Rabbi's Blog

Tomorrow is October 7th, two years since Hamas perpetrated one of the most brutal atrocities against the Jewish people in our history.  Tomorrow is also the first day of the holiday of Sukkot, a harvest festival whose central observance is the building of and dwelling in a temporary shelter that is by its nature unsecured against the elements. On Sukkot we willingly give up what we think of as our basic level of protection, eschewing solid walls and an impervious roof if we are blessed to have them, and relying on faith. On October 7th, Israelis were ripped out of what they took to be their own secure existence, bombarded, assaulted, set on fire, and wantonly slaughtered. As we know only too well, on that day another 250 persons of every age, gender and national roots were taken into captivity and subject to the radical vulnerability of living each moment at the whim of their abductors. Defenseless against torture and abuse.  

We are perhaps on the verge of some end to the nightmare that has stretched from this day to the present. The blood of many of the hostages has been shed by Hamas and there are now only 48 hostages to be returned whether to rebuild their lives or be laid to rest. There are hundreds more Israelis who have died and thousands of vulnerable Palestinians who have been killed in the midst of these 730 days of combat.  Any day could be the moment when the pieces fall into place for the immediate return of those Israelis, living and murdered, and the cessation of combat and mutual agreement to try to coexist without violence.

The cruelty perpetrated by Hamas two years ago is a tear that can only be, in time, stitched back up, but, like a shirt torn in mourning, will only ever be held as a memorial of loss, never as the beginning or end of something new. A day scratched from the ordinary calendar, even as the traditional as the season called in the Torah “the time of rejoicing” commences. 

One beautiful Sukkot tradition that speaks to me today is called Ushpizin, literally guests, which calls on us not only to invite others to eat in our Sukka but to invoke the presence of our ancestors to join us as well. For many, this practice is expanded to include others who influence our lives and the lives of our people. Ushpizin is a reminder that even when, especially when, we give up our physical protections, we are called to gather together under whatever shelter we have for strength.   

May this moment be the moment that the hostages are released to come back to their loved ones and our People. May the lives and protection of all that hang on this precarious moment be protected, and the memories and presence of those who were slaughtered that day be with us.

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