Rabbi Konigsburg's Blog

Having grown up in Florida, hurricane readiness seems to be in my DNA. If there is tropical weather in the forecast, I will always fill up my car with gas, freeze some Tupperware with water so that I can use it to cool off the items in my fridge in case of power failure, have some shelf stable supplies, among other things. My most powerful memory was from 2015, when the gulf coast was still recovering from hurricane Katrina (August), and the powerful storm Wilma hit South Florida (October). As a kid, hurricanes are exciting as your house transforms into a cave, and you might have to read books and play with your games with flashlights! But as a teenager, a storm meant being out of school so you can help your neighbors put up hurricane shutters and help your parents bring in all the patio furniture so that they don’t become projectiles. I remember standing by my front door bewildered by the shattering glass noises I was hearing from outside. What could it be? We brought in all the glass globes and light bulbs from our outdoor light posts, and the windows were covered by shutters and were intact. Turns out, the noise were shingles falling from our roof! After that realization, it was hard to go to sleep with the relentless wind rattling the shutters and the rain pounding the roof. Hurricanes, even a category 1, are strong, and their power and potential is awfully frightening.

In a way, the holiday of Sukkot exasperates these feelings of the power and immensity of nature. We spend our lives creating our homes and spaces that are as far from nature as possible. We keep the dirt out. We keep the bugs out. We control the climate. We protect from the elements. We even surround ourselves with manufactured things that were carved, crafted, engineered, designed, and cultivated by human hands. In fact, I imagine that if you looked around you right now, you’d be hard pressed to find something “natural” without looking out the window. Even the wood chips that my children bring back from the playground is a byproduct of human work. Thus, when we dwell in sukkot, we remind ourselves that humans aren’t so apart from nature as we think. That even though we might work to bend the world to our human whims – there are still forces that are greater than our planning, and our manufacturing, and our engineering. On Sukkot, we not only reflect on a tree roots ability to rip through the sidewalk, or the carpenter bee who drills holes in our fences, we also are acutely aware of the rain and the rivers that constantly erode and shape the hard stones of Earth, and even the hurricanes that tear down our man-made monuments. Theologically, the exercise reminds us that despite all of our human endeavors, there are higher forces in nature, and above all of them is God alone. What we thought gave us support and protection weren’t enough. Instead, what really makes us strong is our community, our resilience, and our faith.

As we dwell among the elements this Sukkot, perhaps there is an opportunity for us to humble ourselves. Maybe we can recognize that while human innovation and technology has come a long way – the are forces of nature that can overpower us. That while we pray for rain in its season, we can still be aware that we are at the mercy of high storm surges, or flash flooding. Perhaps we can recognize the fragility of human life and our vulnerability, recognizing the elements in our life that our outside of our control. And thus, perhaps we can lift our voices to God as we express our vulnerability when contrasted to the power of nature. 

This past month, we have been overwhelmed as we try to comprehend the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and the intensity of Milton. The reverberations of their impact are still felt as our communities work to support those effected by the storms. But Sukkot teaches us that we still have strength. Not through our walls and shutters, but through our resilience, our open hands, and our faith. It doesn’t take that much to build a sukkah. Just two and half walls and some foliage. Yet what makes a sukkah beautiful are the people who dwell within it. I pray that this Sukkot brings us humility, and inspires us to bring forth the values of our Torah that truly make the world stronger and more secure.

Chag Sameach