Page 19 - HaMizrachi # 23 Sukkot Simchat Torah 2020 USA

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel

Our Sukkot Lesson

from Ya’akov Avinu

a’akov Avinu’s greatness lay in the Am Yisrael has been through its fair world outside and the winds of that
fact that he managed to maintain share of ups and downs. Yet whenever world blow strongly in all corners of our
Yhis spiritual stability even in the we were in trouble, wherever we were, homes and communities.
midst of constant life crises. His brother our eternal values remained firm and
was out to kill him, he fled to the wily unshaken. This remarkable ability – to So much so that the Jewish home is no
Lavan and despite his uncle’s trickery be stable while everything around you longer as stable as it once was. Its foun-
and deceit, Ya’akov still remained faith- is unstable – is the hidden power of dations are wobbling and for many, it is
ful to the mitzvot and upright and pure Ya’akov Avinu. And indeed, in this sense, no longer a safe fortress. Nevertheless,
in his ways. he has never died. As we continue to live if the home is still identified as a Jewish
our lives based on Jewish principles and one, it is likely to remain that way for-
Even Ya’akov’s two names say something values, he lives on too. ever, whatever the challenges. In such a
of his mental strength in the face of his home, the spirit of the individuals, the
difficult life. בקעי is related to בקע, heel – “Esav returned along the way to Seir on family, and the nation must be rein-
the curved area at the base of the leg. בקע that day. Ya’akov went to Sukkot” (Bere- forced, nurtured and developed.
ishit 33). The Zohar expounds upon the
can also mean a cause of. Ya’akov’s other juxtaposition of these two journeys, lik-
name, לארשי, contains the Hebrew word ening them to the relationship between Our nation possesses such inner
רשי, straight. Despite his many struggles Yom Kippur, when the scapegoat is sent strength to combat and overcome life’s
with forces more numerous or power- to Azazel, and the Jewish people moving challenges because we inherited this
ful than he, Ya’akov’s integrity, sense into their sukkot. After Ya’akov, the ide- trait from Ya’akov Avinu. He taught
of right, and loyalty to G-d remained alist, freed himself from the influence us that we can overcome temptations,
intact. of Esav, the materialist, he was able to avoid danger and stay strong, whatever
relax in the shade of truth and faith in the circumstances.
Israel, the aspiration to uprightness, his sukkah. The sukkah is the antithesis
purity, and truth – is the ideal name. of aggressiveness, dominance and evil. Am Yisrael, the ideal people, has the
Ya’akov, the necessity to face evil and Its physicality is purely functional – a power to filter things and to absorb
cruel reality in our world – is the actual vessel for holding Jewish law, faith and only the good, the true and the beauti-
name. The tension between the real deep spiritual joy. ful, while discarding falsity, ugliness and
and the ideal accompanies Am Yisrael’s evil. Even if our sukkah appears to be
long and complicated history, yet we are Sukkot actually contains a double mes- unstable on the outside, there is nothing
known by our ideal name. sage. On the one hand, our temporary, more stable than the spirit within.
often flimsy sukkah symbolizes tran-
This teaches us that despite everything sience and impermanence – the exile.
we have been through – the persecu- Yet it is also a holy sanctuary within the
tions, the pogroms and the murders, ups and downs of regular life, a little
the battle for good and truth has not Israel among the other nations.
been lost. On the contrary. Our core
values became stronger and more There is no contradiction between the
prominent. The wandering Jew, even two. Even in exile, in unimaginable con-
when walking through the valley of the ditions, we continued to develop our
culture and strengthen our spirit.
shadow of death, did not fear the evil
forces attempting to forcibly convert and This double message carries far-reach- Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel was the Chief Rabbi of
confuse him. The more they tortured us, ing implications. In our times, mass Ramat Gan, Israel, and one of the leading
the more we grew. media has exposed our homes to the rabbis of the Religious Zionist movement.

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