Thought of the Week: 25 September 2015

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 25 September 2015

When you were a child did you enjoy making dens out of bits of wood, blankets, ferns? I did – one of my favourite things to do when I was young was to go to our local woods in Northwood where I grew up and draft my younger sisters and brother into forced construction labour as we would use whatever sticks and branches we could find to make ourselves a shelter to play in. We used to do this in our back garden to – with a combination of bamboo sticks, our climbing frame, bits of plastic and blankets.

There is something very special about a temporary shelter that you have made using your own hands. It brings a feeling of peace and protection in an uncertain world. In every evening service we pray for God to join us in creating this. We ask fros aleynu sukkat sh’lomecha, that God will spread over us the shelter of God’s peace. In our world we know that this peace may be only temporary but it is always worth aspiring to.

Judaism included the building of temporary shelters both into the cycle of the year and into the cycle of Jewish life. The Chuppah is of course the temporary shelter which gives a sense of peace and protection to a couple marrying and their nearest and dearest. Together they are brought out of a large gathering and given a space on their own which is private and protecting for a time of transformation.

The Sukkah is built every year as our temporary shelter for this festival which begins on Sunday night and will then continue until Simchat Torah next Sunday night. Our services on Sunday night and Monday morning will recognise and appreciate the bounty of the world which makes life possible, then we will spend time right amongst this bounty in our Sukkah.

Just before Yom Kippur, when the whole Alyth community builds yet another temporary shelter in our tent for the High Holidays, a group of volunteers built the framework for our Sukkah. On this Sunday morning, 27th September, everyone in our community is invited to bring greenery, fruit and flowers to make it beautiful and then throughout the week it will be there to eat meals in, celebrate our Kiddushim and even sleep in for our Sukkot Sleepout.

Of course many families in our community will also build their own Sukkahs at home and enjoy using them throughout the week. If I am ever asked if a Jewish family should have a Christmas Tree my answer is to strongly recommend that they build the much more exciting and useful Jewish alternative – a Sukkah! What a great way to channel our natural wish to create a place of peace and protection. Click this link for a “how to” build a rather impressive Sukkah http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-to-build-a-sukkah/ . Our home Sukkah has been made out of a bench, lots of bamboo stick and some trellis and it works just as well – it enables me to bring out my inner den builder still there from my childhood!

We get to build a temporary shelter by choice. In this year when millions are living in refugee camps and shanty towns in temporary shelters by compulsion let us enjoy our shelters of peace and let the experience of living within them inspire us to help those who need to find a permanent home.