Dvar tora for Succot by Martin Brody. `Tis the Season of Joy This Wednesday night we begin to celebrate the pilgrim Festival of Sukkot, a curious admixture of adopted pagan agricultural fertility rituals (lulav and esrog, the four species that are waved in the prayer service and held as circuits of the Synagogue are made), and recognition of the omnipresent God of history that commanded us to live in temporary dwellings as it recalls the years of wandering in the desert, exposed to the elements, heat by day, cold by night, following the Exodus from Egypt. Sukkot culminates nine days (eight in Israel) later with Simchat Torah, the day we spend celebrating the conclusion of, and restarting the annual cycle of Torah readings. Whilst we are commanded to be joyful on all of our festivals, this one has a special mention to be so, and one of its nick-names is “the time of our joy” On Shabbat during the Festival, there is a custom in most Ashkenazi synagogues to read from the writings section of the Hebrew Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes, according to tradition written by King Solomon, the wisest man to have lived, using his nom de plume, Kohelet. There are many explanations as to why this book is read, especially as at first glance it seems hardly an uplifting tome. The author has everything, wealth, power, real estate, servants, but remarks repeatedly that all these much sought after prizes are in fact futile and life is meaningless. Bur paradoxically, as if matching the festival with the inconvenience of living in a temporary leaky roofed shack and at the same time commanded to be joyous, the Hebrew word for rejoice appears seventeen times in the book! The message here is that joy is to be found in simple things that are all within reach, such as family, friends and community with whom we share our simple sukkah and not in the trappings of wealth! And indeed, later in the text, the wise Kohelet advises us that, “man has no other goal under the sun but to eat, drink and be merry” Good man! I’m gonna drink to that! Chag Semeach Martin Brody
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 19:11:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015