Each fall, Jews celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, named after the “huts” in which our people (based on Biblical history) dwelled during their 40 years in the wilderness. Sukkot begins the night of the largest full moon of the year, the harvest moon.
As a celebration of the year’s largest harvest, Sukkot reminds us to give thanks. The American Pilgrims understood this Biblical significance of Sukkot, and it became the basis for Thanksgiving.
One tradition calls us to “live” for a week in a Sukkah, a hut, open to the sky, with some leaves for a roof. Eating meals there can qualify for “living,” especially during inclement weather. Living in a hut should remind us of our interdependence with nature. Our buildings and vehicles, which insulate us from so many effects of nature, are artificial barriers. They distract us from the constant interaction between each of us and nature. They limit our awareness of our impact on nature, so we avoid dealing with pollution, conservation of resources (dying species; sustainable development; diversity of energy resources, in contrast to our current excessive dependence on oil), global warming, and even adequate preparation for “natural” disasters. Just ask the residents of New Orleans. Awareness of interdependence is the key to accepting stewardship for nature.
Living in Sukkot/ huts (symbols of freedom from civilization) might teach us to detach from those values of our surrounding society – such as materialism, isolationism and rugged individualism – which limit our freedom. Freedom is our ability to “worship God” (in secular vocabulary, to “live as we should”), to use all of our resources to pursue our highest values, to fulfill our potential to create/ improve ourselves and our world. If all lived freely, then we would celebrate the Messianic dream, our harvest of the moral deeds we plant.
On the other hand, living in Sukkot might remind us of our interdependence with the society around us and push us to connect more closely with the positive values of our American society, such as individual freedom, respect for cultural diversity, caring for one’s neighbors, and entrepreneurial creativity.
This season of abundance might remind us of our potential to produce, from our Earth, more than enough food, and other resources, so that every person on Earth could live a most comfortable life. Our Torah/ Bible teaches “distributive justice,” that everyone deserves a base, a “safety net,” of food, housing, health care and education. If so, then all would be freed not only from the “Pharaoh” (any factor which inhibits our freedom to do what we should) of poverty, but also from the Pharaohs of oppression. All oppression derives from corruption. Corruption is when a relatively small group of people use power to control and obtain more than they deserve, more than their fair share. Corruption cannot flourish amidst widespread prosperity, because the strong middle class will not only demand justice and transparency, but will have the power to make them real.
Dwelling in Sukkot might also teach us to seek protection from dangers through our love and our connections to other people, based on God’s values (our prayers call this a “sukkat shalom,” a shelter of peace), instead of through an exclusive reliance on arms (military and police) and secured buildings (the “edifice complex”).
The guests we invite to our Sukkot, called ushpizim, might remind us that we are not the first people to envision a world of freedom, comfort and caring. The seven traditional guests are the seven shepherds of Jewish history Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David. Modern versions of ushpizim add women from our tradition, and may also add recent Jewish heroes. They might reconnect us to our brit, our covenant with God, our partnership agreement to create/improve our world.
Sukkot is z’man simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing. We celebrate plentiful food and resources, freedom, interdependence with nature, and our ability to create/improve our world, to achieve the Messianic ideals of justice, freedom, peace, caring and creativity. Happy Sukkot.
Harley Karz-Wagman is rabbi at Temple Beth Or in Everett.
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