Greetings from our synagogue Sukkah! Ok, it isn’t actually built when I’m writing this (in early September). However, if you’re reading this article after October 9th, just picture me sitting on the Ohev Sukkah terrace, enjoying our lovely communal hut, filled with decorations made by our Mispallelim religious school students. It looks fabulous!
Every year, we rebuild this structure for a mere eight days, yet it leaves memories that people still sometimes share with me from years past. Like the legendary phoenix, the Sukkah gets dismantled and disappears when the holiday is done… only to be “reborn” again a year later. Our synagogue Sukkah is really quite wonderful, but its true splendor comes, not from the decorations themselves, but from the love and dedication put into the project by all its contributors. What makes Sukkot such an enchanting holiday is its focus on creating a shared experience. The Sukkah is open for all to enter. Its simplicity radiates warmth and accessibility, and its educational message is not hard to grasp or difficult to make relatable: We are connecting to our ancestors who also dwelt in booths during the Exodus from Egypt, built them again later in the Ancient land of Israel, and have continued to do so throughout Jewish history. Even in this era of increased security and distancing, it’s nice to return to holidays that really feature hospitality and welcoming.
There is something wonderfully tactile and natural about the celebration of Sukkot. It’s the perfect holiday to help us transition away from the themes of Yom Kippur. Where Yom Kippur is solemn, Sukkot is joyous. Yom Kippur focuses on the mind and the internal, personal relationship to God; Sukkot celebrates community and the physical acts of building, dancing, and shaking a lulav. Yom Kippur has us fasting; Sukkot makes us forget hunger pretty quick!
Yet like Yom Kippur (and every other Jewish holiday), Sukkot also affords us a chance to reminisce about experiences of this holiday in different places, with cherished loved ones, in years long since past. I remember huddling around a space heater in a snow-covered Sukkah in Sweden. I recall a young (and slightly eccentric) visiting rabbi in Stockholm, who built a mini-Sukkah on a window ledge six stories above the ground, with no railing… and he slept in that Sukkah for eight nights!! I am reminded of many years spent in the largest Sukkah in North America, at JTS in New York, where pine needles rained down into our food from the schach, the Sukkah cover. The more hard-core among us just considered the pine needles an added garnish in the soup… And I also call to mind walking the streets of Jerusalem as a rabbinical student, seeing rows and rows of rooftop Sukkot, overlooking the Old City and the most breath-taking sunset imaginable. How about you? What do you think of, or remember, when we talk about Sukkot?
I hope you’ll come join a communal celebration in the Ohev Sukkah this year. It’s even a Covid-compatible holiday, because it’s all outdoors! In addition to daily services (not held outside) for the holiday, we have Bible class in the Sukkah, brown bag lunch discussions on October 12, 13, and 14, a Pizza in the Hut dinner, and to top it all off, the celebration of Ben Friedman’s Bar Mitzvah on the 15th. An added bonus is that when you’re sitting outside among bamboo poles, paper chains, and hanging gourds, you can’t help but feel that autumn is in the air. It’s a terrific way to begin the new Jewish year, and to dive right into all the programming taking place at Ohev Shalom. Though I do still miss the Nordic snow and the pine needle garnish…
Chag Sameach – Happy Holidays!
Rabbi Gerber
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