Chol HaMo-eid Sukkot

by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Sukkot is about the resilience of the human spirit

First came the tsunami in the South Pacific, then, less than 24 hours later, the earthquake in Sumatra,claiming hundreds of victims. The scenes have been devastating, of shattered buildings and broken lives. And our thoughts and prayers must be with the people of Samoa and Tonga and Padang as they struggle to come to terms with tragedy and loss.

This latest series of natural disasters has reminded us yet again of how small we are in the face of the elemental forces of nature. All our illusions of security can be shattered in a moment by the shifting of the earth’s tectonic plates, and people can find themselves vulnerable and homeless.

And in a strange way that is the message of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, tabernacles, that begins tonight. For the next week we’ll be leaving the security of our homes to live in huts in memory of the forty year journey of the Israelites in the days of Moses, through the Sinai desert on their way to the promised land.

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Haazinu

Deuteronomy 32:1–52

Remember Your Rock, Your Creator

Moshe poetically reminds the Children of Israel of the importance of remembering God who created them.

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer, provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com

The panoramic poetry of Ha’azinu embraces all of the Jewish past, present and future. Israel is warned that sin will be punished through the scourge of the other nations, but that Hashem will never completely abandon His Chosen People. Rather than referring to specific incidents, the poem’s use of the imperfect tense alludes to repeated events, thus making it supra-historic–beyond the limits of history.

The multiple layers of meaning in Ha’azinu invite a variety of interpretations. The following is one such example (Deuteronomy 32:18):

tzur y’lad’cha teshi, vatishkach e-l m’chol’lecha

Although the second part of the verse is the subject of some discussion by the commentaries, a straightforward translation is possible:

. . . and you forgot G-d Who produced you.

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Shabbat Shuva Vayelech

Deuteronomy 31:1–30

Moses’s Approach Towards Death

Several commentaries interpret Moses's going to the people before his death.

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer, provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com

Moses teaches Israel about the centrality of repentance (Ch. 30), and then he prepares for his final message to his people:

(1) And Moses went (vayelekh) and he spoke these words to all of Israel. (2) And he said to them, "One hundred twenty years old am I today; I am not able (lo ukhal) any longer to go out and to come in, and Hashem has said to me, ‘You will not cross this Jordan.’ (3) Hashem your G-d, He is the One Who passes before you; He will destroy these nations before you and you will possess them; Joshua, he is the one who passes before you, as Hashem has spoken. (4) And Hashem will do to them as He did to Sichon and to Og, the kings of the Emorites, and to their land, which He destroyed. (5) And Hashem gave them before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment that I commanded you. (6) Be strong and courageous; do not fear nor panic before them, because Hashem, your G-d, He is the One Who goes with you; He will not fail you nor forsake you."

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Nitzavim

Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20

Punishments, Land, And People

Even during their long exile from the land of Israel, the Jewish people will retain their covenant with God, despite the punishments God exacts against the land.

By Rabbi Avraham Fischer provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com

Moses spoke with frightening detail regarding the destruction that will befall the people of Israel if they are disloyal to Hashem. Siege, famine, poverty, war, exile, desolation–all these are part of the covenant between the people and Hashem.

Then, Moses provides us with a glimpse of the future, after the destruction:

(21) And it will say–the later generation, your children who will arise after you, and the stranger who will come from a distant land–and they will see the plagues of that land and its afflictions with which Hashem afflicted it: (22) "Sulfur and salt, the entire land burnt, not to be sown, nor to sprout, nor for any vegetation to come up on it–like the overthrow of Sodom, Amorah, Admah and Tzevoyim which Hashem overthrew in His anger and His wrath." (23) And all the nations will say: "For what did Hashem do so to this land? What is the heat of this great anger?" (24) And they will say: "Because they forsook the covenant of Hashem, the G-d of their fathers, which He made with them when He took them out of the land of Egypt, (25) and they went and served other gods and prostrated themselves to them–gods that they had not known, and which had not benefited them. (26) And the wrath of Hashem burned against that land, bringing upon it all the curse that is written in this Book. (27) And Hashem uprooted them from their soil, with anger, with wrath and with great fury, and He cast them away to another land, as at this day." (28) The hidden matters are for Hashem, our G-d, but the revealed matters are for us and for our children forever, to fulfill all the words of this Torah (Deuteronomy 29).

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Ki Tavo

Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8

Twice Warned

The two extended warnings for breaking the covenant reflect the changing relationship between the people of Israel and God as well as the two different exiles.

By Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, provided by the Orthodox Union, the central coordinating agency for North American Orthodox Congregations for MyJewishLearning.com
The Tokhackah, G-d’s stern warning to the Jewish people of what will befall them should they stray from His commands, appears twice in the Torah, first in Parashat B’hukotai and again in this week’s parashah. This follows the ruling of the prophet Ezra, "that they read the curses in Torat Kohanim (Leviticus) before Atzeret (Shavuot) and the ones in Mishneh Torah (Deuteronomy) before Rosh Hashanah."

The link between the Tokhakhah and Shavuot–the anniversary of our acceptance of the Torah–is readily understandable. But what accounts for the connection between this week’s Tokhakhah and the start of the New Year?

The new year includes Yom Kippur, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, Z"tl (may his memory be a blessing) notes, which is also Zeman Matan Torateinu (the time of the giving of the Torah)–it is the date on which Moses brought down the second lukhot (tablets) from Sinai.

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