In Judaism it is considered a mitzvah to not only dwell in a sukkah, but also to build it. In fact the process is considered one of such joyous fulfillment that it is best to do it as soon after Yom Kippur as is possible. So this Sunday, we erected a sukkah at my house, which will be used by not only my family but also those in the synagogue who do not have their own sukkah. . We will not actually eat our first meal in the sukkah until that evening, the first night of Sukkot, but as is always the case the process of building the sukkah begins the process of learning from the sukkah. Here are three living lessons that we can take away from our little sukkah that could.
Lesson #1 – Mobility
Our sukkah was built from pre cut, stored lumber tht we use each year and store behind my garage. . The sides are made from plastic lattice, materials not available to our ancestors. Yet these light weight materials, the fast construction and the absolute mobility of the temporary dwelling was indicative of the nomadic process. Sukkot remembers that freedom came as the result of pitching tents over 14,600 days and honors the 43,000 meals prepared in the dessert. But more importantly Sukkot reminds us that God is everywhere and undermines the idolatry of rootedness. This doesn’t mean that home and hearth are bad values; rather it serves as a dialectic reminder that we are first and foremost citizens of God’s kingdom, sojourners in this present reality. Our journey in the wilderness began at Passover when Hashem took us out of the land of Egypt and commanded us to eat our last meal there in great haste with “our staff in hand and our loins girded” (I am still a little uncertain and just a little scared of the alternative), an idiom which suggests that we are to be perpetual wanderers.
Lesson #2 – Fragility
Our sukkah is actually quite solid. In fact it is 128 2quare feet and a has a bamboo roof (s’chach) .
While our sukkah may seem a little under whelming, it is actually right on target. Here are some of the stipulations of an appropriate Halakhic sukkah (according to Jewish law).
•The sukkah need not be not be too impressive.
•The sukkah may not be too large.
•The sukkah may not be any lower than what can be normally lived in.
•The roof or s’chach must be made of vegetation and the stars must be seen through.
The idea is to remind us of the fragility of the world that we occupy, a world that relies upon the sustenance and the benevolence of the Creator. This is why we add the following statement to the daily Amida between Sukkot and Passover; “Who makes the wind to blow and the rain descend”. It is wedged between two other affirmations in the prayers; “You resuscitate the dead and are able to save” and “Who sustains the living with loving kindness.” The placement creates the unambiguous suggestion that God’s provision of our agricultural needs that provide our daily sustenance is no less miraculous than the resurrection of the dead, and no less important than the care of our individual health. Therefore we are reminded that all that we are, all that we have and all that we need are in the hands of the one who created us.
This is not an absolute statement against materialism; Judaism is not a religion of asceticism. Instead our little sukkah just reminds us that God will care for our needs in much the same way that he meets the needs of our souls. Maimonides wrote, “The general purpose of the Torah is twofold the well-being of the body and the well-being of the soul. The well-being of the soul is ranked first, but the well-being of the body comes first.”
Lesson #3 – Relationships
On Sunday morning I will still be recovering from the High holidays. Though the idea of putting up a sukkah should excite me, it often feels like one more task. . My mechanical skills only take me so far, and I can never remember how the sukkah goes together. but I know that Bill and others will show up and save the day. Building a sukkah is one of those projects that can bring people together. For those of us who spend most of our time in a world that is more cerebral than digital, we are afforded few constructive moments that are not spent in front of a screen. What a great opportunity it is to be able to create something together, even if it is going to stand for a couple of weeks at best. Then come the decorators, mostly kids and moms who got to put the finishing touches on the sukkah. In the end it really will be a humble sukkah, but it is our sukkah, built by our hands together in a cooperative effort.
Sunday we will take our first meal in it and together will create a new set of memories that will long outlast the sukkah. . Friends will stop by and eat their meals in our sukkah all throughout the week as well. It is a mitzvah to welcome others into the sukkah, according to the Jewish tradition of Ushpizin, when we host others in our sukkah it as though we host our patriarchs as honored guests, and we welcome Hashem himself. The Talmud says, “The Shechinah (the Divine Presence) comes upon us neither out of sadness nor our of raucous laughter…but out of the joy of mitzvah.” Perhaps that is why the prophet Zechariah predicted that in the last days all people would celebrate Sukkot. So what began with our ancestors in the wilderness remains in Jewish hands, lessons that we continue learn in little sukkot.
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