Vzoth HaBracha - Sukoth: vunerability

Such a confusing Shabbath! The Torah is ending, about to begin again.  This could have been the Shabbath of Vizoth Habracha, the last chapter of the Torah. That chapter  has no Shabbath, the end of the torah is tied to the beginning in the holiday - Shmini Atzereth/Simchath Torah- that follows. Ending the Torah is submerged into celebration. It is a wake for the five books. 

The last parsha is a deathbed scene.  Moses recalls his role as the transmitter of Gd's law.  He then addresses the tribes ( except for Simon) poetically and enigmatically. He ascends the mountain and is euthanized. I can feel the urge to quickly mumble past this part and get on with the story, from the beginning, again. This parsha speaks of  the mortality of Moses and the vulnerability of the people he led. The blessings of victory and wealth emphasize the fragility.  What is hoped for can be taken away... or may never materialize. 

Although we do not read  this parhsa on Sukoth, it hangs over the Shabbath that is included in the holiday. It is appropriate. Sukkoth is clearly about vulnerability. We move into a hastily built hut with an insecure roof for the week.  We do a little urban camping/glamping. We feel a shadow of life in the tents in the parkland that abuts the highway. 

How does this Sukoth experience affect us? Do we allow it to impact on how we feel about the tent people? Does it generate sympathy or does it emphasize the separation and distinction; does it add to their otherness? 

The Shulcha Aruch, the code of Jewish Law rarely delves into the reason for the prescribed actions. For Sukoth, it makes an exception

בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים וגו' כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל הם ענני כבוד שהקיפם בהם לבל יכם שרב ושמש

On Succot we shall dwell for 7 days etc. Because on Succot I protected the children of Israel. These refer to the clouds of glory who protected them from all the intense heat and the sun of the desert.

Atmospheric conditions, which had been the province of the Divine alone, needed appreciation as a protective intervention. Perhaps it is a warning for the present.

The message of tolerating hardship for a future promise is in here. Implicit is the degradation that develops when that future is delayed or when the dream dissolves.

When I was in Poland, I saw kind of house my parents would have lived in. It was not a kosher succah, but the protection it offered was not much better than a bamboo roof. I saw the foliage covered pit that my parents hid in. There may have been  Jewish legalistic questions about the dimensions, but it was a quintessential succah.  Just enough protection to survive ( with considerable discomfort). 

I would like Sukoth to be a stimulus to  empathy for homeless.  My feelings are strongest and most honest  when they come through experiences close to me, like those of my parents. 

We are vulnerable. We survive by helping each other.