In-Between Times...

We are now in the holiday of Sukkot during which we are commanded to build booths, sukkot, and dwell in them for seven days. It is not highly attended to, these days. It is an ancient ritual too detached from modern times. During services this morning, one of our brilliant rabbis, Rabbi Oren Hayon, discussed the meaning of booths at length. It is said we are to build booths so we remember the exodus from Egypt. But, the rabbi pointed out, we did not live in booths during those 40 years; we lived in tents. He said "The morning prayer says 'Mah tovu ohalecha, Yakov,' (How goodly are your tents, o Jacob) not 'mah tovu ohaSUKKOT, Yakov." Great line; kudos to the rabbi :) He offered several Talmudic commentaries on the subject. Rabbi Eliezer said they were actual booths while Rabbi Akiba said it is a metaphor for "The Clouds Of Glory." Make of that what you will. Then Rabbi Hayon presented this from Rabbi Yehiel Mehiel Epstein:
"On Yom Kippur, when we repent, God forgives our sins. The proof of this is that immediately after Yom Kippur, God commands us to make a sukkah, so that we dwell in the shade of the Holy One, Blessed be God. As it says, "I love to sit in his shade" [Song Of Songs 2:3] --this is the commandment of the sukkah...This teaches us that despite all our sins, God still loves us and watches over us to protect us from all sorrow and harm. God causes us to dwell in a holy and pure shade and God shelters ["sokech"] us."
This just amazed me...this made my eyes shoot open and my mind expand. As Rabbi Hayon said after reading this to us, we can never view Sukkot the same again. For me, Sukkot will never be just this intermediary space of time between Yom Kippur and Simchat Torah (my favorite holiday). He really gave it meaning and depth. It doesn't solve the technical question of WHAT a booth is exactly, but it says what a booth IS in the deeper sense. Hopefully, next year I will have my own yard in which to build a sukkah so my dogs and I can dwell in God's sheltering peace...if only for seven days.
Next week: B'reishit/ Genesis
Chag Sameach!
Lev