Shabbat Hol Ha-mo'ed Sukkot, Exodus 33:12 - 34:26

The sukkah itself, while flimsy and open to the elements, is also a source of protection that surpasses physical shelter.

Things ain't what they used to be. Just look at sukkot, the structures, not the holiday. The New York Times reports that these days you can get sukkot made out plastic and PVC pipes, sukkot with canvas walls, and sukkot that look like the Kotel (Western Wall). There is an architect-designed sukkah that is

… an open lattice of leaning wooden members and diaphanous white fabric…The finished frame, while attractive on its own, also seemed evocative of something: a rotated Star of David, maybe, or a Rockettes troupe made of chopsticks. “It looks like it should be able to twist and collapse…like toothpicks in a cup, when they fall down and cross.”

Bless This Hut: The Rise of the Prefab Sukkah , Michael Tortorello,

New York Times, Home and Garden Section, October 2, 2008

You can get a portable pop-up sukkah that can go with you on a plane. You can even purchase a "car sukkah."

Nonetheless, you can still find sukkot constructed the old fashioned way, from wooden boards. Back in the good old days, sukkot, were assembled from particular types of trees: " …bring leafy branches of olive trees, pine trees, myrtle, palms and [other] leafy trees to make booths as it is written." (Nehemiah 8:15)

So here we are, in the midst of Sukkot, on Shabbat Hol Ha-mo'ed (The Shabbat of the Intermediate Days) when there is a special Torah reading and not once do we find the word Sukkot mentioned in this portion. The connection with the holiday is established through one short phrase regarding the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (Exodus 34:22) The name by which we know this holiday is found in Leviticus 23:34, read on the first two days of Sukkot, and Deuteronomy 16:13, read on Shemini Atzeret. In the book of Exodus, Sukkot is mentioned twice, but not by this name. In both instances it is called chag ha-asif, the Feast of Ingathering. The word sukkot does appear in the book of Exodus where it is related to the Exodus from Egypt: The Israelites journeyed from Raamses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. (Exodus 12:37) The first stop our ancestors make after they leave Egypt is at a place that shares it name with the booths in which we dwell at this time of the year.

The name in this week's portion, chag ha-asif, the Feast of Ingathering, is related to the root asaf meaning "to collect" or "gather." Rashi draws on the root and gives it a deeper meaning. He relates asaf to the way it is used in Deuteronomy 22:2, which describes what one must do with a lost animal: … you shall bring it home (va-asafto). In other words you must shelter and protect it.

This gives the verb asaf a particular nuance that goes beyond the act of gathering. There is a heightened awareness, a protective watchfulness involved in the gathering.

Ironically, the sukkah itself, while flimsy and open to the elements, is also a source of protection that surpasses physical shelter. In escaping from Raamses to Succoth, our ancestors transitioned from Pharaoh's oppression to God's sheltering presence.

In the portion we read on the first two days of Sukkot we are instructed that You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord your God. (Leviticus 23:42-3) The Talmud (Tractate Sukkah 11b) gives two interpretations on what the sukkah represents. According to Rabbi Akiva, it is the shelter that we build for physical protection. Rabbi Eliezer, focusing on the phrase I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, views the sukkah as the "clouds of glory" that accompanied the newly freed people. From this perspective the sukkah represents God's protective presence.

What then is the meaning of chag ha'asif, the Feast of Ingathering? It is a reflection of life. As Kohelet taught: A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) This is the time to gather the bounty in our lives, appreciate it, treasure it, and thank the Source of this harvest. Yet, when we feel that the seemingly secure walls that shelter our lives are being battered by unexpected winds and unforeseen storms, we are reminded that we are still encompassed by God's sheltering embrace. Sometimes, we sense that Divine protection while gazing at the heavens through the branches that cover the sukkah. At other times, we find it gazing at us through the eyes of those who have gathered with us.

I have observed the business that God gave man to be concerned with: He brings everything to pass precisely at its time; He also puts eternity in their mind, but without man ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass. Thus I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is for them is to enjoy themselves and do what is good in their lifetime…
Whatever is in your power to do, do with all your might.

Ecclesiastes 3:10-12, 9:10

Moadim le-simcha and Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Michal Shekel