Rabbi Howard Morrison

Sukkot is the paradigm of Jewish unity. Consider the following:

The four species represent the totality of the Jewish people. The Etrog, with taste and smell, represents the Jew who is learned and performs good deeds. The Lulav, with taste but no smell, represents the Jew who is learned but does not perform good deeds. The Hadas (myrtle) with smell but no taste, represents the Jew who performs good deeds but is not learned. The Aravah (willow), with neither taste nor smell, represents the Jew who is neither learned nor performs good deeds.

The Sukkah - Ideally every Jew should be able to fit into one Sukkah. The Torah exclaims - "Kol Ezrach B'Yisrael Yaishvu B'Sukkot - Every citizen of Israel shall dwell in Sukkot." Since the spelling of Sukkot has the last vav spelled in diminutive form, the Sages suggest that the word Sukkot in this particular verse could refer to a single Sukkah. That must be one large Sukkah for all Jews to fit inside.

Hakhel - According to the Torah, and actualized in ancient times, every seven years the recitation of the Torah would be completed at the end of Sukkot. All of Israel - men, women, and children would gather together to hear this public Torah reading.

In modern Jewish life, it seems impossible for all Jews to gather for the experience of formal public prayer. In the spirit of decency, tolerance, and pluralism, there are models of Jewish religious diversity - from different kinds of Orthodoxy, Conservatism, Reform, Reconstructionism, and independent models of prayer based on different conceptions of Jewish law and contemporary demands. Thus, different kinds of synagogues pervade large and small communities. I personally pray that all of them should succeed. We need our Beth Emeth, Adath Israel, Temple Sinai, Holy Blossom, Darchei Noam, the Bayt, Chabad, Aish HaTorah, and other diverse models to succeed.

When I attended Boston University as a student in the late 1970's, every Friday night and Yom Tov, there would be separate Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox services in different rooms in the shared Hillel house, after which time, everyone gathered together for a sumptuous Kiddush dinner. Right now, at Rutgers University in New Jersey, hundreds of Jews participate, and three full time rabbis serve their needs, representing Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox.

This kind of tolerant pluralistic behavior is understood in much of North America, but not as much in Israel. Consider that the notion of two diverse religious areas at the Kotel in Jerusalem is still an ongoing challenge. While the Southern part of the Kotel called Robinson's Arch was designated years ago as a pluralistic, non-Orthodox, and egalitarian setting by the government, there seems to be a skirmish anytime a service takes place there, even though the main and more familiar Kotel area is known for having a Mechitza separating men from women during prayer.

Now, consider Tel Aviv, where much of the Israeli population is identified as Chiloni, or, secular. Since 2017, an opening Kol Nidrei service and a closing Neila service have been offered on Dizengoff street, the largest open area in the city. Until this year, amidst internal debate, a very loosely defined Mechitza has governed the prayer space. This year, amidst more controversy, the Mechitza was deemed as being unnecessary. On the one hand, Mechitza or not, this gathering brought large numbers of secular Israelis into the religious sphere of Yom Kippur . This year, however, the services held on the holiest day of the year were marred by terrible infighting and verbal slurs. What was intended as unity building resulted in more division between Jews, with one side blaming the other, from people on the street, to those in high government positions.

At first, I was tempted not to make this a sermon topic. I do not see a short- or long-term corrective to the problem. One aspect of society is looking for more religious pluralism such as we take for granted in the U.S. and Canada. However, another aspect of society is looking for more dictatorial religious fundamentalism.

While a solution may not be in the making, the teachings of Sukkot continue to remind us of an ideal and a time when all Jews unconditionally were bound one to the other;  when all Jews would gather together to hear the recitation of Torah; and when all Jews could proverbially gather in one Sukkah.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.