Sukkot Thoughts for the Day
Written by Rabbi Maurice Michaels Monday, 27 October 2008
This 'Thought for the Day' from Rabbi Maurice Michaels of SWESRS - South West Essex and Settlement Reform Synagogue was broadcast on BBC Radio Essex on Wednesday, 15th October.
The Jewish community is currently celebrating the Festival of Sukkot, often translated as Tabernacles, but actually meaning booths or shacks. A sukkah is a temporary dwelling made out of materials that were at one time a living organism, so mainly wood with a roof of tree branches and leaves. They are not to be closed too tightly so as to be able to see the stars through them. In other words, not the sort of place you would want to live in, especially in the middle of October in this country.
The origin of the Festival lies in the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, and it is regarded as a second Exodus Festival after Passover. This remembers not so much the departure from Egypt as the forty years wanderings in the wilderness and hence the temporary shelters. And so Jewish families all over the world have built these sukkot in their back gardens, or on their balconies if they live in flats, to observe the ancient ritual. Of course, it’s not possible in some parts of the world to actually live in the sukkah; I wouldn’t attempt to sleep in mine, but I do try and eat my meals in it, unless the weather is too bad. The rabbis of old reckoned that if your soup was being watered down by the rain, then you finish your meal indoors!
Judaism is not a religion that feels that material hardship is a good thing, and so there is nothing wrong in having a nice comfortable home for the other fifty-one weeks of the year, but similarly there’s no harm in putting up with the cold or wet during this week of the Festival. However, much more importantly, it gives us an opportunity to consider the fragility of our lives and to recognise that we weren’t always as well off as we are today in most countries of the world. For many centuries, throughout our history, we have been wanderers, oppressed and persecuted and driven out of many lands, and Sukkot provides a chance to remember that.
It also enables us to empathise much more with those who are in a permanent state of homelessness, people who for a variety of reasons live in temporary accommodation on a regular basis: those who are too poor to afford a roof over their heads; those who are fleeing from persecution and living in refugee camps; those who are unable to cope with life and are living rough; those whose homes have been destroyed by nature or war.
Each year, during this Festival, the members of my congregation collect non-perishable foodstuffs and toiletries which are then given to the Redbridge Night Shelter to help the good work they do for the homeless in the Borough. Indeed, I was the guest speaker at their Annual General Meeting, held in my Synagogue last Thursday evening, and I was able to say that I planned to mention them and their work on the radio this morning, because they can always do with more support.
To conclude, let me wish our Jewish listeners chag same’ach, which means joyful festival, and to everyone, a good week.
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