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The Fragility of Life:

Israel, Sukkot and the Yom Kippur War

Rabbi Doron Perez

erhaps the greatest inescapable case of the sukkah it is exactly the opposite.
truth of life is just how fragile The sechach must be made from species of
and unpredictable it is. This plants that were severed from the ground
Pvulnerability is present at every – hardly maximal protection. While the
twist and turn. walls of the sukkah can be solid and stable
No one believed that Israel could fall from like a building, the roof can only offer min-
the heights of the breathtaking victory imal protection. Although the meaning of
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of the Six-Day War to the horrific valley the root word ך ָכ ְס is “cover” or “shield,” it
of tears in the Yom Kippur War. Only six offers only the most basic protection.
short years after the daring miracles of If this is true regarding the sukkah, it is (PHOTO: IDF & DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT ARCHIVES)
the skies of arguably the greatest air force equally true regarding the four species. Whether it represents the desert huts or
victory in history, Israel came within an All are plant species that, like the sechach, the miraculous clouds of glory, the sukkah
inch of its destruction. The Israeli military must be severed from their source, which is an eternal symbol of the miraculous
stunned the enemy and the entire world means each will eventually run out of
in a preemptive surprise attack of biblical water, wither and wilt away. In fact, the divine protection and providence that
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proportions in the Six-Day War and yet arava (willow), the centerpiece of Hosha- accompanied the Jewish people on their
somehow were themselves totally stunned nah Rabbah, is the most vulnerable of all, arduous 40-year journey to the promised
by a surprise attack from the very same and wilts and dies the quickest. All species Land. Had this miracle not transpired,
nations so soon thereafter. Only 25 years are fully dependent on the unpredictable the people would have died in the desert
after Israel’s remarkable founding and rain patterns and weather conditions and and the remarkable miracles of the ten
only six years after its greatest military all reflect the flimsiness of life. plagues, the splitting of the sea and the
victory, the country was on the brink of revelation at Sinai would have amounted
destruction. to naught. The flimsy sukkah represents
The sukkah and Israel – divine providence and protection against
Life can be so frail and fragile. There are providence in action the vulnerability of the external elements,
the thinnest of lines between victory and be they natural or human threats.
defeat, life and death, the permanent and Rambam believes that the greatest miracle
temporary and between triumph and trag- of biblical times was not the Exodus from Similarly, the Land of Israel is an ongo-
edy. Everything that seems so permanent Egypt nor the revelation at Sinai, but the ing testament to Hashem’s divine provi-
can change in an instant. remarkable 40-year sojourn in the desert. 2 dence. This is explicit in the verses of the
During the 40 years in one of the hottest Torah about the uniqueness of the Land
No festival embraces this vulnerability desert regions in the world and distant
of life more than Sukkot. Both the sukkah from all civil life, how could millions of of Israel, in contrast to Egypt. The Torah
itself and the four species, the two mitzvot men, women and children survive without juxtaposes Israel to the land of Egypt – its
of the festival, are an ongoing testament food, water, or protection from merciless water source is guaranteed by the abun-
to this fragility. The sukkah is a transient heat? How were they spared from serpents dant waters of the Nile as opposed to Israel
abode whose whole essence is temporary. which has no great rivers and is depen-
This is evident first and foremost in the and scorpions? dent on rainwater, which varies greatly
main part of the sukkah – the roof known It is this miraculous existence in the from season to season. Israel is eternally
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as the ך ָכ ְס (sechach) from whence the ה ָּ כּוס desert, opines the Ramban, that the festi- dependent on unpredictable weather and
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(sukkah) gets its name. Normally the roof val of Sukkot commemorates. “For it was rainfall patterns and therefore on divine
of a structure is strong, offering maximum in sukkot that I placed you when I brought providence. “It is a land which Hashem
protection from the elements. Yet in the you out of Egypt” (Vayikra 23:43). your G-d looks after, on which Hashem

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