Need a Hug?
Sep 25, 2026
There’s actual biology behind why a hug can make everything feel a little more okay.
Affectionate touch can increase oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding, connection, and calm, and can lower our cortisol response to stress.
A hug doesn’t just feel nice. Your body actually registers that it is being held.
Which feels particularly perfect for Sukkos.
Because the sukkah is a hug from Hashem.
For one week, we literally step inside it. We bring our food, our families, our mess, our joy, our exhaustion, our worries, and sit inside the embrace.
So I have a question for you this Sukkos,
What in your life still needs to be held?
And maybe even more specifically:
What’s the story that still needs processing?
The thing that happened that you’ve technically moved on from, but somehow your body hasn’t.
The questions you still carry.
The dream that keeps repeating itself and refuses to give you relief.
The nightmare that shows up again at the worst possible moments.
The unfulfilled desire you’ve gotten very good at living around.
The part of your life you don’t quite know what to do with.
In Vessel, we call this the shadow.
The material that lives underneath the life we’re functioning through. The stories, longings, fears, memories, patterns, and unanswered questions that keep asking for our attention.
Over Yom Tov, while you’re sitting inside that hug from Hashem, I invite you to take a small risk.
Let yourself think about the thing you usually push away.
Ask the question you’ve been afraid to ask.
Let yourself want what you want.
Listen to the story that still hasn’t finished telling itself.
But because you don’t have to hold it alone.
Hugs, 
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And yes, you can actually work with this stuff.
As painful, complicated, or old as it may feel, you don't have to spend the rest of your life organizing yourself around it.
Inside Vessel, there's an entire community learning how to meet these shadows, understand what they’re asking for, and begin resolving the pain underneath them.
You're invited into that hug.
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Life happens in little bits. Learn to love the little bytes.
