The Peaceful Sukkah (1st Day Sukkot)

 

It is a Bracha, a blessing that we recite every Friday night (and on festivals) in Ma’ariv, just before the Kaddish that leads us into the silent Amidah prayer:

"Baruch ata Hashem, hapores sukkat shalom aleinu ve'al kol amo yisrael ve'al Yerushalayim -Blessed are You, Lord, who spreads the shelter of peace over all His people and over Jerusalem."

On the face of it, this seems like a rather odd blessing.

What is the connection between a sukkah, the temporary structure in which we sit (and sometimes freeze in!) during the seven days of the upcoming festival of Sukkot and the notion of peace?  And why do we recite this blessing on Friday nights?

The last question is the easiest to answer. We pray for Gd to protect our people and our holy capital at an auspicious time such as on Shabbat or the Chagim.

However, this does not explain why we are asking Gd to spread a ‘shelter of peace’ over us.

The roof of the sukkah is called the ‘schach’ and indeed the very word 'sukkah' comes from the same root.  Without schach, you cannot have a sukkah!

As we sit and look up through the schach to the skies above, we are very aware of how vulnerable we are, sitting under a roof made of natural, porous materials and therefore subject to the elements.  If it rains, we will get wet and if it is cold, the heat that quickly dissipates from our bodies will replaced with a very tangible wind chill factor. Are we not at war with the external elements?

We are literally sitting under Gd's sky and there is no real protection between the base of the sukkah and the heavens above aside from our flimsy schach roof.  We therefore become aware that our very survival depends on the protection Gd will provide for us whilst we remove our bodies from comfort of our warm homes and face the weather conditions that He places into our world.

When our survival is at stake, when we no longer have the fortress of our homes to protect us, when we are open to the elements, we need a canopy to envelop us, to allow us to enjoy the festival without fear of becoming cold, wet and despondent.

Rav Kook ztl, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (d.1935) told us something beautiful.

He said that when we perform a mitzvah, we can only do so if the item we are using is complete.  A Sefer Torah missing a single letter is not kosher.  An Etrog with a broken pithom is not kosher.  However, a sukkah without decorations or with shaky walls, is still kosher, as long as it has the requisite type and amount of schach.  A sukkah, though imperfect can still be kosher and can still be used to fulfil the mitzvah of 'leshev ba sukkah' – ‘dwelling in the sukkah’. 

Any warrior will tell you that to create peace with an enemy means settling with less than perfection because peace cannot be achieved if everyone gets their own way.  We ask Gd to provide His canopy to protect us and in doing so, give us the state of mind we need to enjoy our time in the sukkah.  Gd does not require us to build the perfect sukkah in order for Him to grant us peace.  If we build it, He will hopefully protect it.  He will give us peace.  Imperfect perhaps, but peace, nevertheless. Gd’s protection is the peace we need to protect us in the Sukkah.

A few years ago, I gave a Dvar Torah to members of my local shul. It was the Shabbat when the terrorist attack was taking place at the Hypercacher supermarket in Paris. We entered Shabbat not yet knowing the tragic outcome of the hostage situation. I told them that on Friday nights, we make the bracha that I referred to at the start of this drasha, but instead of reciting it in its usual fashion, we should be saying “hapores sukkat shalom al Paris” – ‘who spreads a shelter of peace over Paris. Sadly, as we found out later, this shelter was not able to protect all the people in the store although many were saved by a righteous Gentile who hid them in the basement.

During this imperfect Sukkot when our tradition of inviting guests is limited by the latest regulations (although the Ushpizin, our spiritual guests are free to join us without such restrictions!), we pray to Gd that he spreads his shelter of peace over all of us and provides His protection to all nations during the festival and beyond.

In the war against Covid, when our brothers and sisters in Israel are suffering so much, we can think of no better prayer to consider at this auspicious time.

May He spread His shelter of peace over all of Israel, Jerusalem and the entire world and may the peace we seek so dearly come to us very speedily in our days.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.