written by Rabbi Reuven Travis
Like the other pilgrimage holidays (Pesach and Shavuot), the holiday we observe this week, Sukkot, has both ritual and agriculture aspects. While we are very familiar with the former (including things such as sitting in the sukkah, waving the lulav and etrog, and the hoshanah circuits we make during our morning davening), the latter aspect of the chag is made abundantly clear in Shmot (23:16), where the Torah refers to it as chag ha-asif, “the festival of the ingathering.”
Yet, in many ways, Sukkot is actually two holidays rolled into one. The Torah makes clear that chag ha-asif is a harvest festival, as it says: “At the end of the year when you gather in your labors out of the field,” (Shmot 23:16) and “...after you have gathered in from your threshing-floor and from your winepress.” (Devarim 16:13) The theological import of the holiday is made equally clear in the Torah, which defines the chag as a festival of commemoration of the Exodus. “You shall dwell in sukkot seven days ... so that your generations shall know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.” (Vayikra 23:42–43)
Herein lies a contradiction. Everywhere else the Torah says that while in the wilderness Bnei Yisrael dwelt in tents (see, for example, Shmot 16:16, 33:8, 10; BeMidbar 11:10, 16:27, 24:5; Devarim 1:27, 5:27). So did they live in sukkot or in tents? Sifra (the halakhic midrash on Vayikra) records a rabbinic debate on this very topic. (It is mentioned in the Talmud also, but there the protagonists are switched [Sukkot 11b].)
R. Eliezer says: They were real sukkot. R. Akiba says: The sukkot were the clouds of glory. (Sifra Emor 17:11 [103a–b])
R. Akiba’s argument for his belief was apparently quite convincing because his interpretation became accepted as the majority rabbinic interpretation and is found in the targums (the Aramaic translations of the Torah) and in many later writings. R. Akiba’s idea of sukkot as metaphorical shelters provided by God for the people’s protection most likely prevailed because he also argued that sukkot are not built in the desert; they are built in agricultural fields for the protection of the workers and their animals. They were constructed of the kind of materials one would expect to find in an agricultural setting — tree branches, wood, straw, etc. Such materials are not found in the desert. Furthermore, the Bible has ample descriptions of the uses of a sukkah as a metaphorical shelter. Consider these few examples:
And God will create over all Mount Zion ... a cloud ... [which] shall serve as a sukkah for shade from heat by day and for shelter and protection against storm and rain. (Isaiah 4:5–6)
He made darkness His screen; dark thunder-heads, dense clouds of the sky were His sukkah round about him. (Tehillim 18:11–12)
Can one, indeed, contemplate the expanse of clouds, the thunderings from His sukkah? (Job 36:29)
Except for that single reference from Vayikra cited above, the exodus narrative never mentions sukkot, but it is replete with references to clouds — the pillar of cloud that guided Bnei Yisrael in the desert; the cloud over Mt. Sinai; the cloud inside the Mishkan from which God speaks to Moses; the cloud above the tent of meeting where God resides — there are many references to these clouds in the last four books of the Torah. And where does the pillar of cloud first appear to the Israelites? In a place called Sukkot!
“And they journeyed from Sukkot and they camped at Ethom, in the edge of the wilderness and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give light to them....” (Shmot 13:20–21)
This begs the question. When did the custom of dwelling in sukkot as a matter of ritual law begin to be observed? Some argue that we can date this ritual to the period when the Jews returned to their homeland from the Babylonian exile. Upon their return, the Jews returned to Jerusalem, where they celebrated Sukkot by making and dwelling in sukkot. Nehemiah reported of this practice: “The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua.” (8:17) Since the book of Joshua is silent on the matter of dwelling in sukkot, one could argue that this mitzvah had its origins during the return from exile.
There is one last point worth reflecting upon regarding the mitzvah of dwelling in sukkot. It is unique and stands out among all of the 613 mitzvot. The mitzvah simply states: “You shall dwell in sukkot seven days...” (Vayikra 23:42) This is a unique mitzvah because nothing more is required of a person other than being in a place. To fulfill the mitzvah, one simply enters the sukkah and remains there, living in the space as if it were one’s home. You need not do anything else. For the seven days of the holiday, one is totally surrounded by the mitzvah.
This concept of being totally surrounded by the mitzvah is an apt metaphor for our school. As Rabbi Leubitz has challenged us all to reimagine our school, those of us privileged to teach your children limudei kodesh are doing just that by daily seeking ways to install more kedusha, more holiness, into the lives of your children. We teach and model for them ways to fulfill mitzvot, from the seemingly most mundane (washing of hands before eating a meal) to the most challenging of properly honoring our fathers and mothers. (Talmud Yerushalmi, Peah I:1)
This week, our task might be a bit easier as we sit in our sukkot with our students, but it is also a time when we are extraordinarily mindful of the task you have entrusted us with. And we are just as grateful for the trust you show by sharing your children with us and allowing us to teach them.
Chag sameyach to all.
Rabbi Reuven Travis