Dear TBZ Community:
What wonderful weeks, celebrating the beginning of the New Year and the holidays together! It always amazes me that Sukkot comes so fast, just after Yom Kippur: with almost no room to breathe, sometimes struggling to be ready, but always in awe of the powerful rhythms and the teachings within this flow of our calendar.
On Yom Kippur, we faced mortality and celebrated the gift of being alive, of having the potential and opportunity to change and grow. Joyfully, as we do here at TBZ, we expressed our gratitude for the blessings of life even in times of darkness, even when hard.
Then, quickly, as soon as we hear the shofar blow at the end of Neila, we start to get ready for Sukkot. The beauty of this moment, the celebration of Neila’s new start, comes with the embracing of fragility, the construction of something that is temporary, that the wind will blow. Just like our sukkot, the new beginnings of this season could fail, could fall apart. We embrace the fragility of life and existence as we welcome new beginnings – balancing both is powerful in itself.
But what makes it even more meaningful to me, is that we call the holiday Zman Simchateinu, the time of joy. The embracing of fragility and brokenness is done with joy, with acceptance, with gratitude, with song and dance – and not with fear. It is not an easy task to hold that sense of impermanence and lack of control joyfully and without fear.
The Torah teaches us that we sit in sukkot (huts or booths) in commemoration of the sukkot we dwelled in on our way from Egypt to the Land of Israel. As we read in Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:42-43:
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כׇּל־הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת
You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths
לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt—I, your God.
What is interesting is that in the Torah we do not find verses that describe the Israelies living in sukkot (though yes in tents). The Rabbis in the Talmud discussed the question of what the actual sukkot in the desert were. With an opinion that the sukkot mentioned in the text were actually the clouds of glory (ענני כבוד) that accompanied the Isralies in the desert.
The gemara (Sukkah 11b) brings two opinions (with no real conclusion). Is the sukkah commemorating the literal booths the Israelites lived in in the desert? Or the divine clouds that sheltered them? And perhaps the answer is both: A sukkah is a temporary dwelling, easily taken down and easily put back up, that does not offer true shelter or security. Anyone who has spent the holiday in a sukkah knows it is not always so comfortable. When you dwell in a sukkah, as we imagine the Isralites doing, you’re subject to nature’s whims. At its base, to spend time in a sukkah is to embrace your own vulnerability.
The image of the cloud gives us a different perspective. The Divine cloud is the ultimate shelter. The Israelites were safe in the wilderness, a place where they should have been most vulnerable, because they were under the direct protection of God. God’s cloud shielded them from the elements in a way a sukkah never could and defended them from enemies when sukkot are easily destroyed. (Some of these ideas are quoted from an article in Sefaria.)
So, the sukkah comes to remind us of both vulnerability and protection. Or perhaps it represents the capacity to trust, to have emunah (trust or faith) that even in the midst of that which is broken, fragile, and might not last long, the Divine protection is holding us. And we do this with joy: zman simchateinu! We balance fragility with the trust of God’s protection – with joy! For me, that is the meaning of this holiday. (If you heard my sermons on High Holidays you can see that I am in a journey of deepening my understanding of emunah, you can read my reflection on the second day of Rosh Hashanah and my Kol Nidre sermon, both on the theme of emunah.)
As we enter Shabbat chol hamoed Sukkot (Shabbat during the intermediate days of Sukkot), I invite you to take a moment to hold that which feels vulnerable and fragile in your life with joy and with the trust that God’s protective cloud is embracing you.
May this be a sweet end of the holidays for you.
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing. And may we have a joyful, sweet, and peaceful Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom and Moadim L’Simcha (may your times be happy),
Rav Claudia