You know that song that’s been playing on the radio? That one with the really catchy tune that you just can’t get out of your head? We all have one.
For Vikki Goldstein of B’nai Israel Congregation in Pensacola, Florida, that song was Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off.” This song is so catchy that Vikki wanted a Sukkot version to teach the students at B’nai Israel. So she called me, since I’m her Education Fellow, wanting to know if I had any ideas for lyrics or ways to use the song.
Along with my fellow Fellows, and Rabbi Matt Dreffin, we went a step beyond lyrics. Vikki’s call led to this fun video… which now, we’re sharing not only with Vikki’s Pensacola students, but also with everyone who wants to get in on the #ShakeLulav fun:
Sukkot is a time for welcoming guests and celebrating nature. Part of the celebration includes shaking the lulav (palm fronds, myrtle leaves, and willow branches) together with an etrog (citrus fruit) to encourage rain and prosperity in the next growing season.
It’s all celebratory, and the perfect excuse to sing and dance along to this peppy tune. Enjoy the video, which includes dancing, a dinosaur, mad music making, costumes… and would any Southern & Jewish Sukkot video without a dancing Elvis impersonator? No way! So we got one—and our Elvis is pretty fun.
Chag sameach – a happy holiday!
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Sukkot
Pronounced: sue-KOTE, or SOOH-kuss (oo as in book), Origin: Hebrew, a harvest festival in which Jews eat inside temporary huts, falls in the Jewish month of Tishrei, which usually coincides with September or October.
