Rabbi Michael Beals The
Rabbi Speaks -September 2012
SUKKOT
Tonight, at sunset, begins the seven
day Biblical Pilgrimage Holy Day of Sukkot.
You may know it by its English name, The Feast of Tabernacles. In Biblical days it was known as “heh hag,”
THE Festival. Now that’s not EXACTLY
accurate. In the days of the Temple in
Jerusalem, there were actually THREE pilgrimage festivals or hagim: Pesach or
Passover, the early spring harvest, Shavuot, Christians know it as Pentecost, marking
the barley harvest in the late spring/early summer, and finally, in the fall,
the harvest festival of Sukkot.
But of the
three, God commands the children of Israel on Sukkot to be “ach sameach,”
TOTALLY joyous!! If one were to look at
the agricultural underpinnings of these three festivals, only Sukkot, in the
fall, has a feeling of complete relief associated with it. For Passover and Shavuot, there was always a
chance that something could go wrong with the crop. But Sukkot is on the other side of the harvest. By the time you get to Sukkot in the
agricultural calendar, you’ve made it.
There is a collective sigh of relief.
So important is the agricultural underpinning of this holiday and its
connection to the Land of Israel, that long ago the rabbis instituted an
occasional leap year in the Jewish lunar calendar, to ensure that each of these
three agricultural-based holidays would always fall in the correct season, even
though there is always some variance between the Hebrew date of the holiday and
where it falls on the solar-based Julian calendar which governs our Western
society.
This lack of coordination between the
Jewish lunar and secular solar calendars makes it very challenging for parents to
explain to public school teachers and administrators, which days our Jewish
kids need off. From a non-Jewish point-of-view, every year the Jews are
changing the dates of their holidays.
But in the Hebrew lunar calendar, these dates, from Biblical
times onward, are always the same: the 1st and 2nd
days of the Hebrew month Tishrei for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, the 10th
day of Tishrei for Yom Kippur, our Day of Atonement, the 15th
day of Tishrei for the beginning of Sukkot, the 22nd day of
Tishrei for Shemini Atzeret – the 8th Day of Assembly, and the 23rd
day of Tishrei for Simchat Torah, the rejoicing of the Torah.
Sukkot is mentioned, either as a
place name or as a holiday in every single book of the Torah, except
Genesis. The most complete description
of this holy day occurs in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus, beginning
on verse 39. God says:
“Mark, on the 15th day of
the 7th month, when you have gathered in the yield of your land, you
shall observe the festival of the Lord to last seven days: a complete rest on
the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. On the first day you shall take the product
of hadar trees, branches of palms trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of
the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. You shall observe it as a festival of the
Lord for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seven month as a
law for all time, throughout the ages.
You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live
in booths, 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 the Lord your God.”
I felt compelled to quote the
Biblical passage in its full form because NO other Jewish holiday as so many
mitzvot, that is commandments, associated with it. After coming off of the extreme NON physical,
highly spiritual holy day of Yom Kippur, where we fast and remove ourselves
from the material world, Sukkot, through its mitzvot, land us slam-bam right in
the thick of the material world. Because
of the gratitude nature of this harvest festival, I often think that our Biblically
inspired Pilgram founders were actually trying to recreate Sukkot and because they
got things going kind of late in the game, ended up with their Sukkot Festival in
November. We call it Thanksgiving -- a lovely
excuse to eat turkey, gather with friends and family, and most important of all,
watch the Macy’s Parade.
Let us returning to the Biblical description
of Sukkot. First, we are supposed to
gather four species. “The product from the hadar tree” has been interpreted as
the plump, yellow, refreshingly citrusy-smelling, citron-like etrog.
“The branches of palm trees” speak
for themselves. In Hebrew we call it the
lulav, which is also the name we give to the three sets of branches bound
together.
“The boughs of the leafy trees” are
interpreted as myrtle branches, or in Hebrew, hadas. The largest women’s and Zionist organization in the world is
called Hadassah, from the root word, Hadas, named for Queen Esther, whose
Hebrew name was Hadassah. Hadassah is
celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The organization is most proud of the medical
center in Jerusalem which bears its name, which prides itself on bringing the
very finest in medical expertise to the Middle East, serving Palestinians of
the West Bank with the same care, love and attention as their Jewish neighbors
in Israel.
And finally, the willows of the brook
is self explanatory, called aravah in
Hebrew.
These four species share in common
their need to grow with lots of water to thrive. By parading around the pulpit in synagogue
seven times, with lulav and etrog in hand, and by shaking of them in all six
directions, the four cardinal points plus up and down, we are making the
theological statement that God is truly everywhere. We are simultaneously
beseeching the omnipresent God, to provide enough rain to sustain the land of
Israel through the long winter ahead, making next year’s harvest possible.
If you go to religious neighborhoods
of New York’s Lower East Side and Brooklyn, today you will see on the streets
the faithful and devout taking great pains to visit outside vendors and choose
the very best lulavs and etrogs possible.
It is certainly worth seeing these vendors at least once, although it is
much more convenient to have your local Delaware synagogue just order a lulav and
etrog set for you.
The second part of the commandment
involves the building and living in Sukkot for seven days. Like with so many other Jewish holidays,
there is both a historical and spiritual nature to Sukkot, and the dwelling in
booths or tabernacles. First, the Biblical
text itself states that we were to dwell in booths to remind us that God caused
the Israelites to dwell in booths on their 40-year journey through the
wildness, from Egypt to the Holy Land.
That’s the historical underpinning to Sukkah habitation.
On top of that, we have our children
help us decorate the Sukkah, where we sit in a temporary, shaky dwelling,
appreciating all that God has given us, including the permanence and safety of
our sturdy homes which we temporarily abandon.
Excluding rain, traditional Jews spend all their waking and sleeping
hours in their backyard Sukkah (Sukkot in Hebrew), while those less daring
still take their meals in their Sukkot, and invite friends, family and
neighbors over for hospitality. During
the evening, with some imagination, we invite special guests called Ushpizim, including
the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon to visit
during each of the seven days of Sukkot.
Modern and feminist Jews came up with an equal number of impressive
women from Judaism’s past, including the four matriarchs: Sarah, Rebeccah,
Rachel, Leah, Mose’s wife Tsiporah, the Judge Deborah, and Queen Esther – we
have NO shortage of impressive Jewish women in our history, which is why Jewish
women occupy such a place of respect in our tradition.
The Sukkah is created according to
certain rules: the roof must be composed of organic material and be thick
enough by day to allow for shade, yet thin enough at night to allow the stars
and moon to be seen through its branches. It must have a minimum of two and a
half sides. I like to decorate my Sukkah
with blinking colored lights so when you enter it is like dining inside a Christmas
tree. We also like to string all our High
Holy Days as decorations. The kids have a
blast. You are welcome to come and visit our Sukkah at Congregation Beth Shalom
during these next seven days. I’ll keep a
look out for you.
Wishing you a chag sameach! A joyous Festival of Tabernacles.
