Home Home / Sermon Idea for Sukkot (1975)

Note

September 16, 1975

Sermon Idea for Sukkot (1975)

Sukkot
View The Text

This content is currently available in its original PDF format. As we expand the library, we plan to add a text version as well.

RELATED CONTENT

Synagogue Sermon

A Sermon for the Sensitive (1961)

There is no question but that sensitivity is a good thing. It is a sign of culture and a mark of refinement. It is an integral part of the ethical personality. It is also a distinguishing characteristic of the Jew. Our Rabbis of the Mishnah thought that one of the three qualities that determines whether people are truly disciples of our Father Abraham, is: bayshanim – shyness or bashfulness. And what is shyness, the ability to blush and experience embarrassment, if not an expression of sensitivity? The ethical philosophy of Judaism requires of man to imitate G-d; and G-d is sensitive to the cry of the poor, the anguish of the afflicted, the sigh of the suffering. Maimonides taught in his Guide for the Perplexed that sensitivity is a prerequisite for prophecy. Before Moses was permitted to hear the Divine voice from the burning bush, he had to have sufficient ethical sensitivity to be able to rush to the assistance of the seven daughters of Jethro who were oppressed by the shepherds.Yet, like everything else, sensitivity can be overdone. In our tradition, the ideal character is formed by walking along the Shevil ha-Zahav, the golden mean. Hence, we must walk the path of moderation and keep away from the extreme of hypersensitivity as well as from the other extreme of insensitivity. Our Rabbis attribute the destruction of the Holy Temple to the famous incident of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza – a tragedy touched off by much too sensitive people.Most of us decent, well-meaning people, sin in the direction of hypersensitivity rather than insensitivity. If anything, we are too delicate rather than too tough.Herein lies the explanation of a strange prayer which we recite on leaving the Sukkah at the end of this festival: yehi ratzon mi-le’fanekha…ke’shem she-kiyamti ve’yashavti be’sukkah zu, ken ezkeh le’shanah ha-baah leishev be’sukkat oro shel livyatan. “May it be thy will, my G-d and the G-d of my father, that even as I have observed and dwelt in this Sukkah, so may I be priv…
Sukkot

Synagogue Sermon

A Slightly Sarcastic Sermon (1971)

I. This is a slightly sarcastic sermon about, and inspired by, that gently sarcastic and even somewhat cynical work, Kohelet, which the Jewish tradition attributes to King Solomon wish to make it clear that in these remarks I do not intend, Heaven forbid, any individual, and certainly not my congregation as a whole. But if any listener should feel uncomfortable by my words, I beg him or her to appreciate that I join them in this discomfort. I have always been troubled by Kohelet and I am myself annoyed by my own sarcastic conclusions from it. II. Kohelet represents an aspect of the Jewish tradition that is quite disturbing. It is a critique of urban life – and if Solomon is negative on city life in his days, how much more so on contemporary man’s complex technopolitan culture. His criticism is thus a form of atavism, a return to primitive conditions. And that, of course, is just day-dreaming. Because we, as moderns, know – that you can’t turn the clock back...At the first of several examples of Solomon’s romantic primitivism, note his attitude to happiness – or joy, or fun, to what he calls Simkhah. Clearly, Kohelet is way off the track. He is dour, a kill-joy, not a “fun-person.” He tells us how great it is to enjoy things, to live it up – and suddenly he cuts the ground from under himself and under us, his readers: ושבחתי אני את השמחה אשר אין טוב לאדם תחת השמש כי אם לאכול ולשמוח ולשמוח.“And so I praised happiness, for there is no good thing for man under the sun but to eat, drink, and be merry.”והנה גם הוא הבל… ולשמחה מה זו עושה.“But that too is vanity, emptiness... and what am I so happy about?”What is wrong with Solomon? Did he not understand that “Enjoy, enjoy” is the clarion call of modern man? Had he no conception of the fact that fun is clean, there is nothing wrong with it? Could he not see that the “pursuit of happiness” is the God-given right – nay, duty – of every red-blooded American, claimed for him in the Declaration of Independence and unquestionabl…
Sukkot

Synagogue Sermon

Sukkot Without Suffering (1975)

The Gaon of Vilna was once asked, “What is the most difficult mitzvah to perform?” He thought for a while, and then answered, “The commandment of simhah be’hag, attaining joy on the festival of Sukkot. For eight days, or nine in the Diaspora, we must be in a high state of joy, without any diminution or distraction, without permitting the least worry or frustration or depression to pass our minds or touch our hearts. That is truly difficult!" More direct, and somewhat less esoteric, is an halakhic application of this commandment to be joyous on the festival. That is the principle of מצטער פטור מן הסוכה, that on the seven days of Sukkot (according to one opinion, and according to another all of them except for the first) we are exempt from the obligation to dwell in the Sukkah if we experience pain or distress in so doing. Hence, if we are sick or it is raining or it is too cold, we are not required to perform the mitzvah of Sukkah. The reason for this is, as the Talmud puts it, תשבו כעין תדורו, that our stay in the Sukkah must be similar to our dwelling at home: if such inclement or unfavourable conditions were to prevail at home we would move out to another residence, then we need not dwell in the Sukkah.On a deeper level, this halakhah may be explained in the following manner. I take the purpose of Sukkot to be a continuation of that of Yom Kippur. Just as on Yom Kippur, the various deprivations or afflictions teach us to rely upon God and be independent of material satisfactions – that just as we can get along on this one day without food or drink or washing or sex or shoes, so must we learn for the rest of the year not to be enslaved to our passions or wants or needs – so on Sukkot do we learn that it is, after all, possible to do without our well-built apartments, our beautiful homes, our well-appointed chambers; that even in a mere hut or booth we can attain simhah (joy) if we rely upon God. So is it true of all our worldly possessions: they are good to have, …
Sukkot