Sukkot – Appreciating the Gifts of Nature

Shabbat Shalom From Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

October 18-19, 2019 / 20 Tishrei 5780

Shabbat Chol Hamo’ed Sukkot

Torah Portion: Exodus 33:12-43:26, Deuteronomy 16:13-17

Haftarah Portion:  Ezekiel 38:18-39:16

“Sukkot – Appreciating the Gifts of Nature”

Dear Friends,

You shall live in booths seven days… in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt... [Leviticus 23:42-43]

In Jerusalem on the day after Yom Kippur, sukkah booths suddenly appear all over the city. They are beside houses, on apartment balconies, and even next to restaurants. These feeble huts remind us of the dwellings of our ancestors as they travelled through the desert for 40 years from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Through the flimsy roofs, we let in the wind and the rain.  We see the stars and moon when we look up through the branches. Tradition tells us to read the book of Ecclesiastes to remind ourselves how small and insignificant we are when compared to the immensity and majesty of all creation.  And yet, while feeling tiny and minute in the cosmos, we also come to appreciate how fortunate we are to be alive.  We pause to take in all that the natural world has to give us.

Spend some time in a sukkah and pause to reflect on how lucky we are.  Let your senses remind you of how good it is to be alive and how fortunate we are to share in nature’s bounty.

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Same’ach – Happy Holidays,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow