Sukkot Message

Shalom Friends.

Thank you for the most wonderful Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur! Har Shalom is a hidden treasure in world of Jewish peoplehood. Thank you to the shleppers and the cooks, the greeters and the organizers, the chanters and the readers, the Torah carriers and the ark openers, the babysitters and the teachers. Thank you to all of the participants and each of you who made it possible for us to be together for the holiest of days.

Given that we have only known you all of six weeks, it is extraordinary what we accomplished together. We feel that the Yamim Noraim brought us to a strong foundation of trust, creative energy and potential growth, and we are eager to take the next steps of building on our strengths as a community and charting the course for our future together.

And now, as the leaves change, the air grows cold, and the wind picks up we experience the familiar whiff of impermanence that is felt back east in October and the Jewish month of Tishrei.

The Har Shalom Sukkah was decorated today-- our first communal action after the spiritual heights of Yom Kippur. Sukkot (temporary dwellings) remind us of the passing state that is each of our lives, the tentative condition of the earth's well-being and the fragility of our faith itself.

In our backyard we are blessed with a unique Sukkah decorated by the Har Shalom 7th grade. Also in our backyard, we will also have more kale and mint than we will know what to do with (and without having done any work!) so we will have plenty to share-- another theme of the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot aka "Chag Ha-Asif" (the Festival of Ingathering).

If the paradox of Yom Kippur is that we each travel through life with both broken tablets and whole tablets in our personal Mishkan, the paradox of Sukkot is that while we may be as fragile as a passing breath, we are strong enough to give away that which sustains us -- our home, our food, and our love.

For this reason, the rabbis called Sukkot "zman simchateinu" - the time of our rejoicing.

"Enjoy my bounty while you still have it and share it with one other"--the earth cries. Because the real bounty is the realization that we are each connected to each other in a complex web of interdependence, and that we are all fellow travelers on the earth's wonderful and mysterious surface. Sukkot is a time of outward pruning and inward growing. It is a time for quiet reflection on the fragility of life -including our livelihoods- but it is also a time for celebration of its fruits.

On Sukkot we read the book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) where it says, "hevel havalim ha kol havel" emptiness of emptiness. All is emptiness. Everything on the earth dies and is reborn. Everything is impermanent. Kohelet has a realism (some may call pessimism) and pragmatic mentality that is unique in the Jewish tradition.

Here are some of our favorite quotes from Kohelet:

"Tov shem mi shemen tov--a good name is better than good oil."

"And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, Who gave it."

If you would like to take part in the joy of Sukkot and celebrate the new season with the Har Shalom community, join us for any of the scheduled events or just come for the mitzvah of "lesheyv ba-Sukkah" - sitting in the Sukkah. We look forward to joining you!

Rabbi Ben and Rabbi Shoshana

--
Rabbi Shoshana Leis
Rabbi Ben Newman
Congregation Har Shalom
The Center for Jewish Living
725 W. Drake Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80526