This week, we read Parashat Ha’azinu, a poem that Moshe speaks to the people of Israel. We are rarely privy to the emotional experience of our Biblical characters, and in reading Moshe’s poem, I try to think about what he might have been feeling in this moment. Moshe is about to die and he has been leading the people for 40 years. But before he leaves them, he says to the people, “Remember the days of old, Consider the years of ages past; Ask your father, he will inform you, Your elders, they will tell you.” (Devarim 32:7) He might feel a sense of anxiety, that everything he’s had with them is going to be lost, and he might be worried that they’ll forget what’s been important to them along the journey. So he gives them this song, easy for them to memorize, to keep in their minds their journey from Egypt, their time in the wilderness, and what it meant for them to form as a people. He wants to ensure they maintain a connection to what their journey has been about, even after he dies. He wants to make sure they don’t forget their covenant.
This time of year, we go through a similar process. We’ve traveled through the intensity of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and if we’ve engaged the process thoughtfully, they have been deep and thought-provoking days. We hope that we have emerged closer to who we’d like to be, but how do we remain in this state after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? How do we stay connected to community, and to God, without the intensity of the Yamim Nora’im, the High Holy Days?
And so we arrive at Sukkot - the holiday that asks us to build a hut, a flimsy little home that exposes us to the elements and makes us vulnerable. This is a reminder of the vulnerability that comes alive during Yom Kippur based on the introspective process we go through. That headspace is not an easy place to be in, and it might be our inclination to step out of it immediately. But we arrive at Sukkot which creates a physical embodiment of that vulnerability; it reminds us that it’s OK - encouraged, even - to stay in that space a little bit longer. To remain in that closeness with God and ourselves a little bit longer. To be reminded of where we were just last week.
Just like Moshe’s charge to the people, with Sukkot, we demonstrate that we aren’t going to forget what we’ve learned, we won’t forget the depths of ourselves that we’ve discovered.
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach, Rabbi Sarit
Davening Times over Sukkot: Monday and Tuesday morning - 9 AM Monday and Tuesday evening - 6 PM Wednesday and Thursday morning - 6:45 AM Wednesday and Thursday evening - 6PM
