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Seasons of the Soul Parsha a project of www.Chabad.org Sukkot & Simchat Torah 5764 (2003) The Temporary Dwelling Comment Are we transient beings for whom movement is life and "at rest" an inscription for the gravestone? Are How [does one fulfill] the mitzvah we rooted souls, for whom the "journeys" of life are of dwelling in the sukkah? One just so many guises of the singular quest for home? should eat, drink, and live in the sukkah, both day and night, as one lives in one’s house on the other Living Galileo’s Trajectory days of the year: for seven days a Somehow it's comforting to think of the little person should make his home his guy zooming around our solar system at temporary dwelling, and his sukkah 8,000 miles an hour in directions opposite of his permanent dwelling. its intended destination, being zapped by (Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law), radio signals it was never designed to respond Orach Chaim 639:1) to -- and actually getting things done Sukkot and Simchat Torah: an Anthology of Insights Seasons of What Sukkot is to Rosh Hashanah, Simchat Torah is to Yom Kippur: a full moon to its the Soul new moon, a celebration of its solemnity, a revelation of its essence Purpose In each journey of your life you must be where you are. You may only be passing through on your Story An Etrog from the Garden of Eden way to somewhere else seemingly The Angel Michael harnessed the horse to the more important -- nevertheless, wagon of mitzvot, and the wagon driver cracked there is purpose in where you are his whip. Suddenly the wagon gave a lurch for- ward, flattening the piles of sins that had been right now. obstructing its way... V'Zot HaBerachah (Deut. 33:1-34:12) — Parsha and the Sukkot Torah readings Visions, blessings and awesome things, daughters of winter and dancing scrolls, as the annual Torah reading cycle draws to a close and immediately begins anew For more information or to subscribe new material to one of our many insipiring added daily! periodicals log on to: This magazine contains sacred Torah www.Chabad.org material. Please do not discard. www.Chabad.org Comment The Temporary Dwelling — it’s a house, not a sukkah. On the other hand, if it’s raining in the sukkah, you’re not obligated to eat by Yanki Tauber in it — the sukkah is your home, and if it were rain- ing into your home, you’d move to another room. Also: If the walls are taller than 20 cubits (about 30 feet) it’s not a sukkah — not a “temporary” structure; but if they’re too flimsy to withstand an average wind, it’s also disqualified — not a “dwelling”. Are you a homeowner? If you are, you probably In other words, the Torah wants us to take an yearn for the open road. Imagine, a life without essentially transient structure and make it our perma- mortgage payments, plumbing, lawnmowers, snow- nent home. Or else it wants us to look at our perma- blowers, meter readings or alarm systems! Who nent home and understand that it is, essentially, a coined the term “homeowner” anyway”? transient structure. “Homeowned” sounds more like it. If you’re a tramp, you probably yearn for a home. Chassidim have an interesting habit. When asked For a spot of permanence on this spinning globe, for to explain something, they offer a story. And then a cube of space that holds the capriciousness of the they tell another story, making the opposite point. world at bay. The joys of the open road? Maybe in an adventure novel read in an easy chair by the fire- Two stories, then. The first story takes us back side. some 50 years. A young yeshivah student was about to embark on a trip and wrote to the Lubavitcher So what are we? Nomad or couch potato? Are we Rebbe for a blessing. In his reply, the Rebbe urged transient beings for whom movement is life and “at the young man to utilize the opportunity to accom- rest” an inscription for the gravestone? Or are we plish something positive in every place he would rooted souls, for whom the “journeys” of life are just stop during his trip. The Rebbe used the Mishkan, the so many guises of the singular quest for home? portable sanctuary that accompanied the people of Israel in the travels through the desert, as an exam- How [does one fulfill] the mitzvah of dwelling in ple. At their every encampment, the people were the sukkah? One should eat, drink, and live in the instructed to set up the formidable structure — which sukkah, both day and night, as one lives in one’s consisted of hundreds of parts and required an army house on the other days of the year: for seven days of more than 8,000 people to assemble — even if a