|
Sukkot September 25, 2026
Dear Friends, Tomorrow, among the beatiful singing of Hallel and the Shabbat/holiday service, we will also read selections from the Book of Ecclesiastes, one of the Bible’s most evocative reflections on time, change, and the rhythms of life. Some of its words may be especially familiar: “To everything there is a season,” words that became famous generations later through Pete Seeger’s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and the Byrds’ recording. The whole holiday of Sukkot asks us to step back from our normal routines, to zoom out and to zoom in. We zoom out by contemplating existence itself: the endlessness and the toil, the cycles that repeat themselves, the feeling that perhaps there is “nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes invites us to look at our lives from a great distance and to ask what, ultimately, changes and what remains the same. And then Sukkot asks us to zoom in. We leave the walls of our homes and spend time in closer relationship with the natural world. We notice the changing season, the light, the leaves, the weather, the temporary structure around us. We become more attentive to the rhythms of the earth and to our own place within them. Perhaps this is part of the wisdom of Sukkot: to hold both perspectives at once. To step back far enough to see the sweep of our lives, and close enough to notice the particular beauty of this moment.Looking forward to seeing you soon! Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Dahlia Bernstein
|