The Days of Awe in Awful Days

In this year’s Elul programme we will dive into the meaning of Sukkot. By examining the end of the High Holiday journey we will come to understand more deeply the nature of the journey itself. We will work out what the Yamim Nora’im mean by looking at their final destination in the Sukkah. How might the Sukkah function as a model for living with and under the presence of God? And what does it really mean, to communally act out “living under God’s protection” in light of the dark ending of last year’s High Holiday season?

Both of the great cycles of festivals in Judaism, the pilgrim festivals and the Yamim Noraim, culminate in Sukkot. The pilgrim festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot conclude with us sitting in the Sukkah. After the liberation of Pesach and the revelation of the Torah at Shavuot, we do not end the pilgrim festival cycle by entering the Promised Land but rather we are left wandering in booths in the desert. What does this conclusion mean? 

The High Holy Days period of Elul, Rosh Hashanah, the ten days of repentance and Yom Kippur also draw to a final close with the festival of Sukkot. How is sitting in a Sukkah a fitting conclusion to the awesome, ascetic, repentance-filled experience of Yom Kippur?