“Acharei HaChagim” which translates as after the festivals is a popular refrain in Israel at this time of year. In essence, it means things will not get done from Rosh Hashana until after Simchat Torah.

I would like to look at expression in a slightly different way.

We have now been through all the Chagim. Selichot are said by the Sephardim from the beginning of Ellul for the whole month before Rosh Hashanah, Ashkenazim starting near to it. (I always joke with my Sephardi neighbours this is because Ashkenazim don’t eat rice – kitniot -on Pesach).

We have then had Rosh Hashana and the Ten days of Repentance which reach the summit on Yom Kippur. A few days are all we have to make a Sukkah and buy the Lulav, Etrog, myrtle, and willows. From then on, its Sukkot ( a festival that is definitely to be celebrated here in Israel) and then Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

The Magen David that I wrote about in my most recent TOI blog (“Sukkot: Past, Present and Future”) was up in the Sukkah and has now been carefully wrapped for next year.

But what message have we taken away from this period?

My late Grandma Z.L., would always say “I am only talking,” if she said something that was even minutely controversial that others disagreed with. Grandma was one of the mildest people you could ever hope to meet. I never saw her get annoyed. Maybe this was from the loss of her son, Harold z.l. after who I am named. He was aged seventeen when a German bomb had a direct hit on the air raid shelter in which Harold was in during the second world war.

So, in the spirit of my grandma, here are some “Acharei HaChagim” thoughts going through my mind this year.

Try not to get annoyed with me, after all “I am only talking.”

Baruch Hashem all our living hostages are now home. As I write only four of the dead have been returned,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)