Weekly Torah Portion

Sukkot is upon us! Sukkot is actually my favorite holiday. Being outside in nature, in a pergola-type structure decorated with kids’ art projects and string lights just makes the time of year feel so festive. It feels like the perfect way to put an “exclamation point” on the High Holiday season.

Sukkot is actually referred to in the Torah as zman simchateinu – the time of our happiness. This year, however, I am finding it difficult to fully tap into that happiness. The last day of this holiday is Simchat Torah, the Hebrew date on which the atrocities of October 7th occurred. So many people must be feeling a sense of, “How can we dance and celebrate with the Torah when the echoes of what happened on this date are still filling our minds?” While I doubt I or anyone can fully answer this question, one thing I heard from my teacher, Rabbi Mordechai Burg, helped me begin to see a way through this holiday.

On Sukkot the Sages tell us we are “visited” spiritually by the Seven Shepherds of Israel, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, Moshe, Aharon and King David. Some have the custom to have a special chair in their Sukkah for the guest of the night. It is a beautiful time, as the Zohar tells us to not only to welcome in those guests but all guests who are in need. To use this time not only to increase our festivities with food and wine but to ensure that all people in our community less fortunate than we are have what they need to celebrate as well.

There seems to be a connection between the seven spiritual guests and taking care of those in need. Rabbi Burg teaches that each of the seven biblical guests did not have it easy: Avraham was asked to sacrifice his son. Yaakov thought his son was dead for many years. David was on the run trying to fight enemies that greatly outnumbered the Israelites.

These figures do not only come to our Sukkot as honored guests, they come to comfort us. To remind us that they too went through difficulties, and possibly because of those difficult moments they became who they became. Each night we can have in mind someone who cannot celebrate this year, or someone still mourning. Maybe as we sing some of those happy tunes, we may realize that we are not just singing for us, but also for those who cannot sing themselves. Maybe we dial back the joy, or maybe we try to experience the joy in a deeper way this year. In a way that is more other-centered, realizing we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves.

So while this holiday will be approached by some hesitation, let’s remember that we are being escorted by the shepherds of Israel who know the pain that we are feeling, and who urge us to still push on, but with a clear recognition of those around us that are in need.

Wishing everyone a Chag Sameach! May we see the redemption of the Jewish people expedited. Then, and only then, will we dance with full joy in our hearts, confident that the difficult times are behind us.

-For an amazing article written through the lens of those still mourning the ones they lost on October 7th and how to celebrate Sukkot, please click here. Many of my thoughts above were inspired by this article.