Lakeview Tikkun L'eil Shavuot: Friday, June 26, 2023 / 6 Sivan 5783 1:00am
Think about the place that most feels like Home to you. Where is it? When is it? What do you have there? What else do you have in your life that creates or results from that Home?
Biblical Sources
Shemot/Exodus 23 provides the first biblical source for Shalosh Regalim, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot).
What feelings does a pilgrimage evoke for you? What feelings is this text communicating about each holiday? What preparation might be required for these pilgrimages? What assumptions does Shemot make?
Vayikra/Leviticus becomes the biblical source that produces our question:
יָשַׁב (b. h.) 1) to sit down, rest; to dwell, remain; to be inactive. Macc. III, 15 כל חיוֹשֵׁב ולא עבר וכ׳ whoever is inactive and commits no sin, i.e. omits to do wrong; Kidd. 39ᵇ.—Erub. 100ᵃ שֵׁב ואל תעשה עדיף ‘sit and do nothing’, i.e. not to act in doubtful cases, is better, opp. קום ועשה. Ber. 20ᵃ שב ואל תעשה שאני with an omission it is different. Tosef. Snh. VII, 8 ולא יֵשְׁבוּ … להם שֵׁבוּ and they must not sit down until he says to them, Be seated; Hor. 13ᵇ; Y. Bicc. III, 65ᶜ bot.—Y. Dem. II, 23ᵃ top שי׳ בישיבח who has a seat in the scholars’ meetings. Snh. 10ᵇ; Tosef. ib. II, 1 אחד אומר לֵישֵׁב if one is in favor of sitting (holding deliberation in court). Zeb. II, 1 יוֹשֵׁב in a sitting position. Ber. 28ᵇ מיוֹשְׁבֵי בה"מ one of the attendants at college, יושבי קרנות those placed at street corners (traders, idlers). Gen. R. s 75 יושבי קרנות (corr. קרונות) sitting in chariots; a. v. fr. —2) to be settled (v. יִישּׁוּב), be inhabited. Num. R. s. 4 הגבעה … יוֹשְׁבִים Gibeah and Kiryath Jearim were settled at the same time.—Erub. 86ᵃ (ref. to Ps. LXI, 8) אימתי יושב עולם לפני וכ׳ (Rashi a. Ar. יֵשֵׁב) when is the world settled (evenly balanced) before God? When kindness and truth are appointed to guard it (differ. in Rashi; v. infra).
Leviticus commands us to (y-sh-v) in our Sukkot. Does this imply permanence or impermanence?
What assumptions does Vayikra make?
Sukkah as Permanent Housing
(ט) כָּל שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים אָדָם עוֹשֶׂה סֻכָּתוֹ קֶבַע וּבֵיתוֹ עֲרַאי. יָרְדוּ גְשָׁמִים, מֵאֵימָתַי מֻתָּר לְפַנּוֹת, מִשֶּׁתִּסְרַח הַמִּקְפָּה. מָשְׁלוּ מָשָׁל, לְמָה הַדָּבָר דּוֹמֶה, לְעֶבֶד שֶׁבָּא לִמְזוֹג כּוֹס לְרַבּוֹ, וְשָׁפַךְ לוֹ קִיתוֹן עַל פָּנָיו:
(9) All seven days of Sukkot, a person renders his sukka his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. If rain fell, from when is it permitted to vacate the sukka? It is permitted from the point that it is raining so hard that the congealed dish will spoil. The Sages told a parable: To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a servant who comes to pour wine for his master, and he pours a jug [kiton] of water in his face to show him that his presence is not desired. So too, in the sukka, rain is an indication that the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not want the person to fulfill the mitzva of sukka.
This Mishnah introduces the concepts of Dirat Arai (Temporary Dwelling) and Dirat Keva (Permanent Dwelling).
What is the Mishnah proposing as necessary for a permanent Home? What feeling is meant to be induced by this vision of the Sukkah? Does this feel specific to the vision of Sukkot as a Pilgrimage Festival? Is it possible if you are not pilgrimaging? What assumptions does this Mishnah make about Home?
This Baraita (text from the same time period as the Mishnah) elucidates more specifically how we make a Sukkah permanent. Take a moment to reflect on these components of permanence.
