Rabbi Dude's Favourite Holiday

"Hey, Rabbi Dude, what's your favourite holiday?"

Rabbi Dude says:

Hm. I do so love all the holidays, and each for a different reason:

• The ideal opportunity for a new start is at Rosh haShana. The sound of the shofar--proclaming God as king over the world--brings to mind wishes of a day he might truly be recognised as such by all.
• I take Yom haKipurim very seriously. How could I not? When one is standing in judgment before the king of the universe, begging for nothing more than a chance to live just one more year, I would think anyone else who knows what's going on would take it seriously, too.
• Sukot is a great time to sit outside and to enjoy God's presence in the otherwise unprotected suka. The palm, myrtle, willow, and citron make the holiday feel truly special, and when the weather co-operates it can be oh-so-pleasant....
• Shemini 'atzeret is a final parting to the holiday season. One last day to enjoy our connection to God before a half-year respite (well, at least it was half a year before Purim and Hanuka came along). Séder simhat Tora, too, is always a blast.
• Hanuka is a time of peace and calm. The light shining through the darkness of the cold months (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) is poignant and warming. Winter was always my favourite season, and getting the family together at the door or at the window to light the candles against the snow-covered city sidewalks makes for the most beautiful scene my memory can conjure up to warm me and to make me feel at home.
• 15 Shevat is a fine time to reflect upon the greatness of God's Nature and its everyday miracles and the remarkable blessing he has given us in the Land of Israel. Besides, I like pomegranates. It's also one of the rare times you can find me drinking beer (have to get that barley in somehow...).
• Purim is arguably one of the best. How could I not enjoy the one day a year I get to act the way I'd like to act all year round (but people tell me I'm not allowed to)?
• When I was young Pesah was my favourite holiday. I enjoy the pomp and circumstances, the ceremony and the procedure of the séder. Having an English gradfather, these sorts of ritauls have always appealed to me. Besides, I love haroset, and I often make myself proud at my creativity in coming up with meal ideas despite the restrictions. The food still isn't as good as the rest of the year's, but I do well enough with what I have to make it seem better. Last year at se'uda shelishit on the eighth day we had shawarma, for example. Yum.
• La"g ba'omer is a great time for bonfiring and barbecuing. What could be more Aussie than that?
• Shavu'ot is great. Staying up all night learning is a blast, and I have a tradition running back six years now: pizza and palanchiki. This year the palanchiki were more like pancakes than I would have preferred, and we couldn't have vegetable-cheese pies like my wife made last year, and the pizza didn't come out as well as I'd have hoped, but at least I had egg creams....

So, what's my favourite of all the holidays? Well, that's a very simple question to answer, after all:

"Whichever one is coming up next."

Seriously. Anytime one holiday passes I find myself thinking ahead to the next one and getting myself all worked up about it. I get so involved in planning for it and in its meaning that my thoughts turn to little else. I love all our holidays, and I get myself so caught up in whatever's coming that it becomes my favourite.

I wish you all the clarity to see the true joy in whatever God brings your way.