With the end of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the fall Jewish holiday season is still going strong, as Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah follow shortly after.

These holidays essentially round out the season but still come with significant importance to the Jewish calendar.

So, what do these holidays mean exactly compared to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and what can you find to celebrate in the Baltimore Jewish community?

For Rabbi Levi Druk, the director of Chabad of Downtown, Sukkot and Simchat Torah are a transition between the first two major holidays on the calendar.

“Whereas Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur focus on introspection and repentance, Sukkot and Simchat Torah shift to communal celebration and gratitude. This transition highlights the journey from personal reflection to expressing appreciation for life’s blessings and the importance of community,” Druk said.

Chabad of Downtown is preparing several events to celebrate, including community meals, prayer services and a sukkah in the Inner Harbor for Sukkot.

The community sukkah is the organization’s biggest attraction, offering people downtown a place to eat and celebrate the holiday.

Druk said that this is the 18th year that the sukkah has been in this location downtown near Power Plant Live, and he thanked David and Suzi Cordish and the Cordish Companies for hosting them over this timespan.

“It’s an open house community sukkah; people can stop in anytime and make a blessing on the lulav and etrog or eat something. During the days of Chol Hamoed, it is also stocked with snacks to give people an opportunity to make a blessing on the sukkah,” Druk said.

He added that hundreds of people will come in and out, from business professionals to joggers to people visiting nearby locations.

For Simchat Torah, the Chabad of Downtown will hold more holiday prayer services and a large celebration on the evening of Oct. 14 and the morning of Oct. 15. The Baltimore area will also see multiple community events around the holidays.

Third Space at Shaarei Tfiloh is inviting people to join their “Sukkot Soiree” on Oct. 10, where people will bring in food and celebrate while enjoying a “harvest-themed vegetarian dinner” and live music in their sukkah.

Pearlstone is holding a Sukkot retreat session from Oct. 6 through 9 centered around the holiday and Jewish learning.

Several college campuses, including Hillels at Towson University, UMBC, Goucher College and Johns Hopkins, will have sukkahs for students on campus and several events in them.

Aliza Silverman, executive director of UMBC Hillel, said that Sukkot is a huge holiday on campus, and that Hillel builds the sukkah on campus and works with university partners like the food bank. She said it’s a way for students to come together and for non-Jewish students to learn about the Jewish holidays.

With all these celebrations ahead, Druk explained the importance of connecting with each holiday.

He said that Simchat Torah, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur all draw from the same spiritual energy, but the first two are expressed in a “revealed way” and the latter two in a “concealed way.”

Druk added that it’s important to feel a connection to these celebrations during a time when the community is facing challenges.

“When so many Jews feel alienated from Jewish tradition, it is imperative on all of us to focus on the joyous and communal parts of our holidays. We don’t want people to learn and grow Jewishly out of a sense of guilt or obligation. Rather, we must do so out of a sense of meaning and celebration. What better way to begin than with the holidays of Sukkot and Simchat Torah?” Druk said.

Druk also commented on the connection many Jews feel between the holiday of Simchat Torah and the Oct. 7 attacks that took place during the holiday celebrations two years ago.

He said he thinks the holiday will still be a time of thoughts and remembrance for the community, especially with the hostages still being held and conflict still active in the Middle East.

“Unfortunately, Simchat Torah is to my generation what Yom Kippur was to my father’s, who vividly remembers the war of 1973. But the Torah tells us to be joyful, so our best way to be triumphant is through joy. Our haters have never been able to stop us in the past, and we won’t allow them to do it now,” Druk said.

bhamelin@midatlanticmedia.com