A Bat Mitzvah on Sukkot

This young lady is celebrating her Bat Mitzvah this weekend and an order for a 'Handmade in Israel' album was made for the occasion. Her Bat Mitzvah celebration coincides with the Jewish Festival of Sukkot. It is a 7-day holiday, with the first day celebrated as a full festival with special prayer services and holiday meals and the remaining days known as Chol HaMoed ("festival weekdays").
Sukkot dates back to times in ancient Israel when Jews would build huts near the edges of their fields during the harvest season. One of these dwellings was called a 'sukkah' and 'sukkot' is the plural form of this Hebrew word. Sukkot is also related to the way the Jewish people lived while wandering in the desert for 40 years. As they moved from one place to another they built tents or booths, called sukkot, that gave them temporary shelter in the desert.

Since Sukkot celebrates the harvest in the land of Israel, another custom on Sukkot involves waving the lulav and etrog.  The etrog is a kind of citron, while the lulav is a composed of three myrtle twigs, two willow twigs and a palm frond.  Together the lulav and etrog represent the Four Species (four different kinds of plants that have symbolic significance during the Jewish holiday). During Sukkot the lulav and etrog are waved together while reciting special blessings. Returning to the aforementioned Bat Mitzvah celebration, because it falls in the middle of this festival, I decorated the album with a lulav and etrog (above) as a reminder of the holiday.

Sukkot aside, I was informed that the Bat Mitzvah girl loves the American brand Hollister, high heels, make up and books. She has also just started at the City of London school, so I added the school badge on to the album cover.

Inside I decorated a number of pages with those same themes. From the top, you can see the make up page and above, moving clockwise, her passion for high heeled shoes and make up, the lulav and etrog for Sukkot, books to illustrate her love of reading and finally, her school's badge and some school supplies.

"Mazal Tov" to the young lady on her Bat Mitzvah and "Chag Sameach" (literally "joyous festival") to those of you celebrating Sukkot. We have already kicked off our week of travelling and day trips and I promise to be back here very soon with some great photos.