This Week’s Torah Portion: First Day of Sukkot – יוֹם רִאשׁוֹן שֶׁל סֻכֹּת (Leviticus 23:33-44)

While the Temple is the embodiment of the Jewish place, the Sukkah is perhaps the embodiment of the Jewish space. It is not planted in a specific geographical place, it can be erected anywhere in the world, and it becomes a Sukkah when it is erected according to the guiding principles, especially when daily life is carried out in it during the seven days of Sukkot. The sukkah is a unique Jewish space because it is a space that is, on the one hand, festive, and on the other hand, includes the everyday grind within it.

The Sukkah is a kind of house located outside. It allows the Jewish person to live inside even when they cannot be inside, to be at home even when they are under the dome of heaven. The Sukkah says that a Jewish space can exist anywhere and that even when there is no stable home, we can create stability through the actions we do and the actions we take in the world. The apparent impermanence of the Sukkah is not impermanence, but a declaration of stability in an ephemeral world.