Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Sukkot

 Living Within When Living Without

בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים:

כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם

Seven days you shall live in Sukkot

For I caused the children of Israel to dwell in Sukkot when taking them out of Egypt (Mitsrayim)

Commenting upon this Biblical verse, the Talmudic sage Rava says: “All seven days go out of your permanent dwelling and live in a temporary dwelling”.

The holiday of Sukkot heightens our awareness of competing needs and concerns, conflicts and contradictions in our lives. We are brought in by being brought out. We find strength within vulnerability and fragility in what we once thought secure. Living in the temporary we find the enduring and, viewing what we once deemed permanent, we now see it passing before our eyes.

Of all our Jewish holidays, regarding Sukkot alone we are told, “You shall be utterly joyous (sameach). Yet, the Biblical book which the Rabbis selected for our reading on this holiday is Ecclesiastes, perhaps best known for its opening words: “Hevel havalim ha-kol hevel”- “Utter Impermanence, all is but temporal”.

It is with this very recognition of life’s impermanence, our Rabbis suggest, that we most fully experience joy. For, in seeking to secure life, which is but fleeting, we miss living it.

 A Story 

 An investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large fish. The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied, “Only a little while.” The investment banker then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The banker then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman responded, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, spend time with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and enjoy the company of my friends. 

I have a full and busy life.”

The banker offered, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to a large city and then yet a larger one, eventually you will relocate to the country’s business capital where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the investment banker replied, “15 – 20 years.”

“But what then?” Asked the fisherman.

The banker laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions – then what?”  The banker said, “Then you would retire.  Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take time with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and spend time with your friends.”

On Sukkot, as we move from our place of permanence to one of a temporal nature, we remind ourselves to enjoy a life being lived rather than one only being planned. Our tradition teaches: “You can take the people out of Mitsrayim (Egypt/The Narrow Places) but you cannot take Mitsrayim out of the people”. Each of us needs to free ourselves of our trusted confines. As we observe the commandment of dwelling in the Sukkah, in commemoration of our being taken out of Mitsrayim, may we also cause the Sukkah to dwell within us, so life in our homes, year round, may be secure but also of great joy.