This Sukkot, may we practice unlearning lifetimes of body shame to find the everyday holiness in our own physical forms. May we honor the ways that our bodies change all the time, just like our sukkot — through our own choices of adornment or reinforcement, and through changes we are powerless to influence.
The Torah reading for the Shabbat of Sukkot was certainly chosen for its reference to the holidays in Exodus 34:18-23. But at the end of Exodus 33, Moses makes a request for his wild and precious life, one which offers powerful lessons for Sukkot even today.
This week, we read a special portion from the book of Exodus for the holiday of Sukkot that explains, "You shall observe… the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year."
Each year on Sukkot, we read these famous words of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet): “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven. …a time for tearing down and a time for building up.” (Kohelet 3:1,3). To speak of building during a holiday dedicated to erecting a temporary structure seems fitting. And yet, the order the ideas in this verse is at odds with our Sukkot experience. Surely, “a time for building up and a time for tearing down” would align more closely with sequence of the holiday. So why this order? And what exactly are “we tearing down and building up”?
More than any other Jewish holiday or ritual, I love the audacity of Sukkot. After the many profound words and seemingly endless prayers of the High Holidays, Sukkot offers a very different holiday mode. The main theme and ultimate goal of the holiday is to achieve climactic joy throughout the holiday, including the intermediate days, which are known as Chol HaMo-eid Sukkot.
Torah Commentary
Sukkot and the Shelter of the Body
Real and Imagined: A Sukkot Balancing Act
You Shall Have Joy
A Time for Building Up
Each year on Sukkot, we read these famous words of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet): “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven. …a time for tearing down and a time for building up.” (Kohelet 3:1,3). To speak of building during a holiday dedicated to erecting a temporary structure seems fitting. And yet, the order the ideas in this verse is at odds with our Sukkot experience. Surely, “a time for building up and a time for tearing down” would align more closely with sequence of the holiday. So why this order? And what exactly are “we tearing down and building up”?
The Climax of Sukkot and the Profound Joy of the Journey
More than any other Jewish holiday or ritual, I love the audacity of Sukkot. After the many profound words and seemingly endless prayers of the High Holidays, Sukkot offers a very different holiday mode. The main theme and ultimate goal of the holiday is to achieve climactic joy throughout the holiday, including the intermediate days, which are known as Chol HaMo-eid Sukkot.