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Friday October 10, 2003

We gather for Sukkot to celebrate under God’s shelter of peace

by rabbi amy eilberg

Sukkot

Leviticus 22:26-23:44

Numbers 29:12-16

Zechariah 14:1-21

Some time ago a message circulated on the Internet that purported to summarize Jewish holiday celebrations in three short sentences: “They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” The message was funny, not only because most everything we do as Jews seems to involve food, but because three Jewish holidays — Chanukah, Purim and Pesach — do focus on our national victory over oppression. But the holidays that begin the Jewish year — Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah — explore our relationship with ourselves, with our loved ones, with God and with Torah.

Sukkot, a harvest festival called Zeman Simchateinu, “The Time of Our Rejoicing,” deepens our awareness of the bounty that is all around us. On Sukkot, which begins tonight, we celebrate the earth and the abundant gifts that nature brings us. We live temporarily in huts that provide only minimal physical shelter, giving us a full-bodied reminder that only the Ultimate can truly provide us protection from harm.

In sharp contrast to the holidays that celebrate our triumphs over tyrants, Sukkot immerses us in trust in the Holy. Sukkot brings us exquisite images of peace, of being sheltered by angels’ wings and of all nations united as one.

Consider the following comments from the Sefat Emet, the first Gerrer rebbe: “The sukkah is like a chuppah, concluding the marriage of man and wife. ‘For I caused Israel to dwell in sukkot when I took them out of the Land of Egypt.’ (Lev. 23:43) At the Exodus from Egypt, Israel were sanctified (wedded) to God, as it says: ‘I am the Lord who sanctified [or weds] you, who brought you forth from the Land of Egypt to be your God.”’ (Lev. 22:32-33)

The sukkah, in this beautiful interpretation, is the wedding canopy that we joyfully re-enter each year, reaffirming our commitment to God and our certainty of God’s love for us. Sometime this week, sitting in your own sukkah or that of a friend, celebrate your partnership with the Divine and our people’s eternal faith in God’s care.

But the Sefat Emet continues, asking a most contemporary question: How could God have “chosen” Israel, only one of the many nations on earth, for special relationship? How could the Infinite choose a partner that is itself only a small part of the whole of creation?

Listen to the rebbe’s response: “God is wholeness itself. Why then did God choose a fragment of something [i.e., choose Israel]? Scripture answers: ‘I dwell with the lowly and those of humble spirit.’ (Isaiah 57:15) The Zohar adds that a person with a broken heart is indeed whole. This in fact is to be said in God’s praise: Wherever God dwells there is wholeness….”

The Infinite, says the rebbe, can enter into relationship with a finite creature because the One can make a part whole. The Holy One is wholeness itself. In connection to God, all that is fragmentary can be healed, all that is separated can be rejoined, all that is broken can be mended. Thus Sukkot is a time when all of us may find a measure of healing for whatever ails us.

At the end of the teaching comes the most remarkable surprise. “This is the real meaning of ‘who spreads a sukkah of peace’ [from the Hashkiveinu prayer, in the Evening Service]. The inner point [the spark of holiness within] that is everywhere is wholeness; Israel represents this among God’s creatures. On Sukkot 70 bullocks are offered [as specified in Numbers 28] for the 70 nations. The water libation [of Sukkot] is also interpreted by the Talmud to mean that Israel should pray for God’s kingdom to spread over all Creation.”

In this stunning teaching, the Sefat Emet develops the rabbinic notion that the biblical sacrifices for Sukkot are offered on behalf of all the nations of the world, joined in service of the Holy. A far cry from the holy days that remind us of past enmity with other peoples, this holiday is a time of hope, of abundant possibility, of a vision of a world sheltered together under God’s sukkah of peace.

May it be so, and may it come soon.

Rabbi Amy Eilberg, a Conservatve rabbi, is a spiritual counselor in private practice.

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