10/17/2024 Torah Commentary

Now that the High Holidays have concluded, we turn to the month of Tishre’s third religious holiday, Sukkoth.  Perhaps no major Jewish holiday is as joyous as Sukkoth. Yet Sukkoth is not just a time of celebration, but it is also a time of pensive contemplation, especially in light of the on-going wars on both Israel’s Gaza and Lebanese border.  

Sukkoth is often called the Jewish Thanksgiving (although it would be historically more accurate to call Thanksgiving the American Sukkoth).  Both Sukkoth and Thanksgiving emphasize a sense of thankfulness to G-d, and in reality, it might be better to call both festivals “holy days” rather than “holidays”.  Both celebrations share an underlying message. That message is that even in the most difficult of circumstances we live only due to G-d’s grace and only for the number of days which G-d has assigned to each of us.  Despite these days of war, world conflict and crime, it is good to remember that we are but guests on earth and that it is our duty to appreciate and to make the most of each day.  

Sukkoth is the time when we celebrate the harvest in the land of Israel, and also when we confront one of the most trying periods of Jewish history, the forty years of wandering in the desert during which we traveled both physically and psychologically from Egyptian slavery to liberation.  Sukkoth, then, is much more than a mere harvest festival. Sukkoth is a time to consider the fragility of life and to use our time on earth wisely, rather than merely a time to look back at our accomplishments. Sukkoth ends with Simchat Torah and tragically it will forever be intertwined with last year’s horrendous terrorist attacks on the people of Israel.   

Sukkoth does not so much celebrate the present as it reminds us of both our distant and recent past, and teaches us to cherish our future.  We find these concepts symbolized by the simple sukkah (booth).  The sukkah is a precarious structure meant to remind us that no person or home is immune from nature’s and human cruelty. We are also reminded that notwithstanding life’s challenges we dare not allow ourselves to be controlled by negativity and pessimism, for to do so is an affront to the many blessings within our lives. The mere fact that we have defied history and still exist is a testament to both tenacity and miracles. 

As we decorate this year’s sukkah, despite the tragedies of last year and the ongoing war, all of us have much to be thankful for. Sukkoth is our challenge to rid ourselves of negative thoughts 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. 
 
Happy Sukkoth