This week I learned that Talmud gives 3 reasons for building a Sukkah. The key one is explicit in the Torah: “You shall live in Sukkot for 7 days, so your generations know that children of Israel lived in Sukkot when I brought them out of Egypt”. Torah also commands “you shall rejoice before your God for 7 days”. Sukkot is Zman Simchateinu; Time of our Joy. Yet only days ago, our city and our people were shaken by terror. On Tuesday, we marked two years since the 7-OCT-2023, when our brothers and sisters were murdered and taken hostage, homes burned, lives destroyed. How can we be joyful? Rabbi Sack z”l taught that Sukkot teaches us that we do not hide from the storm, but to live with faith within it. The Sukkah is the Jewish answer to fear.
“Show me Your glory” — Faith that stands upright
On Rosh Hashanah I had the privilege of reading Torah in another community. When the Rabbi asked me to give a commentary on Parashat Nitzavim, I said, “Torah teaches us that we are all in this together. We must NOT wait for miracles; we must make a change by carrying our Presence into a broken world and by choosing life.”
HOW QUICKLY WAS I TESTED WITH IT…On Yom Kippur, as the armed police cars raced past us and Google twisted our route to JR shul through side streets, we both knew something was terribly wrong. The message came: “Service is cancelled, go home NOW!” Time stopped. I sank into a deep dark silence. In that lonely darkness, I echoed Moshe’s cry to God from today’s reading: “Har’eini na et kevodekha” – Show me Your glory. And the answer came; in defiance, we gathered our fragments as a community, asked Rabbi permission, and ran the service on Zoom. We wept, acknowledged our pain, then we stood up. God’s response to Moshe resounded today again: “Panai yelechu – My Presence shall go with you.”
Do not wait for miracles! Stand up, do your part, and His presence will go with you! Our response to Terror must never be paralysis, but persistence. Those who sought to erase Jewish life on Simchat Torah 2023 and on Yom Kippur 2025; did not and will not succeed. We carry God’s Presence into the world by living as Jews, proudly, publicly, and joyfully. How fitting! Sukkot is exactly this!
The Sukkah — Courage built of faith
Every sukkah is fragile: thin walls, open roof. Yet inside it we feel stronger than in any palace. Why? Sukkah is the symbol of courage to live with vulnerability, not by ignoring the dangers, but by facing them together.
Like the four species, “lulav, etrog, hadasim, and arvot,” each Jew brings distinct traditions, colours, languages, and songs, yet is bound as one. We affirm that unity brings blessing and diversity joined in purpose, creates holiness, exactly like KOT! And that is very joyful!
Kohelet — The wisdom to rebuild
Kohelet told us today: “there’s a time to weep and a time to laugh… a time to mourn and a time to dance.” We do not deny the darkness, but we refuse to let it have the final word. The Malbim (R Meir Leibush) explains that Kohelet’s wisdom lies in knowing how to respond to each season, even the painful ones. That is the art of being Jewish: Not paralysis. Not despair, but renewal.
Haftarah — The promise of divine justice
In our Haftarah today, The prophet Yeḥezkel speaks of the war of Gog and Magog, when nations rise against Israel. I still smile because it reminds me of times when my mum was upset that many of my dad’s relatives were about to flood our house uninvited. She always said: “Yep, Agog v Magog are coming for me again!.”
God declares: “V’nigdalti v’nikdashti v’noda’ti le’einei goyim rabim” “I will be exalted and sanctified and made known before the eyes of many nations.”
The Malbim teaches that this war is not only physical but a moral and spiritual clash – between chaos and covenant. Today Gog and Magog wear many faces: Terrorists who glorify death, academics who distort truth and spread antisemitism, and perhaps worst of all, the fear that silences good people. The Haftarah teaches us that our response is unity, it is the joys of Sukkot, and Simchat Torah!
Closing: The covenant of courage
As I am writing this, I hear 20 hostages may return home this Sunday, yes, 735 days too late… So, this Shabbat is not only a memorial; it is a declaration. It is a declaration that we acknowledge they tried to extinguish life, but we respond by lighting more life, by filling our sukkot with guests, by choosing joy, by dancing again!
May Hashem strengthen His people, comfort the mourners, guard Israel and all who protect it, and may we live with the courage of the sukkah: fragile in form, but indestructible in spirit. May our joy be our defiance, and our faith our shield.
Shabbat Shalom ve-Chag Sameach.