Sukkot – Jews Go Camping
I recently returned from a camping trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and sadly put my tent away for the season. I was inspired, though, by words at the end of the Yom Kippur service, “Open for us a gate, in this time of closing gates.” As the season for camping ends, the time for Jewish outdoor activity begins.
As the first full moon of autumn approaches, Jews everywhere are stepping outside and building temporary huts called Sukkot. Traditionally, these huts (or may I even say tents) have a twofold meaning (like all biblical holidays, as I wrote for Shavuot) – they remind us of the temporary huts we made in the fields at the peak of harvest and the ones we lived in through our Exodus journey.
On Sukkot, Jews around the world go outside and face the elements of nature! (If you know the same type of Jews I do, this is no small deal.) If it’s cold, we put on more layers. If there are bugs out, we light citronella candles and wish for the best. Even if it rains, we stay outside long enough to say the blessings over the wine and bread, and to bless the act of sitting in the sukkah.
In this modern world, it’s easy to move from your climate controlled house, to your climate controlled car, to your climate controlled office or to the shopping mall.
But during Sukkot, we step back thousands of years to the tents of our ancestors, leaving many of our modern luxuries behind. The funny thing is, most everybody enjoys it.
Whether or not every Jew will use the experience of Sukkot to join America’s Jewish outdoor club or hike from the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) to the Mediterranean isn’t the point. Still, every outdoorsman/woman knows that the first step to enjoying the outdoors is stepping outside. At the beginning of this new year, I hope each of you finds pleasure in the beauty of the Sukkah and the curiosity to adventure in the wonders beyond.
Chag Sameach!
