During Sukkot, we’ll eat our meals under a roof of branches, feel the evening breeze, and look up at the stars. For one week, this fragile hut becomes our home.
Welcome to Sukkot, a season of our rejoicing. The Torah commands us to dwell in a sukkah for seven days, recalling how our ancestors lived after God brought us out of Egypt.
For 40 years in the wilderness, we depended on the Holy One for everything. Manna for food, water from a rock, clouds of glory to keep us cool in the desert. And we never knew where the next day would take us.
The sukkah reminds us that we still depend on God for everything. We’ll decorate the walls of the sukkah and beams, but right now I want to focus on the sukkah itself. During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we examined our faults, and God willing, we resolved to become better people.
We made specific, actionable plans to achieve those personal changes, but resolutions are fragile, and we’ll only turn them into permanent structures with God’s help.
And for me, that’s what the sukkah represents. One week to feel God’s sustenance, shelter, and guidance in our lives. One week to focus on that new version of me, more grateful, more attentive, more impactful, and palpably closer to fulfilling my God-given mission in this world.
Even an inch of progress in that work is a reason to celebrate. And that’s why we wish each other, Chag Sameach, a joyous festival.
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