Meet Lisa Anne Auerbach. A resident of Los Angeles, she recently knitted this waaaay over the top, but still cute sweater/skirt combo after having been inspired by The Great Schlep. You’ll recall that The Great Schlep is a campaign (complete with a Sarah Silverman video) that aims to get grandchildren to visit their grandparents in Florida during Columbus Day/First Day of Sukkot and convince them to vote for Obama. She certainly gets her point across here, that’s for sure, although her Grandmother lives in Chicago and is already voting for Obama. Her blog post on the topic makes no mention of whether or not she’ll be visiting bubbe anyway. Lisa Anne is on the same bike team as our current videographer Sasha Perry who alerted me to this item.

Speaking of Obama, Alex, one of our regular commenters, linked to this interview with Rev. Jesse Jackson in the New York Post. In discussing the “change” that would be represented by an Obama Whitehouse, he noted:

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where “decades of putting Israel’s interests first” would end… Jackson believes that, although “Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades” remain strong, they’ll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House… Jackson warns that he isn’t an Obama confidant or adviser, “just a supporter.” But he adds that Obama has been “a neighbor or, better still, a member of the family.” Jackson’s son has been a close friend of Obama for years, and Jackson’s daughter went to school with Obama’s wife Michelle… “We helped him start his career,” says Jackson. “And then we were always there to help him move ahead. He is the continuation of our struggle for justice not only for the black people but also for all those who have been wronged.”

With that kind of support, is it any wonder some folks are a wee bit nervous about an Obama Presidency? On the other hand, what with all the Jew-love headed Barack’s way, over at Kabobfest, the official voice of hip Arab Americans, the tone has been decidedly anti-Obama. And that’s an understatement. Showing the same DIY spirit demonstrated by Lisa Anne, in a post called “Idiots for Obama”, they created several Obama campaign buttons for those in their community who support him. Examples include “Muslim Americans with no self-respect for Obama” and “Former Revolutionaries Who’ve become old Liberal kooks and have deluded themselves into thinking they’re still fighting something just because this time he’s black for Obama” as well as the “Palestinians for Obama” button shown here.

What? You don’t get it? Lookit the button dummy. It’s a blue map of Israel. With a Star of David in it. It’s saying that Palestinians who support Obama are in fact supporting continued Zionist hegemony over Palestine because the Zionists are all up Obama’s butt. Now do you get it?

So who is right and who is wrong? I don’t know. This isn’t my election, I’m not American remember? But one thing I do know is that amongst Obama’s supporters, someone’s going to feel mighty pissed, disappointed and betrayed. Please allow me to strike a tribal note here when I hope that it isn’t, you know, us.

Continuing along the same DIY theme, I found this blog called Tikkun Knits where the owner knitted, yes knitted, her own Sukkah decorations. These include an etrog, a bunch of grapes and coming soon, a lulav. She also provides patterns so those of you who knit can do the same thing. Why? Well because the commercially available Sukka decorations are garish, made in China and disposable. These are kinda cute and reusable and therefor better for the environment. No word on how well these knitted decorations hold up in the rain, but Leslie does have a point. Does your Sukkah really need all that crap in it?

ROI and Jewlicious Festival alum Sasha Perry and I hung out the the “Shuk Arbat Haminim” today adjacent to the Machaneh Yehudah Market in Jerusalem. Every year, they set up this market to sell lulav’s and etrogs to a very animated crowd. Sasha interviewed Rabbi Shurin from Midreshet Rachel v’Chaya in Jerusalem who explained exactly what was with that swingy branchy thing and what it meant. Me? I took some pics. Enjoy!

And also check out this great interview with Shimon the Etrog vendor by the always lovely and entertaining Simone at Jerusalemite.net.

Not into prayer, fasting, or separating milk and meat? How about arts & crafts? Sukkot offers a bunch of fun craft projects, from building and decorating a Sukkah to creating a lulav bundle. Martha Stewart eat your heart out – we’ve been doing this for thousands of years.

To do this project you will need a lulav, and it should be long enough that you can safely sacrifice two leaves from the bottom for this project. The lowest leaves are removed, and split giving you four pieces to work with. If you can get your hands on a kind of scraggly lulav at a sukkah supply store (that they sometimes sell in “kids sets”, they will most likely let you take off leaves for free, or have some scraps around you can take.

So how in the world to make one of those rings that holds the lulav together and how many do you need to make? The Shulchan Aruch and various traditions handed down teach us that the lulav should be bound a minimum of three times. Some say this is three on the palm itself, and some include one of the bindings done around the base, holding the three species together. There are kabbalistic traditions that have 18 or more bindings, and they look pretty sweet too. Some folks use the basket that looks like a Chinese finger-torture gag, and some don’t. If you do use a Chinese Lulav Torture Basket, make sure that one our your rings goes around that basket to hold everything in place.

The rings are fastened first to the palm, then add the willow and myrtle, and fasten those too. Send us photos of your lulav and we’ll put up the most Jewlicious ones!

Now how do you put it all together? Check it our below the break!
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