Heh.
Posted on 09/24/2002 7:58:03 AM PDT by Israel Insider
During the holiday of Succot we leave our regular houses and apartments and dwell in desert huts for seven days. This commemorates the journeys of the Children of Israel in the Sinai, after the exodus from Egypt on their way to Israel. Three thousand years ago they too dwelled in Succahs. The Succah itself is made of walls which are temporary and it has a roof made of schach, reeds or branches through which the sun shines and the stars are meant to be seen. We eat inside the Succah, we sing songs, some of us sleep in the Succah, and we are all commanded to rejoice within it.
Today the Succah represents the Jewish Diaspora, the spiritual desert, the exile. When we step out of our homes, here in America and in the other countries of the Diaspora, and move into our Succahs, we are reminded that our stay here in the exile is only temporary, that we have not yet reached the place of our ultimate physical and spiritual residence. Our homes in the Diaspora are nothing but a Succah, a limited and flimsy structure to tide us over until we can come home, to Israel.
To be sure, our Succah carries within its crude walls those values which we hold so dear. As with our cherished homes in the Diaspora, we decorate our Succah with love and with care. Furthermore, we are thankful to the people and the lands which have hosted us with tolerance and respect. In fact, we are commanded to bring our non-Jewish neighbors into the Succah, to be hospitable to them, to bring them joy, to thank them.
However, though our tenure in the exile is a testament to our enduring vitality, that does not mean that the Diaspora is the end of the road for us. Just the opposite, our ideals and our people have survived in exile, precisely because we have existed in anticipation of a General Recall. The Diaspora and the Succah are wonderful but transient and can never supplant our promise of Zion, and the permanent dwelling in Jerusalem which we have always prayed for.
So why do Israelis put up Succot? The answer lies in the Jewish tendency to forget where we came from, to forget what brought us here, to forget the dream. In Israel, the Succah serves to remind us that not so long ago Jews were dispersed all over the world.
Only great cataclysms and great miracles brought us back from the exile to our ancient Homeland. When we leave our houses in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in favor of a desert-hut, we are showing gratitude to the Almighty that we have been brought back from dispersion and that we have been finally been given the much-awaited task to build a permanent home in our Biblical abode.
When we go to the Succah we humbly admit that we (or our forebears) could have been among the ashes of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, but instead were given the opportunity to come to Israel and build a life in our beautiful Land. In Israel, the Succah reminds us that many of our brethren are still in the Diaspora and that we have much more to do if we are to realize our calling.
The Gaon from Vilna made an incredible observation. He said there are only two commandments which can be done with the whole body. The first is the mitzvah of living in the Land of Israel and the second is the mitzva of dwelling in the Succah. This is no coincidence: the Succah is an embassy of Israel and is considered to be a part of Israel wherever one is. Within its confines the Jew is transported to 'Eretz HaChaim'? the land of the living. Succot is a life-giving holiday because our life-force and our strength come from Israel - the Succah gives us the opportunity to immerse our whole being within it. We cannot love the galut while we dwell in the Succah, we cannot be post-Zionist when we sit in the shade of the sechach. Cynicism is replaced with a sense of destiny when the simple and wholesome Succah surrounds us.
When we look up and peer through the slits in the schach, we see a sliver of blue sky or a shiny star in the heavens. The world is a mysterious place and we do not always have the ability to understand it all. Deep down inside we know that there is something peering back down at us from the heavens and through the cracks. Something is calling our people to return to the Land of Israel. This year, may it be His will that we will heed the voice which yearns for our return, and may we merit to sit under one Succah next year, in Jerusalem, in Zion, together with all of Israel.
Heh.
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