What is significant about these particular objects and activities?
Which personal possessions are necessary for you to feel even temporarily at home? Which personal possessions truly make a place feel like a permanent Home for you? Is there a time when you did not have what you needed in your place of residence?
Which activities are only possible for you when you feel fully at Home? Is there a time when you were separated from these practices? How did that feel?
What assumptions does this Baraita make about Home?
Rava Redefines Sukkah as Temporary Housing
Gemara Masechet Sukkah begins by settling a disagreement between the Mishnah and Rabbi Yehudah over the height of the Sukkah (the Mishnah is correct). It then seeks a biblical source for its answer. Different textual opinions evoke different spiritual and practical functions. We will skip most of the debate to zoom in on Rava's answer, which transforms the Sukkah from a Permanent Home to a Temporary Home.
An amah (cubit) is roughly the length of one's forearm.
Why would 10 handbreadths be the minimum?
What assumptions does each opinion make about Sukkah?
Why does Rava flip the Sukkah from a permanent to temporary Home?
Think about 20 amot. Does that make sense as a minimum height for a permanent Home? Why or why not?
What assumptions is Rava making about Home?
What is Rava teaching us about Home?
Another Redefinition
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines homeless as “a person who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”
To estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness in the United States, HUD conducts an annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count on a designated night in January. The PIT count tallies people staying at shelters, transitional housing programs, or a place not meant for habitation, such as a park or car.
Which assumptions about permanent housing do Rava and HUD share? Which do they not share?
Temporarily staying with others due to economic hardship or housing loss is the way that most people—particularly families with children—experience homelessness in the United States. Also known as “doubling up,” or "couch surfing" this form of homelessness is a precarious means of survival, associated with the same risk factors and negative outcomes as those staying in shelters or outdoor locations. Research also shows that homelessness is very fluid, as people move frequently between couches, motels, shelters, cars, and other locations, rather than staying in one static living arrangement. Under HUD’s restrictive definition, families experiencing homelessness that scrounge up their own meager resources to pay for a motel room are also ineligible for housing assistance.
HUD’s Point-in-Time methodology woefully undercounts homelessness and, worse, points to the wrong policy solutions.
Does "doubling up" look more like Dirat Arai or Dirat Keva? Why?
Homelessness is more than just living on the street.
It’s living in a shelter or spending your nights on someone else’s couch.
It’s not having an address to call your own, and not having the means to obtain one.
MORE THAN 65,000 PEOPLE ARE HOMELESS IN CHICAGO
Bring Chicago Home is a grassroots movement of Chicagoans committed to creating a dedicated revenue stream to combat homelessness in Chicago.
The coalition aims to restructure the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT), a one-time tax on buyers of properties over $1 million (affecting 4.2% of all property transfers) when they are sold, to create a substantial and legally dedicated revenue stream to provide permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness.
The money generated by the tax would be legally dedicated to programs that alleviate homelessness, including assistance for children, veterans, and women recovering from domestic violence.
Permanent supportive housing is an intervention that combines affordable housing assistance with voluntary support services to address the needs of chronically homeless people. The services are designed to build independent living and tenancy skills and connect people with community-based health care, treatment and employment services.
Bring Chicago Home is not tzedakah. It would be a communal and individual obligation to provide housing through taxes on a small segment of the city. Sukkot is a time of hospitality. How have these texts and conversations informed your understanding of our obligations around Permanent Housing? What are you feeling right now?
Professor Dov Kahane, Jewish Theological Seminary
Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, NYU: The Sukka as Temporary or Permanent Dwelling
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless: https://www.chicagohomeless.org/hidden-homelessness-in-the-united-states/
National Alliance to End Homelessness: https://endhomelessness.org/ending-homelessness/solutions/permanent-supportive-housing/
Bring Chicago Home: https://www.bringchicagohome.org/what-is-bring-chicago-home/
Cantor Elizabeth Berke, Anshe Emet Synagogue
Sam Rose
65,000 Chicagoans experiencing homelessness
Rabbi Luciana Pajecki Lederman, Jewish Theological Seminary
Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Diamond, Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Dalya Lessem Elnecave
Andie Linker
Jimmy Rothschild