The Shaky Sukkah

“Looking at it isn’t going to change anything, David.”  

“But the pole is so crooked.”  

“Thank you, Adrian Monk. The napkins aren’t exactly aligned in perfect order. Would you like to do the honors?”  

“It makes for a shaky sukkah.”  

“Yes. I tied this pole to the balcony wall so the wind wouldn’t blow the entire sukkah over. One crooked pole versus the entire sukkah tilting back and forth is what I call a manageable risk.”  

“Yeah, but . . . “  

“David, you have a plate of schnitzel, grilled veggies, and Jerusalem kugel right in front of you. If the next noise out of your mouth isn’t chewing, a crooked pole will be the least of your problems.”  

“B’tai avon, sweetie.” 

What Shakes – the World or the Sukkah? 

At any moment, that pole can lean too far and the sukkah will shake for the last time. It’s not like the four walls of my room, which are sturdy. The roof has some holes in it. If it begins to rain, everything gets wet.   

Baruch Hashem. That’s the entire point of Sukkot.   

Hashem is teaching us that for the next seven days, we are living in a temporary space. If you are living in a place for just seven days, you don’t need to make major repairs. You aren’t worried about light structural damage or putting up chandeliers.   

He is reminding us that life is a temporary dwelling. We are in this world for a limited period of time. No matter how sturdy the walls of my room are or how fancy the light fixtures look – I will be vacating the premises one day.   

If you knew life was temporary, and that a lot of what you can accumulate or become you can’t take with you, what would you do?  

We would focus on those things we can take with us. We would look at that pole and understand that one day it will inevitably collapse, taking everything down with it.   

We would realize that for the limited time we have, it’s up to us to get busy acquiring and accumulating everything that lasts forever and beyond.  

The Great Sukkot Shopping Spree 

If your uncle gave you his unlimited credit card and told you to go to Macy’s for the day, it would be a blast. If the salesperson told you that this suit only lasted a week, and this desk wore out after a year, would you buy it?  

Of course not.   

If they told you that the jewelry had a shelf life of 10,000 years and was virtually priceless, would you go for it?  

That’s the lesson.   

If we have a very limited time to grab anything we wanted, for sure we would take what lasts the longest.   

A house? Stocks? Money? That lasts only the duration of your life. When your time is up, all of that stays and is distributed to other people.   

Fame? Status? Power? That goes also. Outside of the great Sages of all time, very few people see their fame rise after their passing. Besides – there is nothing they can do with it. Like the money, it’s use is distributed to other people.   

When you realize that this world is a big Shaky Sukkah and your life is that crooked pole, you focus on what Hashem lets you keep once the inevitable happens.    

God lets you keep your prayers, at least the sincere and focused ones.  

God lets you keep your mitzvot. 

God lets you keep your charity.  

God lets you keep your acts of kindness.  

God lets you keep every time you worked on your character traits and improved, even if just a little.   

These are what you can take into your home once your temporary Sukkah is back in storage. This is the wealth of this world: Everything whose true value is revealed after we arrive in the Next World.   

*** 

David Ben Horin lives in Afula with his family, a high-tech center, millions of sunflowers, and Matilda, the local camel. David’s Israeli startup, Center Stage Content, makes your business the star of the show by creating SEO optimized, ROI driven, easy to understand content.