TI Torah Study: Harvesting the Wisdom of Sukkot

Blessing for Torah Study
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוק בְּדִבְרֵי תורָה
Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh Ha'Olam Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav Vetzivanu La'asok Bedivrei Torah
Blessed are you, Adonai, our God, Sovereign of Eternity, who has made us uniquely sacred through Your mitzvot (sacred callings) and called upon us to immerse ourselves in the words of Torah.
The Sukkah
Leviticus 23:41-43
וְחַגֹּתֶ֤ם אֹתוֹ֙ חַ֣ג לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִ֖ים בַּשָּׁנָ֑ה חֻקַּ֤ת עוֹלָם֙ לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם בַּחֹ֥דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י תָּחֹ֥גּוּ אֹתֽוֹ׃ בַּסֻּכֹּ֥ת תֵּשְׁב֖וּ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים כׇּל־הָֽאֶזְרָח֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל יֵשְׁב֖וּ בַּסֻּכֹּֽת׃לְמַ֘עַן֮ יֵדְע֣וּ דֹרֹֽתֵיכֶם֒ כִּ֣י בַסֻּכּ֗וֹת הוֹשַׁ֙בְתִּי֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּהוֹצִיאִ֥י אוֹתָ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
You shall observe it as a festival of יהוה for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages.You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths,in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt—I, your God יהוה.

• What Questions arise from this text?
  

In the four books of the Torah that describe the Israelites wandering in the desert, there is not one other verse that mentions them living in sukkot. (Tents, yes, many times, but not sukkot)The Gemara, edited and compiled around 500 CE, records a disagreement on the nature of just what the actual sukkot in the desert were:
(Sukkah 11b) The Gemara asks: This works out well according to the one who said that the sukkot mentioned in the verse were clouds of glory, as it is reasonable that the roofing of the sukka is modeled after clouds. However, according to the one who said that the children of Israel established for themselves actual sukkot in the desert, and the sukkot of today commemorate those, what can be said? According to that opinion, there is no connection between a sukka and a cloud. As it is taught in a baraita that the verse states: “I made the children of Israel to reside in sukkot” (Leviticus 23:43); these booths were clouds of glory, this is the statement of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Akiva says: They established for themselves actual sukkot.

• Is the sukkah commemorating the literal booths the Israelites lived in in the desert? Or the divine clouds that sheltered them?
  
• What does each interpretation lend to our celebration of the holiday?
  

Rashbam... Remembering all this [living in sukkot in the desert] you will have ample reason to be grateful to the One who has provided you with all of your present wealth and comfort. You must not fall into the trap of thinking that all this success is due to your own efforts.

• According to Rashbam, what is the danger of living a life of comfort?
  
• How does living in a sukkah encourage you to appreciate? What do you appreciate? Who do you appreciate?
  
• Sitting in a sukkah can help develop empathy. Who most needs our empathy now?
  
• How can you turn the appreciation and empathy that was developed during Sukkot into action?
  

Rabbi Michael Cohen: The worshiper also needs Sukkot which counterbalances Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur takes place inside; Sukkot takes place outside. On Yom Kippur we fast; while on Sukkot we feast. On Yom Kippur we pray and study with our minds; for Sukkot we build with our might. On Yom Kippur we hold a book in our hands; on Sukkot with the lulav and etrog we hold nature. On Yom Kippur we are serious and introspective; on Sukkot we are told to be joyful.

• What other differences do you note?
  
• How can you increase your joy this season?
  

Rabbi Nicole Guzik: My favorite mitzvah of the year comes immediately after Yom Kippur. As the last shofar blast pierces the night, we are supposed to run home and start building our sukkah. The first nail hammered into the ground to symbolize an urgency to begin our year with action. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are brimming with words. For hours we pray, confess, promise, plead, hope and dream. We forgive, mourn, regret, rage, challenge and encourage. And for the most part, we remain rooted in place, teaching our heart a curriculum of compassion and change for the coming year. But moments after Yom Kippur ends, the biggest choice resides in our hands. Talk the talk or walk the walk? Walking the walk is leaving Yom Kippur services with a bit more patience as the traffic in the parking lot begins to build up. Walking the walk is seeing the person with whom you disagree and offering a humbling hello. Walking the walk is determining whether our words lift or crush another’s soul. Walking the walk is living as an active partner in God’s ongoing creation of the world. We will spend ten beautiful, sacred days praying, singing, talking. May we spend the remainder of this year loving, building, giving, walking.

• What other actions might we take at the start of this New Jewish Year?
  

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg: Yom Kippur peels all your protective layers and helps you enter that joy, Sukkot says, hey, don’t rush to reinstall that armor, hang out, be vulnerable, in this fragile hut and discover that you can hold this open joyful space for longer. You’re ok. Stay here. Make joy a habit.

• What makes vulnerability hard this year? Why does it continue to be important to cultivate our vulnerability?
  

Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, The Tapestry of Jewish Time: Most days of our lives we find a measure of security in our walls and our bricks and our boundaries. "Good fences make good neighbors." And that security -- as God learned in the desert -- is essential to our well-being. And yet, there are times when our ordinary world meets extraordinary challenges, when our boundaries are penetrated and our fences fall. What then? What will comfort us in the presence of dangers that walls cannot repel: the dread of illness and loss, the pain of shame and uncertainty, the shadow of hopelessness or despair, the fear of failure, the struggles with aging?
Lulav and Etrog
On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. (Leviticus 23:40)
The four species are:
1. Lulav - Palm branch
2. Hadas - Myrtle branches
3. Aravot - Willow branches
4. Etrog - Citron
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוׂתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת לוּלָב:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us about holding the lulav.
Each of the four relates to a particular limb through which man is to serve God (cf. Sefer ha-Hinukh, #285):

• Etrog refers to the heart, the place of understanding and wisdom.
  
• Palm refers to the backbone, uprightness.
  
• Myrtle corresponds to the eyes, enlightenment.
  
• Willow represents the lips, the service of the lips (prayer).