The Succah: Shelter

The Rolling Stones sang: 

Ooh, a storm is threatening

My very life today

If I don't get some shelter

Ooh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children

It's just a shot away 

This song was a mixture of (Vietnam) war protest, free floating anger-energy and eroticism.  The Protest Movement would:

1. Save your life

2. Stop the killing of innocents

3. Help you find love. 

The title of the song evokes the meaning of Succoth. The Succah is the “shelter” this song refers to. It is a shack with a (purposely) almost ineffective roof. It is the best you can do, and it may not be enough. 

On Yom Kippur, the book of Jonah is chanted. Jonah can be seen as a story of seeking shelter. Jonah  is told to go to Nineveh and reveal their impending destruction. Nineveh needs to “get some shelter” from the wrath of Gd.

Jonah tries to run to Tarshish. According to Rashi, Jonah thinks that Tarshish is outside the broadcast zone of prophecy. Jonah feels that he needs protection from Gd’s instructions.  (The apostle Paul’s origin from Tarsus is either ironic or a purposeful echo of Jonah’s story [more likely].)  Gd creates a storm that will sink the Tarsus bound ship. There is no physical protection, only prayer and, ultimately  a human sacrifice (sic!), will calm the sea. Jonah (the Jew who caused the problem) is thrown overboard. 

Jonah is given a miraculous shelter. Gd created a  ‘fish” that surrounded  and protected him. In his solitude, he comes around to the desirability and need to fulfill the Divine will. Jonah goes to Nineveh, predicts  that city’s  destruction and brings the city to sincere repentance. Nineveh is sheltered  by love and it works. 

Jonah makes a succah. He makes a shelter for a brief visit to see what will happen. When chanted, a telisha gadolah, a special chant, announces the making of the Sukkah.

וַיַּ֩עַשׂ֩ ל֨וֹ שָׁ֜ם סֻכָּ֗ה וַיֵּ֤שֶׁב תַּחְתֶּ֙יהָ֙ בַּצֵּ֔ל עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִרְאֶ֔ה מַה־יִּהְיֶ֖ה בָּעִֽיר׃

He made a booth there and sat under it in the shade, until he should see what happened to the city.

He had told Nineveh that it would be destroyed in 40 days; he knows that their repentance and Gd's mercy will not let that happen. Gd teaches Jonah a lesson in mercy.

 

Gd ( chanted with the flourish of a Telisha kattana) made a “kikayon”, a tree that provided excellent shade; and Jonah enjoyed it very much. The kikayon, the Divine plant of shelter was destroyed overnight by a worm. Then Gd caused a blistering sun, and Jonah was annoyed, The succah that Jonah had made to block out the sun was inadequate to the job.  The kikayon had worked much better, but it was gone. Human produced shelter could not protect against Divine manipulations of nature. The construction provides shelter as long as nature remains within parameters and probable behavior is not guaranteed. 

The Shulchan Aruch, the 16th century codification of law and custom, generally does not present any background or motivational information.  Succkoth is the exception. Section 625 of Orach Chaim begins: 

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.

The Kaf HaChayim, an early 20th Century commentator on the Shulchan Aruch says the commandment of Sukkah explicitly demands cognitive awareness. The verse states: "In order that your generations shall know (lema'an yede'u) that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:43). 

Sitting in the succah raises our awareness of what is means to live in a tent instead of a home. It is usually possible, but uncomfortable. This collective move outside  the house reminds us of how the Israelites moved out of Egypt. We can feel the spirit of mutual aid that comes from  shared hardship; how giving is possible even when there is not really enough to share. Why Jonah should have had more sympathy for the 120,000 people of Nineveh and its beasts. 

Succoth has special meaning for me.  It when Karen ( my spouse) and I fell in love. We  were living in apartments in D.C and would visit public Succoth in the city. She is my kikayon, my divine shelter.  Our  brick or wood or steel homes will only work if nature cooperates, True shelter comes from the clouds of glory, the Divine grace that sends love.