Day 1 Sukkot The Gift of Time So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of Sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of Sabbath rest. On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees from palms, willows and other leafy trees and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Leviticus 23:39 40 Every Jewish holiday has its own special spiritual energy. Passover is known as the time of freedom, while Shavuot is called the time of the giving of the Torah. Each year on these holidays we can taste freedom anew or receive God s Word as if for the first time. On Sukkot, The Feast of Tabernacles, we celebrate the time of joy, as we read in the Scriptures,... and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. What is the joy of Sukkot and how can we attain it? The simplest explanation is that Sukkot occurs during the harvest season. It s time to reap our harvest, the fruit of our labor, and enjoy it. However, the Sages also give the following explanation: This time of joy is about the joy of time. In other words, joy comes from having time time to be with God and with our loved ones. A friend of mine works with young women in Israel who have gotten lost in life, made poor decisions, and gone through difficult situations. This program helps rehabilitate them. What s interesting is that most of the women who my friend meets in the program all stem from good families. They were given everything their own room, their own computer, a car at 17. However, there is one thing that these women didn t get from their parents and that was time with them. When there is no time with our loved ones, there is no joy. On Sukkot, God calls us to live in the sukkah, a temporary hut, for seven days. We live outside, away from all the distractions of life, and spend time with God, friends, and family. The sukkah itself is likened to one big hug from our Heavenly Father. As we sit inside the sukkah, in God s loving embrace, we also embrace each other. We give each other the gift of time, the present of our presence. Recently, a story was going around the Internet that probably isn t true, but its message is. A little boy wanted to know how much his father earned per hour. The father told his son that he makes $100 an hour. The little boy then asked his father to borrow $50. As the father ultimately discovered, his son put away the $50, trying to save up enough money so that he could buy an hour of his father s time! Needless to say, the father reassessed his priorities immediately. Page 1 of 2
Day 1 Sukkot That s what the season of Sukkot helps us to remember to slow down a bit and make space for what matters most. Spend some meaningful time with God, with your family, with old friends, and maybe with some new ones. There is no greater joy! Page 2 of 2
Day 2 Sukkot Making it Last Say to the Israelites: On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD s Festival of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. Leviticus 23:34 This week we will celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. However, to fully understand the meaning of this holiday we have to look at where it really begins at the conclusion of Yom Kippur, five days earlier. Moments after Jews have broken their 25-hour fast, you will hear the sound of hammering all over Israel as people begin building the little huts known as sukkot. Why can t the building wait until the next day after we have had time to digest our meal? Let s examine how Yom Kippur ends. As the Day of Atonement comes to a close, the congregation recites seven times aloud: The LORD he is God! These few words sum up the entire holiday season. The goal is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is our Lord who is present in our lives and whom we must serve. After repeating this message one last time, we sound the final shofar blast. It s a dramatic and moving end to the most holy days of the year. The words that we recite seven times may sound familiar. They are borrowed from 1 Kings just after the prophet Elijah defeated the false prophets on Mount Carmel. After witnessing Elijah s amazing demonstration that his was the one true God, the people bowed on their faces and proclaimed, The LORD he is God! (1 Kings 18:39). It was crystal clear to them. The people were once again aligned with the Lord Almighty. But the very next day the nation returned to their wicked ways. Elijah the prophet was forced to run for his life because the people once again became loyal to the wicked King Ahab and his idolatrous ways. The entire kingdom was out to kill Elijah. Their momentary clarity gone and their fleeting inspiration faded, the people were as lost and misguided as before. The High Holy Days are inspirational and educational. We end on a spiritual high. It is no mistake that we conclude with the same words proclaimed by the people of Elijah s time. We share their clarity, but we want to avoid their mistake. As soon as the holiday ends, we put our feelings into action. We lift and hammer and create something that will remind us of God. This is the gift of Sukkot we take our feelings and transform them into something real. The Sages teach that our good intentions are strengthened with action. Inspiration is nice, but true spiritual growth requires action. Inspiration gets us going, but action makes it last. Page 1 of 1
