It is difficult to describe the emotions of this week but it feels important to try.
These days began with Hag, days when we switch off our phones and celebrate all that is good in the world. Over these days Jewish people were marking the transition of the seasons and beginning prayers for winter’s rain and marking a new, year-long cycle of reading Torah.
These were also the last days of sitting in the sukkah, a leaf-covered hut that we put up in our back garden, in which we have hosted in the last week almost eighty-plus people for meals, coffees and meetings. It has been a really joyous time and the warm weather has helped!
Sukkot in particular is a harvest festival, the last days of a month of festivity. I shared with people in our sukkah the image of the humble pumpkin hanging in our Sukkah (there is a tradition to hang harvest produce in the sukkah) and the vision of the Warsaw Ghetto Rebbe, Rav Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, who describes how in every living thing there is a spark of the original spark from which all creation came.
In another image, in the Sukkah we imagine a world of the dissolution of physical boundaries as we welcome the Ushpizin, the mystical guests from yesteryear. The possibility is that our Sukkah becomes the meeting place of all people from all the generations, a world without boundaries.
And then as the last days of the Chaggim began, after more than 3 weeks of celebrations, the news started filtering in about gruesome attacks on Israel. It is hard to describe how close knit many parts of our community are and as someone who lived in Israel for more than 5 years, we have on all sides of our families close friends, teachers and cousins there, who we adore and love. People who are intrinsic to the rich tapestry of our lives.
These attacks focused around the south of Israel and Israel’s desert marked the highest death toll the Jewish people has paid in all the years and all the days of conflict since the last days of the Holocaust, Shoah in 1945. It is hard to understate how these moments impact on our people.
For those with family and friends in Israel, with more than 100 men, women, children and elderly people taken hostage, there is knowledge that the days to come will inflict greater suffering for the Jewish people, alongside those in Gaza and the West Bank.
For our communities we hold our breath. These are days of pain, anxiety, prayers for our young people who serve the Israeli army, currently engaging terrorists who hold hostages, prayers for those who are in mourning, prayers for our European communities who will feel the blow back of these events. These are days of endurance and perseverance.
My prayers are that in time, we will return to the days of the Sukkah and reimagine a common spark that unites all of humanity and a common thread that shapes all of creation. That enemy will one day sit across from his foe. Not for today but please God our prayers will soon return to hopes for peace.
We remain here for you and in your support.
Don’t hesitate to reach out.
SHABBAT SHALOM, L’SHANA TOVA, praying for a year of peace
