Let The Stars Peek Through

Sukkot

Sukkot is a week-long Jewish harvest holiday. Historically, it was when the

final harvests of the summer were gathered before the rains began.

Families would build temporary booths near the fields so that they

could live and work in the fields for the time of the harvest. The booths

also symbolize the forty-year period during which the children of Israel

were wandering in the desert following their exodus from slavery in

Egypt, living in temporary shelters. The word “Sukkot” means “booths,”

and refers to the temporary dwellings that Jewish people traditionally

build during this holiday in memory of the period of wandering.

Let the Stars Peek Through – words and music by Joanie Calem

It is tradition to lay the branches across the top of the Sukkah

in such a way that you can still see the stars. For this quiet song, I

lower the lights, invite the children to lie down and imagine the stars

sparkling over them at night in the sukkah. I have a piece of sparkly

black material that I wave over their heads as though it is the night sky.

This is also a wonderful piece for older children to play on Orff

instruments in A minor pentatonic. It is also simply a restful song for quiet times.

My sukkah stands quiet ’neath the autumn sky of blue,

I’ve hung the leaves and branches,

to let the stars peek through.

My sukkah’s a simple hut, just three walls make do,

It reminds me of the ancient days,

when the stars peek through.

For seven days and nights, my sukkah stands true,

Though the rain falls and the wind blows,

and the stars peek through.

Hadas, lulav, etrog, all in the morning dew,

Help us to remember,

to let the stars peek through.

My sukkah stands quiet ’neath the autumn sky of blue,

I’ve hung the leaves and branches,

to let the stars peek through.