Torah Commentary Archives

Sukkot

Exodus 23:16

Deuteronomy 16:13–15

Ezra 3:4

Nehemiah 8:13–18

John 7:37-38

Dichotomy of Emotion

Sukkot is now just hours away and our final preparations are being made. For Kathy and I, the truck will be packed by Sunday morning, while our dog, Chayah, will be dropped off to spend her first Sukkot with a friend. We are headed to Virginia to celebrate the first days of Sukkot with House of David, and we are so looking forward to it! The balance of our days will be at other Sukkots in the area. Only three this year I think!

What is going on in your mind as you look forward to this time? Is it the campfires at night and relaxing with friends? Is it the daily teachings or just time away from your regular life? What about if, instead of gathering with tens or hundreds of people at a lake or campground, you were alone this Sukkot? What if you were the only person in your area who even knew what the word Sukkot meant? That will be the case for a dear friend of mine in Europe. Her spouse does not understand her walk, and her old church friends have mocked her walk. Is there anything she can have in common with those who will gather at a campground with a thousand? Oh yes, much.

Just what is Sukkot about? Is it about a vacation from everyday life, graham crackers, chocolates, marshmallows, campfires, or a glass of wine with friends? It can be, but if that is the only level we reach, then we have missed the greater meaning. We could have just gone to a theme park or a few days at sea on a cruise if that is as deep as our Sukkot goes.

For me, the meaning of Sukkot is found in getting away from the normal routine of life in order to focus on what is important, our eternal destination. Sukkot gives me the time to ponder deeper the words of Psalm 137, written about a people who had come to realize Babylon was exile, NOT home. They had been asked to sing songs of joy, but instead, hung their instruments on willows. (Hint of the time of year it was, joy and willows.) Sukkot was a time when they yearned for home.

Let me be clear. I am not saying we shouldn't have fun and take great joy this Sukkot. That would be against Torah. With that said, though, Sukkot needs to be entered into with extreme, but conflicting, emotions. Extreme joy, for we have been offered The Eternal Covenant which will one day, may it be soon and in my day, manifest itself in The Temple, The Throne, and The Kingdom in which He is our Elohim and we are His people praising Him face-to-Face! Also during this time, extreme grief, for the fullness has not arrived as we are still in exile. We and the world groan under that heavy weight.

“If I forget you, Yerushalayim.”

How do we keep our focus? Here are a EIGHT pointers (updated) I've shared in previous years:

1. Make sure the entrance of your Sukkah (or if you're camping, your tent door), faces Jerusalem.

2. Decorate your Sukkah with items from Israel. If you do not have items from Israel, make yourself a note to order some, just in case we are still in exile again next year.

3. Put up an Israeli flag and/or a flag of Jerusalem in your camp.

4. Decorate with blue and white lights.

5. Share a bottle of Israeli wine to commemorate a special night, and/or partake of other Israeli foods, beverages, etc.

6. One of my favorites is to go online and find out how many miles it is from my location to Jerusalem, then paint that number on an arrow facing Jerusalem (blue on white, of course!). Mine attaches to my Jerusalem flagpole. I downloaded an app the other day called, “Measure Land.” This app allows me to put a starting point on my roof and an ending point on the Temple Mount. How many miles? 6,345.5, and if you're into kilometers, it will measure that, too. (No, I really do not care if Google tracked me doing so!)

7. Put a map of Israel in your Sukkah.

8. Read Psalm 137, which includes verses regarding our longing to return to Jerusalem from exile.

In the end, no matter if you are with tens, hundreds, or by yourself on an island during this Sukkot, let us understand an important reality: We are part of something far greater than ourselves. We are a people sown to the four corners of the earth, and if we are intimately connected to HaShem, then we are bearing fruit during these last days of harvest. The day is coming in which no one will be alone, but rather, we will be together in The Kingdom prepared for us before the foundations of the earth were laid. On that day, according to Zechariah 14:9, His Name will be Echad (One), and the prayers of centuries will be answered as Israel, too, has become echad.

May it be soon and in our day!

One last, but so important thought. During this Sukkot, may we remember we were at one time called foreigners, gentiles, those void of The Covenant with The Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have been offered this Covenant because of The One Who, I believe, was born during this time (not December). Don't allow Sukkot to go by without honoring The One Who came to seek and find the lost sheep of the House of Israel, so we could be the fulfillment of Isaiah 56:6. We are the foreigners who have joined themselves to HaShem, and He has received us! HalleluYAH!