Shabbat Sukkot; By Rabbi Denise L. Eger
This week we are celebrating the Festival of Tabernacles, Sukkot. This is the joyous festival of the fall harvest. During this week of celebration we enjoy the bounty of the earth, visit with family and friends and welcome them and our ancestors into our sukkah. How beautiful the sukkah is decorated with fruit and flowers and the glow of our ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, David and Deborah as we recite the prayers of Ushpezin.
But how tragic it is that so many Jews forget this most important festival! In ancient days Sukkot was known as HeChag-The Festival. The Jewish world descended upon Jerusalem and the Temple in throngs giving thanks to God for the goodness and bounty of their lives. But sadly today in our world of 21st Century Judaism too many Jews are ready to condemn God and religion for the ills of the world and their lives but forget to take the time to look at the wonder of life that still unfolds daily and see the Eternal’s beauty in those moments.
The Festival of Sukkot coming so closely on the heels of Yom Kippur is no mistake. Rather we must look at the High Holy Day Season as continuing to unfold around us. Our observance is not complete if we only observe Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We have only experienced a small part of the story.
Sukkot is the book end to Rosh Hashanah. At the New Year we sounded the Shofar and declared the majesty of God and celebrated the creation of the world. We began in earnest our examination of our lives and deeds and began the process to build ourselves anew. Then came the Ten Days of Repentance where the hard work of forgiveness and commitment to a new way of being were made real. We were to seek out those who we hurt during the past year and make amends. Then the holy Day of Yom Kippur arrived to purify our souls and allow us to atone for our sins. We confess and pray and shape our destinies in the year ahead by the resolve we make in changing our lives. Midrash Tanchuma teaches us “God does not predetermine whether a person shall be righteous or wicked, that God leaves to us.” On Yom Kippur we have the ability to determine the course of our actions, deeds and words.
But then four days later on the 14 of Tishrei comes Sukkot. For now we get to give thanks for the new life, a better life that has been granted to us. We cleared the hurdles of Yom Kippur to arrive a few short days later to acknowledge that indeed the bounty of our life is overflowing. We have not only lived through this precarious journey of repentance but indeed we have been born anew, re-created and celebrate that connection grounded in the harvest of this world! When we take the lulav and etrog in hand and shake it in all directions we acknowledge the glory of the Divine One that hovers over us and around us in this world! As Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik wrote in “Halakhic Man” The lulav and etrog, “Symbolizes the longing of (hu)man for God who illumines the path of all worlds, who dwells in the midst of reality itself and who has contracted His light as it were, within the forms of concrete existence in all its manifestations.” We look for God’s manifestation in our world and give thanks for the evidence of God’s Holy Presence in our lives. We do this by sharing food with loved ones in the sukkah. We do this by being able to welcome family and friends to our table. Soloveitchik continues, “ …the taking of the lulav and the etrog-the fruit of the goodly tree- sustains and affirms the beautiful and resplendent world , which reflects the glory of God who fills and encompasses all worlds.” (P. 62).
On Rosh Hashanah the Shofar announces the creation of the Universe. On Yom Kippur we try to connect to the Ancient of Days and reconstruct our souls. We try to re-align and balance ourselves and seek to draw strength and courage from The Heavenly Abode and God. But on Sukkot we are grounded in this life and this earth and we give thanks that we have been able to seek God in our lives and see the glory and beauty of God in the world around us. This is a more complete vision, a more complete journey. From the earth’s creation to the Heavens itself and back to earth again!
So this Sukkot give thanks for the glory of God that surrounds you. Give thanks for your new life and new way of being in the world granted at Yom Kippur. Give thanks for your family and friends and give thanks for the journey from Rosh Hashanah to Sukkot to the journey of Torah we will celebrate on Simchat Torah. Chag Sameach.
Posted by Aaron at September 24, 2007 04:56 PM
