 | On this far end of Yom Kippur, we remember in our bones that all life goes the way of all life. It is true that all life ultimately dies, and equally true that all that dies once lived. We also know that in very real ways, all that died lives on in us, through us, in the air we breathe, in the values we uphold. We who dared to touch death on Yom Kippur rise into new life and new joy as we near Sukkot (Season of our Joy). And then the cycle begins again – exactly as before, and utterly changed. |
By Rabbi David Evan Markus
Parashat Ha'azinu 5786 (2025)
My backyard grape vine is showing its age – more precisely, the age of this growing season. By this time next month, there will be little greenery left. In college I learned to call it "stick season," the in-between brown period after autumn brilliance but before first winter snows brighten the landscape.
But now, before "stick season," we approach the joy of Sukkot and the dazzle of autumn's peak color.
We who lived through decades of autumns know that fall yields to winter, which incubates a new spring. Year after year, we've seen old life incubate new. What we know on a seasonal level, however, we're prone to forget on an existential one.
But in every life there are times when we really get it. We feel a sense of peace, contentment and even joy.
Sukkot offers all that and more. The sukkah of impermanence – no fixed walls, no firm roof – reminds us that all things are temporary, so we should celebrate our harvests. The primordial autumn harvest that became Sukkot stands for the unbridled joy of whatever abundance we may have, the joy of being alive together, knowing that another time will come.
In a sense, we move from vine to vanity. A kind of vanity imagines (vainly) that we can wait until tomorrow, as if it'll all be there at some inchoate "later." Not so. Celebrate now. Love now. Dare now. Be real now. Do now.
These truths are the core of Moses' "swan song" in this week's Torah portion starting at Deut. 32:1, full of allegory to the agricultural harvest as a metaphor for the harvest of our lives.
Then maybe we imagine (vainly) that if we're all destined to go the way of all life anyway, then there's no point and nothing matters. So begins Ecclesiastes, the traditional reading of Sukkot: "Vanity! All is Vanity!" Believing that nothing matters, the author (by tradition, King Solomon) tries hedonism, materialism, nihilism – all for naught – only to discover an infinitely potent Now, this moment, this breath, that holds a timeless spark of awe and joy (Eccl. 12:6-8, 13):
Parashat Ha'azinu 5786 (2025)
My backyard grape vine is showing its age – more precisely, the age of this growing season. By this time next month, there will be little greenery left. In college I learned to call it "stick season," the in-between brown period after autumn brilliance but before first winter snows brighten the landscape.
But now, before "stick season," we approach the joy of Sukkot and the dazzle of autumn's peak color.
We who lived through decades of autumns know that fall yields to winter, which incubates a new spring. Year after year, we've seen old life incubate new. What we know on a seasonal level, however, we're prone to forget on an existential one.
But in every life there are times when we really get it. We feel a sense of peace, contentment and even joy.
Sukkot offers all that and more. The sukkah of impermanence – no fixed walls, no firm roof – reminds us that all things are temporary, so we should celebrate our harvests. The primordial autumn harvest that became Sukkot stands for the unbridled joy of whatever abundance we may have, the joy of being alive together, knowing that another time will come.
In a sense, we move from vine to vanity. A kind of vanity imagines (vainly) that we can wait until tomorrow, as if it'll all be there at some inchoate "later." Not so. Celebrate now. Love now. Dare now. Be real now. Do now.
These truths are the core of Moses' "swan song" in this week's Torah portion starting at Deut. 32:1, full of allegory to the agricultural harvest as a metaphor for the harvest of our lives.
Then maybe we imagine (vainly) that if we're all destined to go the way of all life anyway, then there's no point and nothing matters. So begins Ecclesiastes, the traditional reading of Sukkot: "Vanity! All is Vanity!" Believing that nothing matters, the author (by tradition, King Solomon) tries hedonism, materialism, nihilism – all for naught – only to discover an infinitely potent Now, this moment, this breath, that holds a timeless spark of awe and joy (Eccl. 12:6-8, 13):
| עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־יֵרָתֵק֙ חֶ֣בֶל הַכֶּ֔סֶף וְתָר֖וּץ גֻּלַּ֣ת הַזָּהָ֑ב וְתִשָּׁ֤בֶר כַּד֙ עַל־הַמַּבּ֔וּעַ וְנָרֹ֥ץ הַגַּלְגַּ֖ל אֶל־הַבּֽוֹר׃ וְיָשֹׁ֧ב הֶעָפָ֛ר עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּשֶׁהָיָ֑ה וְהָר֣וּחַ תָּשׁ֔וּב אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר נְתָנָֽהּ׃ הֲבֵ֧ל הֲבָלִ֛ים אָמַ֥ר הַקּוֹהֶ֖לֶת הַכֹּ֥ל הָֽבֶל׃ ... ס֥וֹף דָּבָ֖ר הַכֹּ֣ל נִשְׁמָ֑ע אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִ֤ים יְרָא֙ וְאֶת־מִצְוֹתָ֣יו שְׁמ֔וֹר כִּי־זֶ֖ה כָּל־הָאָדָֽם׃ | Before the silver cord snaps and the golden bowl crashes, the jar is shattered at the spring and the jug is smashed at the cistern, the dust returns to the ground as it was, and the life breath returns to God who bestowed it – [until then each thing] is vanity, like breath.... The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Have awe of God, and keep God's mitzvot. For this is for all humanity. |
Thus we return from vanity back to joy – from vanity to vine – and we lift a cup of joy together. Moses' final teaching is our gate into the autumn harvest, community and celebration. Dare we reach for awe and joy for the sheer thrill of being alive and able to celebrate life together?
From my heart to yours, I send blessings for a hag sukkot sameah (Happy Sukkot), z'man simhateinu (season of our joy).
Erev Sukkot 5786 begins sundown Monday, October 6. As a community, we'll celebrate together during the Shabbat of Sukkot, October 10, and again in my sukkah starting 1:00pm Sunday, October 12 (rain date Monday, October 13).
From my heart to yours, I send blessings for a hag sukkot sameah (Happy Sukkot), z'man simhateinu (season of our joy).
Erev Sukkot 5786 begins sundown Monday, October 6. As a community, we'll celebrate together during the Shabbat of Sukkot, October 10, and again in my sukkah starting 1:00pm Sunday, October 12 (rain date Monday, October 13).
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