Sukkot 2020

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We read today in Leviticus 23 ‘you shall live in booths, seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order than future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God’

And so, it was that thousands and thousands of years later, far away in Cape Town, my parents enacted this ritual for us where we built and decorated our Sukkah and ate some of our meals there.

It was a radical exercise in imagination so that my brother, sister and I would know what God did for us when we left Egypt. 

Our Sukkah had a view of the Atlantic ocean in front of it, and by day we could see the blue sky through the Schach.  My parents attached bedsheets to a wooden gazebo, and we decorated it with drawings and cards, and we hung fruit from the beams above. It was fun.  My grandparents came for supper and we invited our friends to eat with us too. In old photos, I can see we are wearing jumpers and coats, so it clearly wasn’t peak summer, but October in Cape Town is generally dry and not too cold.

It seems like a very different experience sitting in the Sukkah in the Northern hemisphere. For one thing, it’s often raining this time of the year.

It’s amazing to me that the main mood of Sukkot is halachically mandated as joy.  We’ve just come out of Yom Kippur where we deprive ourselves, do a lot of chest thumping about how much we need to improve our ways; and this is what I usually associate with Jewish moods. Joy, not so much.

But in fact, joy is what is required on Sukkot.

Rambam, or Maimonides, born in 1135 in Córdoba in Southern Spain writes in his great halachic code, the Mishnah Torah: ‘During Sukkot one is obligated to be joyful and of good heart, he, his children, his wife, the members of his household and all who accompany him…

Rambam goes on to say that all of those people should have joy in their own way.

Kol echad keraooy lo.

He gives some examples of what this means. He says the children should get yummy snacks. The woman should be given pretty dresses and jewellery. Men should eat meat and wine. So far, so good.  

But then even Rambam gets all heavy on us again.

He says: “When one eats and drinks, one must also feed the stranger, the orphan, the widow and other unfortunate paupers. But one who locks the doors of his courtyard and eat and drinks with his children and wife but does not feed the poor and the embittered soul—this is not the joy of a mitzvah, but the joy of his belly.”

Although we can have fun and we need not deprive ourselves, joy for us must mean the joy of helping the vulnerable.

So, a generosity of spirit, of hospitality and inclusion is baked into the festival of Sukkot at this stage.

The Zohar takes it to another level. It introduces the concept of inviting seven special ushpizin, the Aramaic word for lodger or guest to your Sukkah. It is another exercise of radical imagination, as these guests are not the demanding and hungry real-life needy people that Rambam mandates.  They are not living gerim, orphans and widows. They are our deceased male ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David.

Each of these special guests brings an aspect of divine as the spiritual focus of the seven days of Sukkot. Each day, one of the seven takes a turn to lead the others. For example, on day one, Abraham leads with chesed or lovingkindess, then Isaac leads with Gevurah or power, then we have one for Tifferet for splendour, one for nezach or eternity, one for hod or glory, one for yesod or foundation and the last one, David for malchut or kingship.

We say a long and special prayer for the Ushpizin: ‘Enter exalted Holy guests, enter Holy Patriarchs, to be seated in the shade of exalted faithfulness in the shade of the Holy one Blessed be he’

There’s a footnote under that prayer in my Arts Scroll machzor that says: ‘portions of food that would go to these guests should be distributed among the poor, preferably as guests in one’s own sukkah.’

I knew nothing about this when I grew up in South Africa, but I love the proliferation of Ushpizin.  Many of these collections of dignitaries become posters that you can use to decorate your Sukkah. I’ve seen great Chabad rabbis, Jewish Matriarchs versions and portrayals of International artists co-operatives. They are all fabulous. But none of them would be my choice.

Of course, in real life I can only invite another five people who must be the ger, the orphan, the widow, the needy and one more with an imbittered soul. But in the sukkah of my imagination I can invite whoever I like.  So, this is who I’d like to share a meal with…

My first choice is Maimonides for his Lovingkindness.

My choice for Gevurah is my grandmother who taught me strength through bending.

I choose Mendelsohn for his splendorous piano concertos

For nezach or eternity, I want to invite my entire family many of whom are here today

Representing hod or glory, I would like to invite all of you here, my holy Zoom community.

For yesod or foundation, I’d like to invite my friends from wherever they live now in the world

and the last one, for malchut or kingship I want to invite my rabbis and teachers, past and present.  

In my imaginary sukkah, the sun is shining, and we are eating food that Yotam Ottolenghi cooked

In my imagination, we are all in our own ways, joyful and of good heart.

In my imagination, we are all together.

Shabbat shalom and wishing you a very chag sameach.