Colosseum in Rome, Italy

Why Travel for Sukkot

As most of you know, the bulk of the posts on this blog are about and leading up to pesach. There’s usually a little bump around other holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah and Purim), but the recipes and observations and divrei torah are usually geared toward pesach. I even memorize the date of the next seder way in advance (without even checking, I can tell you that it’s Friday night, March 30th, 2018).

But starting today, dear readers, I have a new date on my mind: Wednesday, October 4th, 2017.

That’s because this year, we’re going away on a sukkot vacation! And it’s in… Italy!

Here’s what happened: A few weeks ago my daughter Rachel told us she wanted to spend her fall semester abroad, in Florence. That got my husband and me talking about Europe, and how we haven’t done a good European vacation with the kids since Reuven was 3. Aryeh checked the same website where we found our pesach vacation (www.leisuretimetours.com), and we found a sukkot program in Italy! So Rachel is going to Italy for a semester, and we’re going to meet her there for a week.

(At first, Rachel didn’t seem to be thrilled with the idea that her attempt to get away from us for a semester by going to Europe led to us “following” her. We promise not to intrude (too much)! But then she found out it was a five-star hotel, and I think that changed her mind a bit…)

Here are four reasons you might want to consider traveling for sukkot (even if you just came back from your pesach vacation!):

  1. UNWINDING FROM THE HIGH HOLIDAYS. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can be draining holidays, both spiritually and logistically. Sukkot is called “zman simchateinu”, or “the time of our joy”, and after the “yamim nora’im”, who can say no to a vacation full of joy?
  2. THREE-DAY YOM TOV. TWICE. You’re already doing one three-day yom tov (Rosh Hashanah is also on a Wednesday night), so why add two more (for sukkot and shmini atzeret)? Some hold that you could do one day of yom tov if you vacation in Israel, but if you have to do two, why not do it on vacation?
  3. NO SUKKAH BUILDING. This one comes from Aryeh more than from me, but our sukkah is made from a bunch of different sets, and can be tricky to put up and even trickier to take down. Then there’s the lights, the decorations, the fan for hot weather, and worrying about the rain. Speaking of which…
  4. GETTING AWAY FROM THE FALL WEATHER. New York in October might be cold, so if you’re going to spend seven days eating outside, why not do it somewhere warm?

Something to think about…

If you and your family are considering traveling for sukkot this year, Leisure Time Tours can take care of planning the trip for you so you can have more time to relax with your family. Contact us today at 718-528-0700 to find out more about our sukkot and pesach family vacations.


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