Day 3 Sukkot The Scent of Eden On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees from palms, willows and other leafy trees and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Leviticus 23:40 One of the central components of Sukkot is known as the four species. The Sages explained that the four species referred to in Scripture are the citron, a closed palm frond, myrtle leaves, and willow leaves. We take the four items together and shake them in all directions. What is the meaning behind this rich and deeply symbolic act? The Sages explain that each of the four species represents a part of the body. The palm represents our spine; the myrtle leaves are shaped like eyes; the willow like a mouth; and the citron like a heart. When we take the four elements together and wave them around, we are proclaiming our commitment to worshiping God with our entire being. As King David wrote in Psalm 35: With every bone in my body I will praise him (Psalm 35:10 NLT). Gathering the four species is such an esteemed act among the Jews that people go to great lengths to buy only the best. Some people take it to such extremes as examining citrons with a magnifying glass and paying enormous sums of money just so that they can worship God in the greatest way possible. As I watch this ritual every year, I am reminded of an old tale that teaches the true goal of this tradition. The story goes that a Hasidic Jew had saved 50 rubles so that he could buy the best citron possible for the holiday. With joy in his heart, he went to buy the citron; however, on his way he met a friend who looked miserable. It became clear that his friend s horse had died and now the poor man could not make a living. How much would a new horse cost? the man asked his friend. 45 rubles, he replied. The Hasid gave the man 45 rubles, and with the five remaining rubles, he bought himself a cheap, shriveled-up citron. That night in the synagogue the rabbi announced, I smell the scent of the Garden of Eden. Everyone take out your citrons! The rabbi inspected every citron until he came to the Hasid who was too embarrassed to even take his citron out. Let s see it, demanded the rabbi. The Hasid sheepishly revealed his citron. That s it! declared the rabbi. The scent of Eden! The rabbi asked what led the man to buy such a citron, and the Hasid told the rabbi all about the money he had saved and then given away. Page 1 of 2
Day 3 Sukkot Friends, the greatest way that we can serve God is by showing kindness to each other. This holiday season, we can all try to give a little more and be a bit more kind. Together we can turn this world into a real paradise! Page 2 of 2
Day 4 Sukkot Shelter in the Storm Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 23:42-43 I have a friend who spent a lot of time worrying, so much so, that she sought out professional help. One day, she excitedly reported to me that she was greatly improving. Rabbi, my therapist gave me the most powerful exercise! she enthused. Every night I envision that I am walking through a desert when a great storm comes. I stop, take a tent out of my backpack, and ride out the storm inside my tent unharmed. Then I pack up and continue on. This visualization helped my friend internalize the idea that she didn t have to worry so much because she could weather any storm. It worked! After thinking about my friend s experience, I realized that her visualization technique wasn t all that different than the Jewish observance of Sukkot. Only in our scenario, we have to work far less. The children of Israel trekked through the desert and were able to weather every storm. But it wasn t because they had new easy-to-assemble tents with them. No, it was because God provided them with the shelter they would need. When God took the Israelites out of Egypt on a 40-day journey through the desert, He provided for their every need. There was manna from heaven to feed them, and according to the Sages, their clothing never needed washing and grew with their owners. God also provided the Israelites with shelter:... I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. Some Sages believe that God placed the families in actual huts, while others believe that the huts were really the Clouds of Glory that surrounded the nation on every side. All, however, agree that God sheltered His children. It is His providence and protection that we celebrate and remember during Sukkot. On Sukkot, we go further than visualization we actually re-enact the experience. We build small, temporary huts and move into them for seven days. There we eat, sleep, and live, exposed to the elements and completely dependent on God s protection. As autumn moves in, most people move into their homes for protection. However, it is precisely then that we choose to move outside in a grand gesture that proclaims that we are not afraid of the rain, the cold, or anything. There is no need to worry, for we are sheltered by God. Whether you build a sukkah this year or simply imagine it, remember that God is your shelter. Just as He provided for the children of Israel in the desert, He will continue to provide for all of our needs and protect us through any storm. Page 1 of 1
