10-06-2025 Sukkot

Just five days after the solemnity of Yom Kippur we  turn the page and begin our celebration of one of  Judaism’s most joyous holidays: Sukkot. Despite  Sukkot’s joy, the holiday is also more than a mere  time of celebration. Its calendar proximity to Yom  Kippur and raison d’être have much to teach us.  Sukkoth is not just a time of celebration, but also a  time of pensive contemplation. 

Many people call Sukkot “the Jewish Thanksgiving” In reality it would be historically more accurate to call  Thanksgiving the American Sukkot. The holiday,  much like Jewish history, has many layers. It reminds us of one of the most trying periods of  Jewish history, our forty years of wandering in the  desert leading us from Egyptian slavery to national  liberation. The holiday is also a harvest festival, in which we thank G-d for allowing the crops to grow  and the avoidance of famine.  



Both aspects of the holiday emphasize a sense of  thankfulness to G-d. Both Thanksgiving, modeled  on Sukkot, and Sukkot remind us that even in the  most difficult of circumstances we only live only for  the number of days that G-d has granted us.  

Sukkot is a time to realize that our lives are highly  precarious, and that we dare not waste a precious  minute of life. Sukkot not only reminds us of our  Exodus from slavery, but also of our future.  

We symbolize this sense of thankfulness in the  construction of a small and fragile booth called a  “sukkah.” This simple booth reminds us that all of us  live on the edge of calamity and each day of life is a blessing. The fragility of the sukkah reminds us that  one of the greatest sins, meaning in Hebrew  “missing the mark”, is to allow anger and greed to  rob us of the blessing of time well-spent. Sukkot teaches us that we dare not allow ourselves to be controlled by negativity and pessimism. To do  so is an affront to the many blessings within our  lives. In this modern world beset by human and  natural disasters Sukkot reminds us of the need for  social solidarity and kindness.  

As we decorate this year’s sukkah, despite the many tragedies felt around the world, we have much to be  thankful for. Sukkot is our challenge to rid ourselves  of pessimism and negativity and to turn our sense of  thanks into action. It reminds us that each of us has  the task to make tomorrow’s world a better place  than today’s. 

Chag Samech/Happy Sukkot