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On one hand, the Festival of Sukkot is known in Jewish tradition as z’man simchateinu - the season of our rejoicing.  On the heels of Yom Kippur, Sukkot - which begins Wednesday evening - provides us a week during which to gather in our sukkah, to celebrate and enjoy the company of friends and family, to  express gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy (for our ancestors it was a bountiful harvest), and to appreciate the wonders of nature.

On the other hand, Sukkot also confronts us with the stark reality that time is ephemeral and that our days on earth are truly fleeting.  We build a shelter for the festival that is required to be temporary, place branches and greenery on the sukkah’s roof that are intended to wither and turn brown as the week progresses, and traditionally study the book of Ecclesiastes – Biblical literature that speaks ultimately of life’s folly, that there is truly nothing new beneath the sun.

Celebration mingled with bleakness, joy clouded by austerity.

The paradoxical reality of Sukkot is one thing that has weighed on my soul this week since Sunday evening’s massacre in Las Vegas.  An evening that began with thousands of concert-goers gathered to relax, celebrate special life cycle moments, and enjoy the blessings of friendship and great talent on a beautiful desert night turned, in a matter of seconds, into an evening of defined by terror, chaos, death and despair.  Joy shattered by another unspeakable act of hatred and evil.  Celebration transformed instantly to pain and grief. 

Is this truly to be our new normal?  Could this be what the author of Ecclesiastes intended?!   I pray not. As we hope for a more peaceful, loving and sane realization of the Bible’s words, so, too, we surely continue to extend our prayers of support and solace to all whose lives have been forever altered by Sunday evening’s tragedy.  (To see the prayer that we posted on our Temple Sinai Facebook page this past Monday, click  here.

As we enter Sukkot, though, I also pray – despite the random moments of frailty and even inexplicable cruelty which leave their mark on our lives – that we each pause to appreciate and celebrate the boundless blessings that also fill our days.  Sincerely wishing you and yours a Chag Sameach and a meaningful, joyous Sukkot.