Sukkot is the only outdoor holiday. For one week a year we step outside our house, our comfort zone and we step into the Sukkah.
When people used to ask Rav Zalmen Schachter Shlomi what does the Sukkah mean? He used to turn the question on them and ask, What is the Sukkah saying to you? In order to hear the song of the Sukkah and the song of the universe we must develop an ability to listen, to observe and to focus.
I will give you a few ideas to contemplate when in the Sukkah. Please share any you have developed.
1. Imagine the Sukkah is a protective cloud.
The protection provided is not from snakes and scorpions but from the distractions of the modern world. When you are with your friends and family in the protection of the Sukkah you are in a sacred space. No phones, no computers nothing to distract from spending time with the ones you love.
2. Imagine the Sukkah is the Bais Hamikdash (Holy Temple)
God desires an abode in this world. We do not need the Sukkah to live in but we construct it purely for God’s glory. Like the Mishkan and the Bais Hamikdash it is a location where God can manifest his presence on earth. Sukkot is a rendezvous with the divine. The Sukkah is the nexus of the physical and the spiritual.
3. Imagine the Sukkah is a time Machine
When you enter you are transported to a different time and place. It can take you back to your childhood, to your days in High School, to your first home. We all have moments and memories linked to this temporary structure that are permanently a part of us.
4. Imagine the Sukkah is a Monument/Museum
The Sukkah is a testimony to the indestructible nature of the Jewish people. We are told to leave our permanent house and go to a temporary Sukkah. Perhaps the Sukkah is the permanent dwelling and the house is temporary.
Jews have been moving from country to country for two thousand years, but we have always sat in Sukkot. The Sukkah is a testament to the Jewish people and their continued declaration that “The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -”. ― Heraclitus
When people used to ask Rav Zalmen Schachter Shlomi what does the Sukkah mean? He used to turn the question on them and ask, What is the Sukkah saying to you? In order to hear the song of the Sukkah and the song of the universe we must develop an ability to listen, to observe and to focus.
I will give you a few ideas to contemplate when in the Sukkah. Please share any you have developed.
1. Imagine the Sukkah is a protective cloud.
The protection provided is not from snakes and scorpions but from the distractions of the modern world. When you are with your friends and family in the protection of the Sukkah you are in a sacred space. No phones, no computers nothing to distract from spending time with the ones you love.
2. Imagine the Sukkah is the Bais Hamikdash (Holy Temple)
God desires an abode in this world. We do not need the Sukkah to live in but we construct it purely for God’s glory. Like the Mishkan and the Bais Hamikdash it is a location where God can manifest his presence on earth. Sukkot is a rendezvous with the divine. The Sukkah is the nexus of the physical and the spiritual.
3. Imagine the Sukkah is a time Machine
When you enter you are transported to a different time and place. It can take you back to your childhood, to your days in High School, to your first home. We all have moments and memories linked to this temporary structure that are permanently a part of us.
4. Imagine the Sukkah is a Monument/Museum
The Sukkah is a testimony to the indestructible nature of the Jewish people. We are told to leave our permanent house and go to a temporary Sukkah. Perhaps the Sukkah is the permanent dwelling and the house is temporary.
Jews have been moving from country to country for two thousand years, but we have always sat in Sukkot. The Sukkah is a testament to the Jewish people and their continued declaration that “The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -”. ― Heraclitus
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