Without Barriers

Tonight we are celebrating Shabbat Sukkot: a sukkah of peace and a sukkah of plenty. As Sukkot is the third of three pilgrimage holidays specified in the Torah, we have an opportunity to encounter the Eternal presence in gratitude a third time. At Pesach we thank God for our existence as a people, for our freedom, and for our liberation. On Shavuot we thank God for giving us the Torah and teaching us how we should live; and on Sukkot we thank God for sustaining us with the plentiful food the earth provides. But on Sukkot there is an important difference. We come to Sukkot after soul searching and repentance. We return to God in a more purified state: cleaner, lighter, and for a brief time, unburdened by our sins. The S’fat Emet distinguishes between two types of teshuvah or return: the first type is the forgiveness of our sins. The second type is a return with the intention to draw closer to God: to remove the barriers between us and God.
Rabbi Arthur Green points out that the Baal Shem Tov taught this too: that the problem with sin is that it is a hindrance. It comes between us and God, preventing us from doing the good that brings us close to holiness. It is a barrier of our own making: perhaps a barrier of guilt, a barrier of anger, a barrier of depression, or a barrier of disappointment that prevents us from serving God in joy. But at Sukkot, all barriers have been removed. The Torah reading on Shabbat Sukkot is the one that describes the attributes of God’s personality. The Eternal God, compassionate and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. These are the attributes in our own human personalities that help us to break down our barriers; that help us to keep ourselves from putting up walls in our souls. Dwelling in the sukkah after our repentance, we can come closer to feeling the quiet contentment of our spiritual center. The S’fat Emet tells us that in doing the work of self purification during the days of Awe, we have made ourselves fit vessels to receive the Divine blessings. When we dwell in the sukkah during Sukkot, in the open air, we can just be, as we are meant to just be on Shabbat; and have the opportunity to feel at one with ourselves and with all creation. Our sins have fallen away and with them, the pretenses that keep us away from aligning ourselves with goodness and peace. Sukkot is a precious time: a time to dwell closer to God simply out of our intention to do so; to dwell closer to our source, closer to what is real and valuable in human life. On this Sukkot may we experience the sukkah of peace and the sukkah of plenty: the peace that comes from joyous service to our own divinity and the divinity of others, and the plenty which is the flow of God’s blessing to each one of us.