The Torah characterizes Sukkot as a nature holiday, celebrating the bounty which HASHEM shared with Israel each year at the end of the harvest. Thanking HASHEM for the gift of food comes with the profound but uncomfortable converse, that we humans do not have full control over our food and our lives. Three thousand plus years later, Sukkot still resonates as a nature holiday and its message only grows in profundity. During a time where most of us live in modern houses, complete with every creature comfort including fridge, freezer and pantry stacked with food, we forget how fragile our lives really are. Sukkot is a time to step away from this for a time and connect to HASHEM and the natural world and contemplate the vastness of nature and the smallness of human-kind. Doing so can help us reorient ourselves and our perspectives on life, recognizing the amazing blessing of the modern world and how lucky we are to be able to partake in a life of relative ease and health. It can also help us be more sensitive to our fellows who are not as lucky as we. It is our prayer to HASHEM that may "HASHEM spread over us your sukkah of peace." ופרש עלינו סכת שלומך - Chag Sameach.
Posted on: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 22:13:45 +0000
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