Sukkot
All seven
days, one makes his sukkah permanent and his home temporary. If rains fall, at
what point may he leave the sukkah? When the porridge spoils. [The Sages] spun
a parable: To what may this be compared – to a servant who came to pour a cup
for his master, and he poured a
jug on his face.
(Mishna Sukkah 2:9)
A question was
asked of the scholars: Who poured on whom? Come and hear that which was
taught in a berayta: His master poured a jug on his face and said to him: “I do
not want you to serve me.”
(Bavli, Sukkah
29a)
Rabbi Eliezer says: From the first day of the festival. Rabbi Yehoshua
says: “From the last day of the festival”. Said to him Rabbi Yehoshua: “Since
rain on the festival is a sign of curse, why mention it at all?”
Replied Rabbi Eliezer: “I did not say
we should pray for rain, but rather that we proclaim that ‘He causes the wind
to blow and the rain to fall in its season.”
He answered: “If so, one should always
mention it!”
(Mishna, Taanit 1:1)
SPREAD OVER US YOUR SHELTER OF PEACE,
Dedicated to Yaakov
Yedidya - at the occasion of his Bar Mitzva
Hayyim Rubenstein
Hesitation and
doubt are the means by which man feels his way. Lanterns in the dark.
The path is strewn with obstacles, above, below. His heart and mind go on one
road, and at the next junction, he is drawn in different directions. Is the
ascending dark path more correct than the descending dark route? Is the short
path really the long one, and the long one the shorter? Is it the cure for his
pains? “Their very having been created necessitates their doubts and
imaginings” (Rabbi Saadya Gaon, The Book of Beliefs and Doctrines, Introduction,
3).
This is first nature. Essence. In what is man superior to
beast? Perhaps the ability to question. Perhaps the ability to place principles
in confrontation, to bring them to contradiction, and from the deliberation to
germinate a new principle, unknown knowledge. “Wisdom is superior to folly
as light is superior to darkness.”
A
person committed to mitzvot is not content with the discussion alone. The abyss
is deep. His personal commitment
is to practical decision. To execution. He cannot prolong the
hesitation, cannot suppress the doubts. He must externalize the solution.
Through action.
Minutes are paved with puzzles, chains of dilemmas – these
are the many trees through which the straight path winds. The days between Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur are the projection of the cycles of the doubts onto a
giant screen. The doubt commences with covert matters and ends after the tenth
of Tishrei with great wealth – the treasure of revelation… of the
intimate exposure to personal truth.
Hashem Hu HaElohim – The Lord is God – this is the great
exclamation of one who has discovered the light hidden within him.
This is the essence of the Sukkot festival. “And you
shall rejoice in your festival” (Devarim
16:14)… “You
shall have nothing but joy” (Ibid. 15). The joy of having
discovered the answer. The rapture of return. The delight of solution.
“These are the
set times of the Lord that you shall celebrate as sacred occasions” (Vayikra
23:37) A
single section of set times which appear in sequence in proclamation and in
time. “On the seventh New-Moon, on day one of he New-Moon, you are to
observe complete rest, a reminder by horn blasting, a proclamation of
holiness” (Ibid. 24); “Mark, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day
of Atonement. A proclamation of holiness shall it be for you” (Ibid.
27); “On
the first day is a declaration of holiness” (Ibid.
35); “On
the eighth day, a proclamation of holiness shall there be for you.” (Ibid.
36).
A single sequence, in which each is a continuation. A
sequence which begins with the beginning of the year, with the creation of the
universe, the day of the world’s birth, and culminates with Simchat Torah. In
conformity with the plain meaning of the text “Blow the horn on the New
Moon, on the full moon for our feast day.” The meaning of “our feast
day” can only be Sukkot, which is total festival. (Haamek
Davar, Vayikra 23:34, according to Rosh Hashana 8a). From the unrest of
questions to the calm of answers. A sequence which transfers the dynamic onto
every minute of the year. A request – out of doubt and deliberation – to find
the answer. The relief of resolution. And to begin from Bereishit.
The Book of Kohellet, which is read on Shabbat, is a
reflection of this process. It begins with “Utter futility! – said Kohellet
– Utter futility! All is futile! What real value is there for a man in all the
gains he makes he makes beneath the sun?” (Kohellet 1:2-3), continues with the
question “Who can possibly know what is best for a man to do in life – the
few days of his fleeting life? (Ibid 6:12). At the end of all this
great doubt, he reaches the near-final, logical, conclusion – which evolves from the viewpoint of benefit to
man. “And the dust returns to the ground as it was, and the lifebreath
returns to God who bestowed it.” “Utter futility! – said Kohellet – All is
futile!” (Ibid. 12:7-8).
But
the true end of the doubting lies in the surprising, creative answer: “The
sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His
commandments! For this applies to all mankind” (Ibid. 13). Man’s viewpoint
regarding his purpose is taken from inside him, and is positioned outside him.
The only answer which supplies meaning to all the questions which were
encapsulated in the preceding “Utter futility!”
Our
ancestors, between the Rhine and the Volga, had long ago noted to what end the
great anthropocentic religions lead… those that position man’s welfare at the
vertex of goals. Man’s standing, at the conclusion of Kohellet, is before God.
The value system is stable, uninfluenced by man’s will, his limitations, or his
ambitions.