Day 5 Sukkot Covered by God s Hand Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters... We are such a capable society. We can cure illnesses never cured before. We can fly, we can travel to outer space, and we can see from one end of the world to the other from the comfort of our own homes. In Israel, we have shown that we can even stop missiles headed our way thanks to the invention of the Iron Dome. And thanks to smartphones, people all around the globe can watch real-life demonstrations of incoming rockets from Gaza being shot down by Iron Dome missiles in Israel. Indeed, we have accomplished so much... or have we? During the holiday of Sukkot, we are required to spend seven days and nights in little flimsy huts with inefficient roofs. We are exposed to the elements, open to everything around us. The truth is, however, all yearlong we are vulnerable. Sometimes we forget and think that because we have a solid roof over our heads or four-wheel drive on our car, we are in control. Sukkot comes around once a year to remind us that we aren t in control of anything. In spite of the illusions we may create about how capable we are, the truth is that we are all extremely vulnerable. Trouble can come at any moment, and it is only by the grace of God that we go on. As one illustrator so effectively depicted, Israel s real Iron Dome is the hand of God, covering and protecting the Holy Land. We may think that we are controlling things, but it s God Who is pulling the strings. I love this imagery: Imagine that a fly lands on a train and wants to make it move. It pushes with all its might, and the train does start to move. It goes very fast and the fly starts to think that it must be really strong. To the onlooker, it s ridiculous to think that the fly could ever be pushing a train. Even the largest, strongest, most capable fly cannot push a train! We are like that fly. Sometimes it looks like we are the ones pushing the train and running the world, but it s just an illusion. God is the driver, the conductor, and the power that runs our lives. The celebration of Sukkot serves to remind us that this whole world is one big sukkah. We are all vulnerable and totally dependent on God who covers us with His love. Remember how God loves us infinitely, and He will continue to conduct our lives in the best way possible. We cannot control everything, but the good news is that we don t have to. Our loving Father in Heaven has got us covered. Page 1 of 1
Day 6 Sukkot God Will Fix What is Broken In that day I will restore David s fallen shelter I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins and will rebuild it as it used to be... Amos 9:11 For Christians, the holiday season starts at the end of the year. For Jews, the holiday season is now. The holidays can be challenging for many people. We are supposed to celebrate and be joyful. But what about those who have very little to be joyful about? What about those who don t have a family to be with? Or those who can t afford the holiday food? We all fall upon hard times occasionally. How can we celebrate Sukkot, known as the holiday of joy, when it s so hard to be happy? The Sages teach that while those who feel broken think that the holidays are not for them, the exact opposite is true. The holiday of Sukkot is especially for the broken, fallen, and disheartened. We read in Amos 9:11, On that day, I will restore David s fallen shelter... The word in Hebrew used for shelter in this verse is sukkah, the same word for the small booths that we build and live in during this holiday. On Sukkot, God will rebuild what is broken. The prophet continued, I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins and will rebuild it as it used to be. Only something that is empty can be filled. Only that which is broken and isn t whole can be made whole by God. According to Jewish law, the ceiling of the sukkah must not be solid. The traditional covering of the sukkah is made out of tree branches and leaves or bamboo. The rule is that there has to be enough space between the branches so that a person inside the sukkah can see the stars. It is as if the ceiling is broken because only then can the light come in. On Sukkot, we repeat the following phrase in prayer and song: He who spreads out the sukkah (shelter) of peace over His nation Israel. In Hebrew, the word peace is shalom. The word shalom is related to the word shalem which means whole. On Sukkot, God spreads peace and wholeness over the broken and dejected. It s the time when our brokenness is celebrated, since it is through our emptiness that we are able to receive God. Sukkot teaches us not to bemoan all the things wrong with our lives because our broken places create ideal spaces in which to receive God. During this season, let s pray that God will fix all that is broken both in our own personal lives and also in our world and pray, too, that God may spread out His shelter of peace over Israel and the world! Page 1 of 1
