You couldn’t tell from the weather that the fall harvest of Sukkot began five days after Yom Kippur, but the Sukkah was readied and the lulav and etrog were on display. In the synagogue and in the Sukkah, we took hold of the lulav and etrog and observed the holiday, baz’eman simchateinu, in our season of joy.

The label is important. Joy is integral to Jewish life and living. Though some claim that Judaism is negative or filled with nothing but prohibitions, it’s not completely true. A Golden Rule in Judaism is written, “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.” The negative commandment, “do not do,” is revealing. Jews aren’t born in sin, but with great potential; ask anyone’s Jewish mother for validation. As a result, we are inherently good from the beginning and increasingly mindful of ways to preserve our place on a straight path in life. The blessing recited over an infant includes the hope that the “Holy One should set the child’s heart on a straight path, thus endowing the child with knowledge, understanding, wisdom, life, righteousness, blessing, and peace.” These are the provisions that accompany the child who doesn’t need to be told what to do, because the child has been endowed with these gifts. The child only needs to be taught what not to do, or as Hillel makes clear, “What is hateful to you, do not do to others; that is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it” (BT Shabbat 31a).

The lulav, which is three branches specified in Torah (Lev. 23), palm, willow, and myrtle, plus the etrog, are joined together. The rabbis teach that each branch represents an individual who has either more wisdom than deeds, more deeds than wisdom, both wisdom and deeds, or neither wisdom nor deeds. Obviously, one should have both wisdom and deeds, but the rabbis’ point was that in such diversity we see unity. We are all different for different reasons, but held together, we join others whose gifts of wisdom and deeds make us better. No one is too weak and no one is too strong. We find our place and thrive in community.

At the end of Sukkot, we observe Simchat Torah, literally “the joy of Torah.” Again, there’s joy! We end the last words of Deuteronomy (Devarim) and begin immediately with the first words of Genesis (Bereishit). The rabbis teach that the last letter of Torah is lamed, and the first letter of Torah is bet. Put together, these two letters create the word lev, or heart. We conclude that the interior of Torah, from beginning to end, is, thus, the heart of Judaism and Jewish understanding. Just before we begin in Genesis, we add the words, chazak, chazak, v’nitchazeik, “be strong, be strong, and we shall be strong together.”

The focus on community is a thread that runs through all of Torah and Jewish thought. We end and begin the Torah with expectations and obligations not to go it alone. Today, being Jewish reminds us not that life is hard—it’s always been hard—but that we thrive only when we stand together. Despite our differences of opinions on a whole host of subjects, we are bound to each other as one people who stand before one God with one Torah.

The lulav and etrog look like four species, but they are one when we hold them in our hands, wave them in every direction, and fulfill a positive commandment to find joy in a season that is heavy with worry and concerns. That is the Jewish way, because nothing is promised to us except the hope of tomorrow and our inherent goodness we invest in the future.

Shabbat Evening & Simchat Torah Service
Friday, 6:15 PM — Gordon Chapel and Livestream

Shabbat Morning, Atzeret/Simchat Torah & Yizkor Service
Saturday, 10:30 AM — Gordon Chapel and Livestream

L’Shalom,