Making Sense of the Sedra: Chol Ha’moed Succot

Usually in life we celebrate the achievement, the graduation, the election win, the paying of the mortgage. It’s rare to celebrate while in the middle of a degree, while on the campaign trail, or while making the monthly repayments. Yet Sukkot is just that: a celebration of the journey.

On Shabbat Chol Ha’moed Succot, we will read from two Sefer Torahs. In the first Sefer Torah we will read from Exodus chapter 33. It’s a really interesting place to start a story. We meet Moses just after he has witnessed the Children of Israel sinning with the Golden Calf. He has smashed the first set of tablets, the wrongdoers have been punished and Moses has interceded with God on behalf of the people. We enter the story as Moses is climbing up Mount Sinai again to plead the case for the Children of Israel. Moses asks God to re-affirm that he remains close to the people, that this latest episode has not caused Him to finally walk away. Moses asks God the unthinkable: that God show his face to Moses. God responds: “You will see My back but My face may not be seen.” In Rabbi Sacks’ words, this is “a metaphorical way of saying that only in retrospect do we see the presence of God. We live life forward but understand it only backwards”.

We then read of Moses inscribing the second set of tablets and we read of the three main holidays and of the injunction of mixing meat and milk.

One may think it strange to go from raging anger to setting up a schedule to dietary laws, but if we understand Sukkot for what it is – the celebration of the journey – this all makes sense.

While Pesach celebrates our leaving Egypt, and Shavuot celebrates the receiving of the Torah, Succot does not celebrate us entering the Promised Land. In fact, we don’t have a biblical holiday that does celebrate that. Rather, Sukkot celebrates our journey in the desert. Is a journey worth celebrating? This one was. We were out in the desert for 40 years, and during that time, though we did a fair bit of complaining, by and large we were protected during the day by clouds and at night by pillars of fire. Food was literally manna from heaven. And all we had to do was have faith. Faith that, step after step, we would be looked after and protected. When we sit out in our succahs in 2022, in rain or shine, with curious neighbours or disgruntled ones, we are celebrating that we are still on the journey. Had we celebrated the end of the journey, then perhaps we would have expected perfection, but we are not there yet. For now, the journey continues, but as we are told in the Torah it is a joy-filled journey – Sukkot is known as Zman Simchateinu – the season of our happiness. Because a good journey is a joyful thing.