My husband Gary has a t-shirt I bought him for when we go on family camping trips. It says ‘sorry for the things I said while I was putting up the tent.’ Tent building can be incredibly stressful, and so can sukkah building! I was very impressed with Gary this year who got ours up at home entirely on his own, perhaps so we wouldn’t hear what he said while putting it up. That meant it was ready for me and the kids to decorate the day after Yom Kippur. How different can two festivals be? Yom Kippur is a deeply spiritual, internally focussed day. We traditionally reject all care or indulgence for the body, dress in pure white (ideal when you aren’t eating!) and through the long hours of the afternoon experience something shift together. When the services have finished we are forced back out into the world, and have 4 days to really engage; building and decorating our temporary dwellings, our sukkot, ready for the next festival.
While the timing is terrible for clergy and wardens and our amazing house staff, spiritually it is no accident. Having spent hours in inward contemplation, hoping to change ourselves for the year just starting, we then have to put all our commitments and hopes to the test. Just as my husband’s temper and frustration are tested every time we go camping, we are asked to attempt to build and offer hospitality in order to see if all we hoped we would be can be put into action.
During Neillah, the closing service of Yom Kippur, we talk about the gates of repentance closing. But they aren’t entirely shut yet according to some. Rabbi Eliyahu de Vidas[i], a 16th century kabbalist, suggests that Sukkot is still a time for teshuvah, for repentance and return to God. Other commentators have argued more specifically that Sukkot is a time for teshuvah done out of love, in contrast to the ten days of repentance which concluded on Yom Kippur, which was a time of repentance out of fear. Teshuvah done out of love is considered to be on a higher level than teshuvah pursued out of fear. As Emily taught us in her d’var torah, sukkot helps us appreciate all that we have and is done for us. When we focus on how good God is to us, we become closer to God and, in theory at least, happily pursue the goodness wanted of us.
Maimonides argues that Teshuvah is never complete unless we prove we can do it out in the real world. Sukkot is our first opportunity to do that, and with UK weather being what it is, it can be testing! Add into that the strains of day to day life and the curveballs thrown at us, and we start to understand that Sukkot is not just a test of our ability to not say the things my husbands tshirt apologises for, but a lesson in resilience and grace.
The hospitality of sukkot is also a reminder to us that we need to make our commitments to God real when it comes to our relationships with one another. On sukkot we invite both real and spiritual guests into our sukkot, a reminder that while Yom Kippur fixes our relationship with God, we need to continually work on our relationships with one another, be it family or friends or the stranger who just needed hospitality. Our relationships can be as vulnerable as our sukkot are, and the festival potentially gives us a chance to focus on the people we want to have in that inner circle; who would we want to make sure we can fit in our sukkah?
Sukkot concludes on Wednesday night as we move into Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, an anniversary in the Hebrew calendar that will potentially change the festival for the next few years if not indefinitely. It is on that night that some of the Rabbis believe the gates of repentance will finally close for the next year. Just as our sukkot remind us of how vulnerable and unpredictable life is, we have felt that vulnerability in a very real way over the last year. But as our sukkah is open to the skies, providing shade and protection but not being thoroughly waterproof, I hope we find ways to keep our hearts and minds open, hands extended to protect and to hold, despite the tears, and that the teshuvah we have worked on is not poisoned by anger or fear.
More than anything, Sukkot for me is a beautiful example of the spiritual technology Judaism offers us, helping us to process the reality of life, hold it’s tensions, and at the same time enjoy a wonderful meal with friends and family (as long as the rain isn’t dripping into your soup!) The gifts of our Judaism are there for the taking, it just requires us to step into it. I have so loved seeing you continue to step into your Judaism Emily, and hope it is always a source of nourishment, meaning and support for you, and for all of us.
Cain Yehi Ratzon, may this be God’s will. Venomar Amen
[i] Reishit Chochma (gate of Kedusha, chapter 14)