person should make his home his temporary they were staying just a single night. For a Jew, con- dwelling, and his sukkah his permanent dwelling cluded the Rebbe, there’s no such thing as merely (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 639:1). “passing through” a place. Every moment in life has permanence, by virtue of the fact that Divine Perhaps the most interesting model of the Providence has guided us to this particular point in dweller/journeyer duality in our nature is the time and space for a specific purpose. sukkah, the branch-covered hut that serves as the home of the Jew for the seven days of the Sukkot The second story is told of the visitor who, stop- festival. ping by the home of the great Chassidic master Rabbi DovBer of Mezheritch (d. 1772), was outraged by The halachic (Torah law) definition of the sukkah the poverty he encountered there. Rabbi DovBer’s is that it is a dirat ar’ai, a “temporary dwelling”. If home was bare of all furnishing, save for an assort- the words “temporary” and “dwelling” sound con- ment of rough wooden planks and blocks that served tradictory, they are; indeed, they give rise to contra- as benches for his students during the day and as dictory laws regarding the construction and habita- beds for his family at night. “How can you live like tion of the sukkah. For example, if the branches of this?” demanded the visitor. “I myself am far from the sukkah’s roof-covering are piled on so thick that wealthy, but at least in my home you will find, thank the rain cannot penetrate, the sukkah is disqualified G-d, the basic necessities: some chairs, a table, Comment | Living | Seasons of the Soul | Story | Parshah | Week at Glance 53 2 www.Chabad.org Comment The Temporary Dwelling beds...” “Indeed?” said Rabbi DovBer. “But I don’t see any of your furnishings. How do you manage with- out them?” “What do you mean? Do you think that I schlep all my possessions along with me wherever I go? When I travel, I make do with what’s available. But at home — a person’s home is a different matter alto- gether!” “Ah, yes,” said Rabbi DovBer. “At home, it is a different matter altogether...” Based on the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, www.therebbe.org; adapted by Yanki Tauber, [email protected] About the artist: Sarah Kranz, [email protected] has been illustrating magazines, webzines and books (includ- ing five children’s books) since graduating from the Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, in 1996. Her clients have includ- ed The New York Times and Money Marketing Magazine of London The content on this page is produced by Chabad.org, and is copy- righted by the author, publisher and/or Chabad.org. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with our copyright policy Comment | Living | Seasons of the Soul | Story | Parshah | Week at Glance 53 3 www.Chabad.org Living unstuck by switching it on and off dozens of times. By the time his mission came to an end, Galileo sent Galileo’s Trajectory us 14,000 pictures (many of them the breathtaking by Bella Schapiro photos that have redefined our vision of outer space), uncovered incredible phenomena on Jupiter’s four major moons, witnessed a comet crash, and discov- ered the first known asteroid with its own moon — “priceless information,” in the words of one scientist, Three weeks ago they held a funeral for Galileo. “the kind that forwards our knowledge.” Well, not exactly a funeral; it was more of a farewell Now, I am no Galileo, but somehow it’s comfort- celebration, a tribute by the hundreds of people who ing to think of the little guy zooming blindly around had spent years working with him. There was sad- our solar system at 8,000 miles an hour, mostly in ness there, but also gratefulness, for all that Galileo directions that seem to be opposite of his intended had accomplished. As Dr. Claudia Alexander, a destination, being zapped by radiation and knowing close associate, expressed it, Galileo was “worth his just when to protect itself and shut down all his sys- weight in gold.” tems — and actually getting some useful things Such attention and nostalgia might lead us to done. think that Galileo was one of those perfectly And the scientists are no G-d, but it’s comforting behaved creatures, unerringly following the pre- to think about a bunch of guys giving a not-so-gentle scribed program. Well actually, no. In fact, Galileo nudge to swing a spacecraft into a higher orbit, repro- was uncooperative from the very start, and it was gramming systems from millions of miles away in kind of downhill from there.
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