Sukkot is called moadim l’simcha, the season of our joy. For seven days we are commanded to dwell in temporary shelters or booths, called Sukkot in Hebrew, from which the holiday gets its name. In ancient Israel, until the expulsion by the Romans of the Jewish population, Sukkot was a celebration of the fall harvest. After the destruction of the Temple Sukkot became one of the many ways Jews maintained their connection to the Land of Israel by sustaining our connection to the agricultural cycle. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva argued over the symbolism of the sukkah. Rabbi Akiva said the sukkah represents the booths the Israelites lived in while wandering in the desert (sukkot mamash). Rabbi Eliezer said the sukkah represents the clouds of glory with which God sheltered the Israelites (ananei ha Kavod). Perhaps there is no contradiction. The sukkah provides real physical shelter and reminds us that our lives are in- complete without spiritual sustenance. Hag Sameach.
Sukkot 5782 (2021) – Tuesday, September 21 – Monday, September 28
September 24, 2021 by Dean Kertesz • Drashot
Sukkot is called moadim l’simcha, the season of our joy. For seven days we are commanded to dwell in temporary shelters or booths, called Sukkot in Hebrew, from which the holiday gets its name. In ancient Israel, until the expulsion by the Romans of the Jewish population, Sukkot was a celebration of the fall harvest. After the destruction of the Temple Sukkot became one of the many ways Jews maintained their connection to the Land of Israel by sustaining our connection to the agricultural cycle. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva argued over the symbolism of the sukkah. Rabbi Akiva said the sukkah represents the booths the Israelites lived in while wandering in the desert (sukkot mamash). Rabbi Eliezer said the sukkah represents the clouds of glory with which God sheltered the Israelites (ananei ha Kavod). Perhaps there is no contradiction. The sukkah provides real physical shelter and reminds us that our lives are in- complete without spiritual sustenance. Hag Sameach.
~Rabbi Dean Kertesz