Families celebrated Succot at Luna Park, Melbourne on October 5. The annual event was organised by Chabad Youth.

Thrills at Luna Park in Melbourne. Photo: Peter Haskin

AJN STAFF

HUNDREDS of families celebrated Succot at Luna Park in Melbourne on Monday October 5, enjoying unlimited rides at the fun park.

There was music, entertainment, food stalls and a giant succah for the evening’s celebrations.

The annual event was organised by Chabad Youth.

RABBI JAMES KENNARD

IT’S the time of year when hardware stores entertain a whole new clientele. Religious Jews exchange spirituality for spirit levels; pages of Talmud for planks of wood. Succot is here.

Building a succah is not only a wonderful family experience; successive years of construction can serve to monitor and record a family’s development.
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Building a succah in Petach Tikvah, Israel, this week. Photo: Isranet

DALIA SABLE

SHUL service start times will be disrupted this weekend with daylight saving beginning at 2am on Sunday morning.

While daylight saving is not usually an issue, this year Succot falls on the changeover evening.

Because of the festival, observant Jews cannot change the time on their clocks, meaning they will effectively ignore daylight saving for 18 hours until the yom tov ends. But what does this mean for shuls?

Daylight saving time is observed in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT.

While some congregations in Victoria are keeping the prayer times to Australian Eastern Standard Time, others are scheduling services one hour later due to daylight saving.

In many instances, daylight saving times will apply for services, even though congregants’ clocks will remain an hour behind.
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Selecting lulav and etrog are (from left) David Rubin, Shuki Wyman and Gideon Rubin. Photo: Peter Haskin

AJN STAFF

YOUNG and old turned out to the annual lulav and etrog selection at the Mizrachi centre in Melbourne on Tuesday September 29 to choose their perfect lulav and etrog.

Collectively known as the arba’ah minim, or four species, the lulav, hadass (myrtle leaves) and aravah (willow) are held together with the etrog and waved in a ceremony commanded in the book of Vayikra or Leviticus: “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day [of Succot], the fruit of the beautiful [citron] tree, tightly bound branches of date palms, the branch of the braided [myrtle] tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.”