Rabbi's Sermons

Shabat Shalom and Chag Sukkot Sameach!

One of the moments that I enjoy the most in this congregation, is reciting and singing Birkat Hamazon - the grace after meals. In many reform and even conservative communities this important prayer has been relegated to a theoretical level, and right after Oneg Shabbat, everyone is chatting and then, go home! The same thing happens after the morning services. In fact, about 99% of liberal Jewish homes (conservative or reform) associate greater importance to the blessing of the Hamotzi grace, before the meals, than to the Birkat Hamazon, which is a Mitzva Mideoraita or - directly from the Torah.

Just as the context of the Amidah prayer and holidays’ Kiddush changes from the Shabbat’s usual version, the same happens with Birkat Hamazon. However, there is a noticeable difference between the traditional text of Shabat, and that of the Festivals. While the text of the Kiddush and the one of the Amida are grouped - by what is recited in “Shabbat or Festivals”, in Birkat Hamazon besides the section Yaale Veyavo, there is a small and final section, identified by the word: “Harachaman…” - "The Merciful …". The texts are grouped by "Shabbat, Holidays and Sukkot", being Sukkot an addition as something special and separate from the other holidays!

The most surprising fact, is that the text itself reads, as follows: “הרחמן הוא יקים לנו את סוכת דוד הנופלת” - “The merciful will reinstall us the fallen Suca of David”. Isn’t it awkward? Our first question would be, why is it only King David's Suca? And why fallen? Isn't Sukkot supposed to be the festival of joy? Why have the rabbis included here a text that speaks of a fallen suca, while being in the Suca, and having to repeat it three times a day, after meals? The reference of this text, comes from the prophet Amos 9:11, as it is written: “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old”. On the one hand, it is comforting to remember the words of prophet Amos, as it becomes clear, that the text refers to the days of the Messiah, when David's dynasty will bring the Messiah, or at least, the beginning of the Messianic era, but this still does not answer the initial question.

Unfortunately, in my life there had been few occasions during which I have had my own Sukka at home. Not to mention in Mexico, where our neighbors wouldn’t allow using the common area, thinking that I was going to have a private New Age party. After making Aliyah to Israel, I was expecting to have my own Sukka, and to my surprise, in the small apartments of Jerusalem, there is hardly any room for furniture, not to mention, a Sukka. Later, I lived a couple of years in a Kibbutz and a Moshav, so I finally had the experience of having a my own Sukka, and when I lived in Modiin, I managed to have a courtyard large enough to be able to build a Sukka, and invite my family and friends. After my brief stay in this country, I’m wondering if some day, I might have the opportunity to build my own Sukka again, as opposed to just visiting one at the synagogue or with friends. This is the common experience of the majority of congregation members in the world, and it is the only way to fulfill the mitzvah of Sukkot in the official Sukka of their congregation.

While being in my own Sukka, I always thought, that in fact, having one of your own, had become almost a social symbol between those who go to “the Sukka of so and so" and those who have a home with a garden, large enough to be able to accommodate a large Sukka, with enough space for guests and friends. Among the ultra Orthodox population, however, the families do not even think about those kind of social differences, and, being a mitzva, they build their own Sukka, and make it as simple and as safe as possible, one next to the other, as if they were a swarm of wooden boxes, which remind me the famous Favelas in the extremely poor neighborhoods of the big cities of Brazil (we can see that in the Ushpizin movie). Many of them literally live and sleep in the Sukka, and of course, that is far from being considered a safe environment, as living and sleeping in a Sukka generates a strong sense of insecurity and fragility, of being exposed to the elements, of human nature and the weather as well. In Israel, there’s the obvious matter of security, and here in Shreveport, anyone considering to sleep in a Sukka, would have to think about an inflatable mattress and if it rains try to sleep wrapped in a raincoat, perhaps without electricity in the dark - an experience very different from the romantic idea of David’s Sukka.

In fact, the Talmud (Sukka 11b), offers two opposite interpretations, in regard to this concept: Rabbi Akiva offers us the traditional interpretation, that the Sukka reminds us of the tabernacles, in which the people of Israel lived while their wandering in the desert for 40 years. Rabbi Eliezer, however, claims that the Sukka represents the “cloud columns” of the divine glory, which accompanied the Israelis on their travels, and protected them. The difference in the interpretation is radically contradicting! While Rabbi Akiva presents an image of physical protection in the Sukka, from the sun, the heat, from nature, Rabbi Eliezer states that it is just the divine and spiritual presence that protected the people of Israel! What do you consider as the origin of protection in your life? What can you really trust? Is a construction something you can count on? Or, is it God you can count on?

These questions from the Talmud remain today relevant to us. In a world where buildings can collapse around us by an earthquake (God forbid), who can we turn to for our permanence? What can give us the confidence to trust our realities and our lives? The idea of ​​Rabbi Akiva implies a sense of stability, a root in the security of our historical and temporal structures; while the interpretation of Rabbi Eliezer assumes a faith in the invisible, a dependence on a greater source of goodness, in times of fragility and the unknown. Where are you located between those two concepts? Sukka, means cabin or shelter. When we refer to the Eternal, in Hashkivenu's prayer, we sing: ופרוס עלינו סוכת שלומך - "And spread your peace of peace upon us", and on the other hand, in Birkat Hamazon we pray about David's fallen Sukka! The Maharal of Prague suggests that the "fallen Sukka" implies the fragility of David's dynasty and how it is that a BAIT, a house, can emerge from it. When we refer to the royal dynasty of the house of David, we pray in the Amidah for the “BEIT David meshiHeHa” - “the house of David your anointed one”, however, a temporary Sukka, if it falls it can easily be rebuilt and have its essence restored.

In fact, the words of the Maharal typifies the history of the people of Israel, the Sukka falls because of its vulnerability and rises, the Jews carry their cultural and religious burden on their shoulders, and their Sukka is rebuilt again, to our days, with the reconstruction of the National home in Israel. This Shabbat in the special Torah reading for Hol Hamoed Sukkot, we will read the references of the 4 tables of the law, the 2 broken ones, and the 2 later ones that Moses prepared. The Talmud (Baba Batra 14b) explains: "לוחות ושיברי לוחות מונחים בארון" - "The tables and the pieces of the tables, were placed in the ark." This carries an extraordinary message! The Israelites carried the ark in their travels and in their battles, their most sacred center that had both: the complete and the destroyed, the spiritual fullness and the spiritual fall. Two realities in a single ark just like a Sukka: Security or fragility, protection or insecurity, physical tranquility or spiritual faith. The Sukka is a marker of fragility: a reminder of the need for the physical structures in which we build our lives and around, and the fact that, at the end of the day, we can only put our trust in our faith, in our values ​​and in the ties between all of us. What a beautiful Sukka we have! Look at each corner and enjoy it to the fullest, that in a few days, it won't be there anymore. We pray God, that our time in our Sukka this year may help us understand both realities: the physical Sukka of our lives, that is finite, precious and fundamentally ephemeral, and on the other hand, the metaphorical Sukka, of divine protection, for which we pray each Shabbat. Let us pray for this ideological Sukkot of our values ​​and relationships with our fellow men, let us pray that they always remain resistant, so that if any of these "fall", and that sometimes may happen... we may find the strength and faith to rebuild it once again and again and again... Amen.

Chag Sameach and Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

October 18^th, 2024