Day 7 Sukkot Above the Sun Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 Every Jewish holiday is associated with a particular biblical book which is read on the holiday itself. On Passover, we read Song of Songs, on Shavuot, the book of Ruth. On the holiday of Sukkot we read the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a Latin translation of the Hebrew word Kohelet. Kohelet literally means gatherer, but is used to mean teacher throughout the book. It is a term that Solomon, the author of the book, uses as the book s title and also to refer to himself. He has gathered up all this knowledge and is sharing it with us in this epic work. And what is his conclusion? It can be summed up in perhaps the most well-known phrase which both begins and concludes Ecclesiastes: Meaningless! Meaningless!... Everything is meaningless. How are we to understand these words? Are our lives truly meaningless? And what does this have to do with Sukkot? The answer can be found in the very next verse: What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? The key phrase is under the sun. Life under the sun is what the teacher finds meaningless. Under the sun refers to life on earth. The unwritten law of the physical world we live in is he who dies with the most toys wins. People dedicate their lives to acquiring the nicest homes, the fanciest cars, and the latest technological craze. However, at the end of life these things don t matter at all. You can t enjoy your toys when you re dead, and since that is everyone s destiny, what s the point of working toward all those useless things in the first place? Solomon teaches that nothing we can accomplish under the sun has real, lasting value. However, there is also life above the sun. Above the sun exists another world, the spiritual world. That is the only place where anything we acquire has true worth. And the types of things we can acquire that have real, lasting value aren t things at all. They are our good deeds and service to God. Only these things will be with us forever, and only these things have meaning. On Sukkot, as we sit in our flimsy huts with their insubstantial roofs, we realize how fleeting and vulnerable anything we build in this world truly is. Our vision isn t clouded by a sturdy, secure roof which Page 1 of 2
Day 7 Sukkot blocks our view of the great expanse beyond the sun and moon. We can see past all that and recognize that life under the sun is only a corridor. Above the sun is where we will ultimately live and it is only there that life earns its meaning. Page 2 of 2
Day 8 Sukkot Joy in Serving God Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. Ecclesiastes 12:13 Sukkot is the holiday of joy. So why is it, that of all books in the Scriptures, we choose to read Ecclesiastes on this holiday? It s not exactly an upbeat book. Yes, it is profound, wise, and even lifechanging. But it doesn t have much to do with joy. The underlying theme of the book is that we are all going to get old and die. Everything that we do in life at least on the physical plane is ultimately meaningless. We leave it all behind when we die. This is an important message, but is it consistent with the joyful theme of the holiday? Consider the following tale told every year by one of Jerusalem s old storyteller rabbis: A certain wagondriver would often fall asleep while traveling and veer off the road. One time, he fell into a deep sleep and woke up in complete darkness. He realized that he had ventured into the dark mountains. The man was petrified, but soon saw a bonfire and discovered people there. The citizens of the dark mountains welcomed him and encouraged the man to stay a while and earn some money before returning home. The man agreed. Suddenly, he realized that the dark mountains were made of diamonds! Immediately, he began scooping up diamonds to take home. But the people stopped him and said, Those aren t worth anything. Wax is our most precious commodity. If you want to become wealthy, become a wax merchant. Which the man did, forgetting all about the diamonds. After accumulating a respectable amount of wax, the man prepared to return home. He loaded up his wagon with the crates of wax. To keep them in place, he stuffed a few diamonds between the crates. When he got home, his family greeted him enthusiastically. Where have you been? they cried. The man told his story and proudly showed them his crates of smelly wax. But his family wasn t interested in the wax. Instead, they exclaimed, Look at these diamonds! We ll be rich. Friends, we often mistake the valued commodities of this world money, possessions, prestige, fame as true wealth, when the real diamonds acts of kindness, good deeds, faith are all around us. As Solomon explained at the end of Ecclesiastes, the only important thing is to fear God and follow in His ways. Those are the real diamonds and they are available to us all. Page 1 of 2
Day 8 Sukkot Sukkot coincides with the harvest season. Whether we come to the holiday with a little or a lot, Ecclesiastes is read to give us the proper perspective. It doesn t matter how much we have because that s not where our joy will be found. True joy comes with serving God and that, my friends, is priceless. Page 2 of 2