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Succot: Embracing the Temporary

By: Mr. Matthew Lipman

 
Zman simchateinu is upon us! You can feel it in the air, especially here in Israel - people out and about, enthusiastically choosing their 4 minim, building Sukkot, children coming home from school with decorations ready to hang. There will be meaningful shul davening and happy festivities throughout chol hamoed, a celebration and remembrance  of Hashem’s love for us, his people.
 
Oh yes, we continue, it is a celebration of….wait. What’s that you say? There aren’t any people out and about? There aren’t any children coming home from school? Davening will be limited at best? Festivities will be shut down, locked down, shuttered?
 
It’s unbelievable...but it’s true. This is a Sukkot unlike all other Sukkots we have ever known. Zman simchateinu is approaching but in a world of uncertainty, fear, sickness, and even loss. How can we possibly fulfill the mitzvah of simcha this year?
 
When we move ourselves out of the permanent structure of our homes and into the temporary structure of our Sukkot, we do so to try and feel what the experience was like for our people - our ancestors - who Hashem lovingly guided from Mitzrayim to Eretz Yisrael. As we journeyed, we dwelled in tents, dessert tents that served as our homes could be struck aside at any moment by a sandstorm or a gust of wind. When we build our Sukkot, we attempt to eternalize the time when our lives were so fleeting, so temporary, and our fate could change at any moment, in the blink of an eye. Life was unstable, uncertain….nothing like we know today...except that this year, uncertainty seems to be the name of the game. Our schedules change from hour to hour. The things we are allowed to do today, we might not be allowed to do tomorrow. We watch our friends and family members suffer from sickness, job loss - and who knows what the future will bring?
 
Some of us are experiencing the concept of “temporariness” for the first time. Others of us are more familiar with lives of uncertainty. But for all of us, we see clearly that despite the strong cement structures that make up our homes, and despite all of the material possessions that we may or may not have, ultimately we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Corona or no corona, the human state of being is a state of uncertainty, and a person’s fortune can change in the flash of an eye. Over this we have no control.
 
And yet. Just because we cannot control everything in our worlds, does this mean that happiness is impossible to reach? What if we dared to embrace our lack of control? To accept that there are some things we can control, but for the things we can’t, we take a deep breath. We let go of the fear. We trust in Hashem. What if we dared to celebrate our lack of control? What if we dared to celebrate our relationship with Hashem, to embrace with full force the decisions that are ours to make, but to allow Hashem to enter into our lives and control the events that are not ours to choose? To thank Hashem for the good and to accept the bad. To accept that we may be afraid, and that’s okay. To accept that our schedules, our material possessions, the course of our lives may be more temporary than we may have previously thought. Can you imagine the incredible simcha that comes with acceptance, with trust in Hashem, with the ability to let go of the things we cannot change?
 
Zman simchateinu-the ability to embrace the temporary. The ability to accept that we cannot control everything. The ability to search for - and find - the wonderful rays of light and happiness that burst through even in times of darkness. This is now. This is Sukkot.