Yesterday’s full moon in Aries marked the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the third holiday in the trilogy of the Jewish new year holidays that began on Rosh Hashana.
Sukkot is an 8-day festival, with an extra day for another festival tacked on at the end.
It’s fitting that Sukkot starts on a full moon because the full moon illuminates polarities — things that seem opposed to each other — and Sukkot has many polarities baked into it.
One of the signature elements of this holiday is the Sukkah, a temporary, flimsy structure that serves as a reminder of the tents that the Jewish people called home as they traveled through the desert after the exodus from Egypt.
The central commandment is to live in the Sukkah for 7 days, although in modern times many people just eat their meals in it.
A sukkah is often constructed with a basic frame and canvas walls, like a camping tent.
It’s roof must be made from natural foliage, and be open enough to see the stars. This leaves it vulnerable to the rain.
There is no lock on the door of a sukkah. Often there is no door. No way to keep out other people or animals.
There is no heating system to keep you warm on cold nights and no air conditioning to cool you on a hot day.
To live in a sukkah is to be exposed to the elements of nature while in your own home — a place that, by all expectations, should feel safe.
What do you anchor to when your home is temporary and subject to the whims and winds of nature?
How do you stay safe in a world where risk lurks around every corner, and can also come from above?
How do you find certainty in an uncertain world?
These are the themes of the sukkah, and the polarities it explores.
The answer comes from the set-up of the challenge. Who would commit to live and eat in a makeshift tent with an open roof — especially at the time of year when the season is most variable?
A person who is anchored in faith.
A person who knows that protection doesn’t come from locked doors, but from a larger source.
A person who finds their certainty within.
This is the lesson for us and the practice: to cultivate that unshakeable faith in source. To root our certainty within ourselves, rather than relying on our environment or our job or how much we have in the bank.
Without faith that God will support you, you’ll never have enough of any resources.
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