Sukkot is for Mitzvot!

Dear Kol Ami community,

Sukkot begins Friday evening, September 25. After the intensity of the High Holidays, our tradition sends us outside. We build a shelter with branches for a roof. We gather around a table, share food, look up at the sky, and call this season z’man simchateinu, the season of our joy.

I have been thinking about an old Hasidic story. Reb Uri saved all year to buy a beautiful etrog for Sukkot. On his way to the market, he met a wagon driver whose horse had died. Without that horse, the driver could not earn a living or feed his family. Reb Uri gave him the money he had saved and bought a plain etrog with what remained.

Later, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk smelled the fragrance of the Garden of Eden coming from Reb Uri’s etrog. Reb Uri had performed a mitzvah by saving another family’s livelihood. In the mystical telling of the story, that fragrance came from Gan Eden, where his righteous soul was destined.

I love a beautiful sukkah and a beautiful holiday meal. I also love this reminder that the joy of Sukkot grows when we make room for someone else.

A sukkah cannot keep out every gust of wind. Its roof lets in the light and sometimes the rain. We sit there knowing that life is fragile, and we rejoice together anyway. Joy does not require us to feel cheerful every minute. Some of us are coming into this holiday tired, worried, grieving, or carrying a great deal. We can bring all of that with us. There is room at the table.

This week, we get to make Jewish life together here. And we can share that joy with our neighbors.

Please bring food for our Faith & Blue food drive when you come to Kol Ami on Friday or Saturday over either of the next two weekends: September 25–26 or October 2–3. Faith & Blue brings faith communities, residents, and local law enforcement together through conversation and service. We will gather donations for Hopelink, which helps people in our area get the food they need.

Hopelink’s food-drive list especially asks for canned tuna or chicken, healthy cereal or oats, rice and pasta, soup and broth, shelf-stable non-dairy milk, flour, and cooking oil. Please bring unopened, unexpired food in good condition. One item is welcome. Our Sukkot tables can be full, and we can help fill someone else’s shelves, too.

Please join us for our Sukkot Shabbat potluck on Friday, September 25. Bring something to share if you can, and come if you cannot. On Saturday, September 26, our children and families begin a new year of learning, and we’ll gather for Pizza in the Hut. Please RSVP so we know how much pizza to order. We’ll celebrate together again on Friday, October 2, with Shabbat, dinner, and music.

If you have never sat in our sukkah before, please come. If you have been away for a while, please come back. Bring your children, a friend, or simply yourself. You belong with us.

Chag sameach,

Rabbi Yo