The Simple Life: Sukkot and the New American Dream
For the past week, I’ve been eating most of my meals in our Sukkah (pictured at left). While its fabric walls and open roof offer little protection from the elements, I can think of few dwellings that are quite as inviting as a Sukkah. And I can think of few Sukkot that are quite as inviting as my own.
Its walls are etched with images that represent the members of our family and the words “Mishpachat Kefer” – the Kefer Family – are burned into its wooden frame. The structure itself sits atop our roof – and each evening we enjoy a view of the neighborhood and the silence of the nighttime sky. Assembling the Sukkah this year was a community event. My husband and I completed the physical construction; two neighbors provided bamboo for the roof; a third neighbor babysat our youngest son while we gathered materials; and my in-laws watched our eldest. And nearly every night, friends and family have joined us inside for meals, each bringing an item to help decorate. These memories are preserved in laminated photographs that hang from the roof. And repeat guests are entertained by tracking down photos of themselves from years’ past.
I love the holiday of Sukkot because of its simplicity. As Rabbi Scheinerman writes, the Sukkah “offers no luxuries and not even a modicum of protection.” Its basic structure teaches us the value of “simplifying … If we spend less time with our appliances and conveniences (and the time required to maintain them) we have more time for people, study, and contemplation.” In short, Sukkot forces us to reassess our regular routine and learn how to have “more fun” with “less stuff.” For seven days we live closer to nature and watch the sky instead of the television. For seven days, we host friends and spend time with family. For seven days, Sukkot helps Jews discover the “new” American dream – the importance of having “more of what matters in life,” rather than simply “having more.”
And, as it turns out, this is actually what Americans really want. A 2005 poll released by the Center for a New American Dream revealed that a majority of Americans say that spending more time with family and friends would make them much more satisfied with their lives. Conversely, less than 3 in 10 say that having a bigger house or apartment or nicer things would make them much more satisfied. And of course, living simply is not only good for you – its better for the planet. [Click here to learn more about the Center for a New American Dream – and its innovative campaigns to simplify your life].
October is a hectic time to be a Jew. But the quick succession of holidays provides a valuable lesson as well. We greet the new year on Rosh Hashana. We ask for forgiveness and health on Yom Kippur. And on Sukkot, we are taught the values that should guide us in the year to come: the importance of spending time with friends and family, closeness to nature, and the value of simple living.
Thank you for sharing your Sukkot customs. My family seeks out new Sukkot decorations as we travel – lanterns from India and Morocco, wind chimes from the American Southwest, Dove of Peace from Jerusalem. But this year we started a new tradition: as we celebrate the end of harvest, we as each person who joined us at our table to bring a can of food to donate or a check to Mazon, the Jewish response to hunger (www.mazon.org).
I couldn’t agree more! My dad (and my husband and our four-year-old daughter and I) built the sukkah, we used the need for schach as a reason to finally trim the bamboo and branches we had been meaning to tend to, we ate in it most nights of the week, just us and with friends, and our whole extended family and assorted good friends — 28 in all — helped decorate it, with much help from some other toddler types:-), and then ate food we had each prepared. It reminded us not only of the beauty of enjoying food and the outdoors at the same time, but also that fall and winter are good times to turn the heat down and put on sweaters:-)
-Elaine Weiss