holidays and festivals

I work on the 5th floor of a 6 floor building. They just started renovations of the 6th floor and it is driving me crazy. It is like chinese water torture listening to a guy with a hammer on top of my head going, bang, bang, bang, bang. Then it stops and the drills starts dhrew pause dhrew pause dhrew etc. I can't concentrate on what I'm soing and I'm developing a headache. Work is very understanding and they bought everyone earphones. The problem is they are like a sensory deprivation device and I feel like I'm not really here when I'm wearing them and then I get nauseous for some reason, so I can't handle wearing them.

Thank God vacation starts this evening and I will be gone for the entire week to celebrate Sukkos.

Lats night I finished stabilizing the sukka and put on the schach. I had to cut down some large braches that we on top of the sukkah, and they went on top of the schach. Now we just have to decorate.

There are a ton of festivals going on in the galil over the holiday. Mosh someone who people have actually heard of is playing at the agam on Sunday night. To see a list of festivals in the north you can go visit www.gogalil.org

One of the random weird things that crossed my mind while I was thinking about galilean festivals over sukkot was yeravam ben nivat. He didn't want people going to Jerusalem for the holidays, as is appropriate, so he put up his own temples with golden calves so that people would worship God where they were. This was considered a very bad thing. I would recommend heading down to Jerusalem for a quick prayer at the wall even if you are planning on coming up north for some ejoyable vacation time. We will probably be heading down to Bet Shemesh for the shemeshfest to hear shlock rock or chaim david or one of the countless other bands (depending on which day and time we actually go). That way we will be able to visit my new niece as well.

My boss asked me if I was sleeping in the sukkah this year, so I told him I wasn't sure. He said, "but it's a once a year mitzva, my children sleep in the sukka every year" (you gotta love the secular). Sleeping in the sukka will depend on the weather and the children. The children would like to, so it depends on how well they behave. I may put up a quick sukka on the mirpeset upstairs, so they can sleep out there and still be in the house.