Leaving the house for the temporary, improvised, sukkah
proclaims -- more than anything else – that now in particular, in the
harvest season, the peak of the world’s prosperity as the silos are full, I
leave the protection of the bastion for the domain of The Holy One, Blessed Be
He. This exit is part of the process which began with kesseh – the
“covering” [of the moon -- the beginning of the new year]and which continues
with the revelation that the world is the world of The Holy One, Blessed Be He.
Neither the fish’s belly nor bastion are places of hiding. It is only the sukkah, the expression
of God’s protection, which is the true refuge, as symbol of the clouds of glory
in the desert, as a statement of pure faith.
These days, when we see the symbol of world power, the
mighty towers, collapsing in the face of human abominable evil, the sukkah
takes on deep significance. The phrase “Sukkat Shalom” – “Tabernacle
of Peace” – recited by Jews on Sukkoth Eve, expresses the inner peace
for which the sukkah provides shelter. The move to the sukkah is
possible only because of peace which exists between the doubts and different
desires, and religious and ethical duties. The inner peace radiates upon the
external peace. The exodus from the bastion is possible only for one within whom
peace dwells, one who trusts in the master of the universe. This is indeed
great joy.
“Pinchas, son
of Elazar, son of Aharon the Priest – said The Holy One, Blessed Be He, it is
proper that he receive his reward, “Say, therefore, I grant him My pact of
peace.”. Great is the [gift of] peace given Pinchas, for the world cannot
function without peace, and the entire Torah is peace, as is written “Her
ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths, peaceful” (Proverbs 3:17), and
if one comes from a journey we bless him with peace. In the morning we beseech
peace, and at evening we ask for peace, the “Shema Yisrael” concludes with “who
spreads a sukkah of peace over his people”, the prayer service ends with peace,
the priestly benediction ends with peace.”
Said
Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta: There is no vessel that hold blessing -- but peace, as is written:
“The Lord will give courage to his people,
the Lord will bless his people with peace”.
(Midrash Rabba, Vilna ed., Parasha 25,
commencing with “Pinchas, son of”)
Hayyim Rubinstein is involved in
education
“And the Children of Israel journeyed from
Ramses to Sukkot” – literal Sukkot, as is written “And Yaakov journeyed from
Sukkot and camped in Eitam” just as Eitam is a place, so is Sukkot.
Rabbi Akiva
said: Sukkot are the clouds of glory, as is written, “The Lord will create
over the whole shrine and meeting place of Mount Zion cloud by day and smoke
with a glow of flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory shall hang a
canopy” (Isaiah 4:5)
Thus we have
[evidence] for the past, what of the future? Scripture teaches: “Which will
serve as a pavilion for shade from heat, etc.” and “And the
ransomed of the Lord shall return." (Ibid. 10)
I discovered
in the Talmud Yerushalmi that when Aharon died, the clouds of glory dispersed
and the Canaanites attacked Israel, and they decided to return to Egypt, and
retraced their steps eight camping places, from Hor Hahar to Moserah, as is
written, “And the Children of Israel journeyed from the wells of the sons of
Yaakan to Mosera, there died Aharon.” (Rashi, Bemidbar 26:13)
FOR THE
VARIOUS SIGNS AND PORTENTS THAT THE LORD SENT HIM TO DISPLAY IN THE LAND OF
EGYPT, AGAINST PHARAOH AND ALL HIS COURTIERS AND HIS WHOLE COUNTRY, AND FOR ALL
THE GREAT MIGHT AND AWESOME POWER THAT MOSES DISPLAYED BEFORE ALL ISRAEL.
(Devarim
34:11-12)
“Tablets
were made by God” -- is it
possible that they be used by idol worshippers?! Therefore he broke them.
Witness, then, the greatness of Moshe: Aharon and the seventy elders were
holding Moshe’s arms and could not overcome him. Not they alone – even The Holy
One, Blessed Be He, did not want him to break them, as is written, “For the
various signs and portents” – said The Holy One, Blessed Be He, to Moshe:
Peace be upon that hand, as is written: “And in all the mighty hand.”
(Shemot Rabba,
Parasha 46)
HADRAN FOR OUR FOURTH YEAR
As this issue goes to print, we mark four years of
publication of “Shabbat Shalom”. It is clear to all that the past year was a
difficult one for Am Yisrael and for the entire world, and we all hope that the
coming year will permit creation and growth in an atmosphere of calm and
tranquillity. It may be, however, that difficult times still lie ahead.
Along with expressions of encouragement from many
readers, we occasionally receive words of
criticism. Inasmuch as our goal is the generation of true dialogue
between ourselves and our readers on the Torah thoughts which we publicize, we
thank all who have reacted and shown interest, thereby contributing their part
to this dialogue.
At the close of the fourth year, I wish to thank
all those who wrote, my colleagues on the editorial staff, Miriam Fine – who
devotedly organized the work of the staff, Kadish Goldberg who faithfully
translated and thus facilitated circulation of the bulletin in English in many
lands, the illustrators David Abramson, Devorah Fine, Tomer Algabli, and
Mordecai Beck, and Perry Zemak our
graphics editor, and Graphos-Print for the printing.
Our thanks also to the New Fund for Israel and to
the Blaustein Fund for their support, to Keren Moriah for its past and future
support, to the members of the Netivot Shalom executive, and all whose
contributions facilitated continued publication of “Shabbat Shalom” during the
coming year.
In a few day, with God’s help, we will begin again
from “Bereishit” – “In the Beginning.”
Pinchas Leiser
- Editor
Editorial
Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak
Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein
Translation:
Kadish Goldberg
This weekly
publication was made possible by:
The Moriah Fund
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