The old saying goes – “There
are no atheists in foxholes” but I read a story that takes the whole FOXHOLE
and religion thing to a different level.
During the Russo-Japanese
war in 1904-1905, many young Jewish men were conscripted into the Russian
Army. Of these, a large number of Talmud
students, disciples of Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, were sent to the
Japanese front. Picture underfed,
under-clothed, under-trained young Torah scholars; a division of young Woody
Allens.
They wrote their rebbe about their experiences. One such
letter was about how those at the front made themselves a sukkah by digging a hole and
covering it with branches! All
through the night they took turns scurrying to the sukkah with their rations so that they could fulfill the mitzvah of the festival, “in sukkas shall you dwell!” Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam,
Asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu lay-shev ba-sukkah. Blessed are you,
oh Lord our God, King of the Universe who has made us holy through the
commandments and has commanded us to dwell (sit and eat) in the sukkah.
The front line of a war zone
is a really good place to seek out God’s protection. It is also a fine place to think about the
fragility of life; but so is your own back yard.
Sukkot is the third and
final festival of the Jewish year.
Passover – God takes us out of Egypt.
Shavuot – God gives us the
Torah/Ten Commandments. Sukkot – God takes us into the desert to
dwell in flimsy huts for FORTY YEARS!!!!
During that time, when the Jews traveled, they were led by the Ark, which was
accompanied by a pillar of clouds at night, and a pillar of fire during the
day. God was with them. The Shekinah,
the sheltering spirit of God surrounded them.
Now I, personally, have
spent a very limited amount of time in the desert; and during one visit there
was an incident with a scorpion, but let’s just note that you don’t need a full
forty years in the wilderness to appreciate the belief that without God, there
is no water, no food, no shelter, no safety - the perfect environment for
faith, right up there (or down there) with foxholes.
It doesn’t take forty years
anymore for us to learn about the fragility of life. Today, we learn, at the
speed of a tweet, how lives can be altered in an instant. A forest fire. A boardwalk fire. A powerful hurricane. Rising flood waters. An
act of war. A terrorist attack. A simple accident. A lone gunman. A diagnosis.
A crisis that sets the marketplace in a spin sending fortunes plummeting and
striping away any sense of security.
Sukkot’s lessons are for the
high and mighty, for the wealthy, the powerful as well as those without. They say to the poor, “Look how God provided
for us! We are in our fragile sukkah, yet we are protected, we look up through
the roof and sense God’s presence. There
is hope!” To the wealthy and powerful, it says, “Feel how the breeze shakes
that which appears stable. Your sense of
security should be shaken as well! Life is fragile. Power, wealth, security can
all disappear in a minute.”
The holiday of Sukkot has
four names and can be appreciated at so many levels. It is the “Festival of
Booths,” to remind us of our wanderings.
It is Chag Ha-Asif, the “Festival
of Ingathering”…for we slept and ate in these booths in the fields as we
gathered the harvest. The festival is
also called, ”The Chag” (THE
Festival) as well as Zeman Simkhateinu,
the “Season of Rejoicing”, for when the harvest is in, and the storehouses
full, the farmers of Israel rejoice. The
cycle begins again as we add prayers for rain in Israel to our liturgy.
Today,
in our prayer services, we still ask God to put those sheltering wings around
us. We still ask that God put a Sukkat Shlomecha, Sukkah of Peace over
us and over all of the People of Israel.
So
let us rejoice, reflect on the many gifts God bestows on us, remember our
nomadic roots and be ever mindful of the fragility of our existence.
May
God spread the Sukkah of Peace over you, over your loved ones, and over Am Yisrael, the People of Israel in this
New Year of 5774, and let us say, Amen.
Shalom,
Rabbi
Rose
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