Sukkot is a beautiful time of year both here and in Israel, when we see the fruits of the summer being harvested and when we feel the fruit of our work in Elul, on Rosh Hashanah, and on Yom Kippur ripening into joy. Itamar Prat and Naomi Shemer wrote a beautiful song about this transition in the land and in ourselves, and I wanted to share it with you, courtesy of the Israeli Masorti Movement. You can click on the photo to hear it sung by the incomparable Yehudit Ravitz.
Asif – Harvest
Gather the deeds, the words and the symbols,
Like a blessed harvest too heavy to carry.
Gather the blossoms that ripened into memories of summer that passed on too soon.
Gather all the images of summer’s beautiful face, as you gather the fruit and the grain.
The earth is gray beneath the stubble; it has nothing more it can give you now.
No longer does the stalk dream of the corn that will sprout on it.
No longer do we remember the “vows” and “oaths” of Kol Nidrei.
There is only the promise the wind makes that the rain, in its time,
Will renew the dust of the earth, as the month of Tishrei draws to a close.