by Maayan Lev

As a child, Sukkot was a very big holiday in my family. In fact, it may have been the biggest holiday of the year for us. This is because we had dinner in the sukkah together every night, usually inviting a different family to join us each night. This custom of inviting guests, or ushpizin, to your sukkah, is attributed in the Zohar to Rav Hamnuna Saba, who would enter his sukkah and invite guests to join him.

We had plenty of room in the sukkah because my grandfather (with my father’s assistance) always came over to our backyard, and spent multiple days building it out of wood, as big as we needed it to be. Seeing my grandfather build that sukkah every year is actually my strongest Sukkot memory. 

Certainly not my grandfather’s sukkah!

When my grandfather eventually passed away (z”l), my father did his best to build our sukkah the way my grandfather did, but it was not a one-person job, and nobody was as skilled a woodworker as my grandfather was. It wasn’t long before we switched to the more common metal pole model for our sukkah. There is nothing wrong with the metal pole model, but after so many years with a large wooden sukkah, it just didn’t feel the same. It was the end of an era. 

It would have been unreasonable for me to think that my grandfather would continue building that sukkah for us for the rest of my life. One great way to sum up the holiday of Sukkot in a nutshell, is “This too shall pass.” 

While Sukkot can sometimes be seen as taking shelter from the storm, it is also about how nothing lasts forever, so we should not become addicted to a life of luxury (which in my case, was a large wooden sukkah). The only true constant in life is change. 

We are often defensive when confronted with change. We put up walls. And on Sukkot, that is exactly what we are asked to do. But after roughly a week, we’re supposed to take down those walls. 

Change isn’t always embraced, nor is it always positive. When change is resisted however, a negative outcome is usually assured. 

On the other hand, if we allow ourselves to be open to change, oftentimes positive things do occur. 

This Sukkot, let us rejoice in our warm memories of the past, and also enjoy living in the moment as best we can. As for any negative thoughts or feelings we are holding onto, let us remember that if we keep an open mind, we can allow these negative thoughts and feelings to pass, and our new openness to life will be accompanied by new joys. 

Chag samei-ach!

Maayan