This Beautiful, Fragile Earth
The Hebrew month of Tishrei offers a flurry of holidays that come one right after another. It begins with Rosh Hashanah. This is soon followed by Yom Kippur. Tomorrow evening begins Sukkot and then a week later Simhat Torah. There is no rest from our celebrations.
On the High Holidays we spend our days in synagogue recounting our wrongs, apologizing to friends and family, and seeking to better ourselves. The faith that we can correct our failings is paramount to these days. It may not be easy, but it is possible.
This effort of bettering ourselves does not conclude with Yom Kippur. It is ongoing. And yet these holidays restore our hope that change is possible, and repair can be achieved. We leave these services with our faith in God not only restored but also in ourselves. We can do better.
And then, a few days later, we enter the sukkah. Whereas Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are inner directed, Sukkot turns our hearts outward. We are commanded to spend as much time as possible in these temporary booths unless of course it is raining. The joy of the holiday takes precedence over “dwelling in the sukkah” and so if the weather becomes intolerable, we eat dinner in our homes.
The High Holidays helps to restore our faith that we can control some aspects of our lives, that how we behave towards others is within our grasp. Sukkot, on the other hand, reminds us that life can be as fragile, and unpredictable, as the weather and these temporary booths in which we are directed to live.
Whether or not our sukkah will withstand the winds and rains is always a question. Whether we will be able to eat every dinner, or spend any late night, in the sukkah is anyone’s guess. (The weather app is not always right!) Life can be as unsettling as the weather. Life can be as delicate as this flimsy booth.
Sukkot is a reminder of life’s fragility. It is also a reminder that we are dependent on the earth. On Yom Kippur we spent hours and hours praying and singing, learning and celebrating in the comfort of our synagogue, and homes, that keeps the rain out (most of the time!), now our Sukkot holiday celebration is entirely dependent on the earth.
We do not know what is in store for us in the coming week.
And so, what are we to do?
Celebrate the gift of this holiday. Rejoice with family and friends. Take in the beautiful, full moon that will peer through the sukkah’s flimsy roof. And try as hard as we can to give thanks for the rain that nurtures the earth.
Rejoice in the gift, and fragility, of our beautiful earth.