Many thanks to all of you who joined us online and in person for the High Holidays. The hybrid services were a special experience this year. The number of people who participated in person was truly surprising, and for those who were on Zoom, it was fantastic to be able to provide everyone the opportunity to be with us.
Now we are in the sukkah. When I sit in my sukkah at home, somehow that simple, almost primitive structure gives me comfort. It is especially so in its context after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the feeling of starting over with renewed spirit. The four poles of the sukkah create a home-like feeling of security. In my mind, I know this is not a particularly protected structure, but my spirit is secure. I liken the feeling to the four columns that are held by our confidences at the chuppah, watching over us as sentinels, creating a stable edifice, a sanctuary.
During Sukkot, we are also commanded to hold together in our hands the four species. One has taste, one has smell, one has both, and one has neither. The rabbis tell us that these are the four archetypes of people in our community. They may be coming from the four corners of the world, yet together they form one plural and cohesive bundle. Likewise, the four children of the Haggadah, who sitting together around the Seder table make it stable. It is stable not just because it has four even legs, but because it is a vehicle for camaraderie.
The Zohar, the main text of the Kabbalah, in its commentary on Parashat Vayishlach (172 b), refers to the sukkah as Raza DeMehaimanuta — the secret to faith. It is one of humanity’s ways to create a chariot for God, a throne of God in this world. In fact, Kabbalah speaks of four worlds – Emanation, Creation Formation, and Action that originate from the light of God in heaven. It is referenced in Isaiah 43:7: “Everyone that is called by My name and for My glory, I have created, I have formed, even I have made.” The worlds continue to emanate and cascade from one another, each world becoming more crystallized and materialized, culminating in the fourth world, which manifests itself as our physical world on earth. Thus, coming together in the Sukkah is coming under the throne of God.
But the throne of God on earth is incomplete until the elimination of the force of Amalek, the influence that seeks to destabilize the throne of God in this world. Immediately following the exodus from Egypt, when the Israelites were still weak and afraid, they were attacked from behind by the cowardly Amalek. Ultimately, the Israelites defeated Amalek, but Moses declared: “Hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.” (Shemot 17:16) In this verse, even the word throne in Hebrew is spelled half way – Kes. As long as Amalek is trying to compromise the unity of Israel in this world, its hand is holding down the throne of God.
Clearly, there is a message that the Torah wants us to understand through four elements. The ultimate message is that all of us — the four types of people, the four children, the four spirits that come from the four corners of the earth — are responsible for creating and keeping stable the throne of God, for building a sheltering Sukkah, for maintaining a safe sanctuary, for investing in a peaceful public square, and for inspiring us to keep moving forward with our 4 x 4 spirituality.
May we all have a peaceful and bountiful year.
—Rabbi Gadi Capela