Fruit gems no more
The holiday of Sukkot is almost over. The first few days, as most of you know, have been quite soggy. It really is a shame because children all over the county have spent hours making projects. 26 years ago, just weeks after Son #3 was born, I still remember making welcome signs with Sons #1 and #2 and one of their cousins, and then taking them to Staples to be laminated.And then each time a new person joined the family, thank God, I made them a sign as well.
I still have fond memories of staying up late to make paper chains with my sister and brother, hanging up the New Year’s cards my parents had received. Since my boys turned Oreo, we have amassed a collection of posters. Posters with rabbis on them, posters with blessings on them, posters with assorted animals on them, etc., etc.
Not surprising, I have always been in charge of decorations and lighting. Which would explain the crude, almost prison-like lighting we have in our sukkah. I dream of twinkling lights, but the few times I tried doing that, it was a lesson in frustration and cursing under my breath. Why do those things get so freakin’ tangled?? Deep breath. Sorry. The lights we have now look like we are ready to interrogate someone. But they work, and that is all that matters. (Though this year, we didn’t even plug them in because of the weather forecast.)
This year, I decided to put up only a few posters. With two kids in Israel and one who is a very good son-in-law, we just had Husband #1’s mom for the first days. The only other decoration I hung up was a picture that Strudel made her first year in Morah Blimi. The funny thing is that when she saw it, she thought it was her sister, Little Curly. Well, I thought that was funny.
This year was also the year we admitted we were too old to attempt to put the sukkah up ourselves. Two very lovely Yeshiva University students put on the canvas and the skach this year. I still wonder how I was ever able to put that on by myself. In fact, that is how my boys learned about dialing 911. “If mommy falls off the ladder, call 911 please.” Ah, good times. Fortunately, I never fell off the ladder, but my days of balancing and using my upper body strength are over, unless it involves holding one of my pastries and walking up the stairs.
And because of the holiday, many words of Torah involve speaking about the fragility of the physical sukkah, the whole thing can blow over, the “roof” can collapse, and with all of that, we are even more aware of how God is always watching over us and, hopefully, protecting us. How nothing in life is forever and how we have no control over anything. And as scary as that sounds, somehow, it is comforting. Okay, enough about that.
The big news in Orthodox Jewish circles has been the discontinuing of Sunkist Fruit Gems. For those of you who don’t know about this awful candy, it is the confection of choice for those little bags that we throw at bar mitzvah boys and grooms. Why? I haven’t the foggiest idea and I have no idea who even started this fad.
Is it because they are a little squishier than other candies and won’t give the star of the show a concussion if it hits them in the head? Perhaps, but for me, they have a different meaning. I once had a playdate at my friend Marsy’s grandmother’s house, and for some reason, we had these Sunkist fruit gems and we got them on her grandmother’s pristine towels. I have no idea how that story started or what the ending was, but every time I would see fruit gems, I would think about this. And when I reconnected with Marsy through Facebook years ago, she, too, remembered the fruit gem incident of 1979.
And now, that chapter is closing. What will be thrown in synagogues across the country? Marshmallows? Cotton candy? Will the tradition end? Are any rabbis weighing in on this issue? No clue. But, God willing, life goes on and will be filled with other sweet things…
Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is looking forward to seeing her Israelis and updating you on life in the Holy Land…