills can be heard as people build their Sukkahs and there is no time to sleep. The Midrash tells us that the Torah stresses that the first day of Sukkot is the "first day" of reckoning our sins. The four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot we are so busy with preparations that people don't have time to sin, so the first day that we need to start reckoning our actions is the first Day of Sukkot.

The Holiday of Sukkot gives us an opportunity to come down from the "high" of Yom Kippur. As we all gained spiritually on Yom Kippur we now need to take the time and opportunity to reflect and see how we can internalize what we achieved on Yom Kippur. We can't live the rest of the year like Yom Kippur, but we can and must seek to build on the momentum and take away from the lessons of the day.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,

Heath