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Origins
By: Amy J. Kramer
If Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prepare the mind for
teshuvah, repentance, and help the soul achieve divine forgiveness, then
Sukkot is like a congratulations party for the body after a long, spiritual
journey.
Also called zeman simhateinu, the season of our rejoicing,
Sukkot is about joy and giving thanks. When the children of Israel were
wandering in the desert after leaving the slavery of Egypt, they had nothing
with them except what they could carry. Their sole dependence was on their
leaders and on G-d:
G-d brought them manna for food (Exodus 16:4-16) clouds
for shelter (exodus 33:14-17; Numbers 9:15-23) water to drink (exodus
15:22-25; 17:5-7; Numbers 20:7-12) and special environmental conditions
to prevent their clothing from falling apart (Deuteronomy 29:4). The Sukkot
in which they lived provided the protection they needed to feel safe until
they reached the land of Israel.
Once they settled the land of Israel, the Jewish people
planted and harvested, built houses, dug wells and made their own clothes.
The booths they lived in for a week once a year, served as a reminder
of how they began. As the Torah warns:
When you later have prosperity, be careful that
you not say to yourself, It was my own strength and personal power
that brought me all this. You must remember that it is G-d your Lord
who gives you the power to become prosperous. (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).
Likewise, living in a sukkah today, even for just one
week, teaches us that all we have, the very roof over our heads, is from
G-d, and not by our own might.
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