A Message for Sukkot

My brother became a bar mitzvah in October 1963. It was a bittersweet occasion as my grandmother had passed that June; he proudly wore the tallit she had purchased for him just weeks before she died. The sukkah had not yet been put away, as my brother chanted his Haftarah. After services, I seem to recall that the kiddush was outside in the sukkah, but I was sad that there were no crunchy, incredibly shiny, red candy apples to be had on the dessert table! Frankly, as a teenager, I was way too old for those childish sweets that beckoned us as children after Sukkot services, but I did remember them fondly. And as I stood for Yizkor sixty years later, I somehow knew that my grandparents, parents, and brother were there, smiling at my prayers of remembrance.

As I learned over the years, Sukkot is more than sitting through services, holding the lulav and etrog, and eating in the sukkah. A quick review: Sukkot is a Torah festival: “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the Lord, [to last] seven days. The first day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations: seven days you shall bring gifts to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring a gift to the Lord; it is a solemn gathering, you shall not work at your occupation. .  .  . You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord your God” (Lev. 23:34-36; Lev. 23:42-43).

The Torah also relates the topic of the lulav and etrog: “On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days” (Lev. 23:40). According to the Etz Hayyim Torah Commentary, “Traditionally, the ‘product of hadar trees’ has been taken to be the citron (etrog).”

There are midrashim which relate the lulav, the myrtle, the willow, and the etrog to parts of the body or to types of people. Of course, the commandment is to “take the etrog with the branches of willow (aravah) and myrtle (hadas) bound to a palm branch (lulav) to fulfill the mitzvah of waving the lulav during Sukkot” (Etz Hayim,730). One must also hold the etrog in a certain position before reciting the blessing and then change the position after we recite the blessing. According to Eliyahu Kitov, “Although the essence of the obligation is fulfilled by simply ‘taking’ the four species into one’s hand, the preferred method of fulfilling the mitzvah is to wave the lulav three times in all six directions [forward, to the right, to the back, to the left, up, and down]. . . . The Talmud offers the following explanation for this practice: It is as if he is taking them [the species] and bringing them to Him Who owns the four directions. He raises them and lowers them to Him Who owns the heavens and the earth (Sukkah 37b).”

But what about us modern people? We eat in a sukkah, recite brachot, attend services, wave our lulavim and hold our etrogim. Is that all there is? Let us remember that God desires that we take care of the poor, the widow, the neighbors, and the stranger. There is much food insufficiency and insecurity in our community; there are so many refugees who arrive in our country with literally just the clothing on their backs. Inviting people into our sukkah is part of a mitzvah, but let us help food banks, both kosher and non-kosher to feed our neighbors. Let us gather clothing, bedding, and furniture to help these refugees get settled. 

We enhance our lives when we have a purpose and a belonging. It is not enough to “mouth” words. I do think fondly of those Sukkot days of the past with their shiny candied apples, yet I realize that those enticements had little nutrition; however, taking words of Torah and putting them into action, now that’s nourishment for the soul. May your Sukkot holiday bring you, your family, and our community great joy!

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.