Leaves
of Faith
A common technique of the Midrash is to bridge gaps in certain biblical stories by integrating and reworking other biblical stories. Rather than a lack of imagination on the part of Chazal, the purpose is to allude to commonalities in the stories and invite comparison. Recognition of the ‘background’ story to the Midrash therefore contributes to a deeper understanding of the message of the Midrash.
A few
well known examples will suffice to illustrate the general point. The story of Avraham breaking into Terach’s workshop to smash
the idols clearly bases itself on the story of Gidon’s expedition to demolish his father’s
idol. The follow up story where Avraham is cast
into the fiery furnace by Nimrod alludes to the story of Hananiah, Mishael and
Azariah. The latter group shares the same fate as Avraham (also at the hands of
the Babylonian king) in response to a similar ‘crime’. Like Avraham, they emerge
unscathed from the furnace. This is sophisticated commentary on Avraham’s
character which seeks to explain the basis for Avraham’s selection, a matter
the Torah is virtually silent on. Many other examples abound.
I would
like to suggest that a similar phenomenon is at play in the following remarkable Midrash
relating to Sukkot:
מלמד שהחזיר
הקב"ה על כל אומות העולם ולא קבלוה, אומרים לפניו רבש"ע תנה לנו מראש
ונעשנה, א"ל מצוה קלה אני נותן לכם, אם אתם משמרין אותה אתן [לכם שכר]
כישראל, א"ל לכו ועשו סוכה, מיד כל אחד ואחד הולך ועשה לו סוכה, והקב"ה
מוציא חמה מנרתיקה וכל אחד מבעט בסוכתו ויוצא (תנחומא בובר, שופטים ט׳(
…This teaches that the Holy One caused [the light
of Torah to shine] over all the peoples of the world, but they did not accept it. They
say to him: Sovereign of the World, give it to us in advance, and we will carry
it out. He says to them: I am giving you an easy commandment. If you observe
it, I will give [you a reward] like that of Israel. He says to them: Go and
build a sukkah. Immediately each and every one goes and builds a sukkah for
himself. But when the Holy One brings out the sun from its case, each one
tramples down his sukkah and goes away
The aggadic episode is characteristically enigmatic. Why of all Mitzvot is Sukkah
chosen to test the nations of the world? Why is Sukkah described as an ‘easy’ Mitzvah?
Most importantly, how is it a fair test to trap the nations by taking the ‘sun
out its case’ and making it unbearably hot in the Sukkah? (The later Amoraic additions found in the corresponding episode in TB
Avodah Zara 3a, are further aggadic glosses and do little to address
the above questions.[1])
Yonah
and his Sukkah
The background story inspiring this Midrash seems to be the story of Yonah which we read on Yom Kippur at Minchah, just a few days before Sukkot.[2] Yonah’s warning to the inhabitants of Nineveh of impending destruction triggers an immediate response. Every man, woman and child in the city (and even the animals!) don sackcloth and cry out to God. God is apparently impressed by the mass repentance and relents from destroying the city. Meanwhile Yonah builds for himself a Sukkah outside the city whilst he waits to see what happens next. What exactly Yonah anticipates is left unsaid. What is clear, however, is that he is bothered by the fact that God has been so quick to retreat.
Many people read the book of Yonah in a historical context and therefore
see Yonah’s reluctance to engage with Nineveh as stemming from his desire to protect
the Jewish nation. If Nineveh repent whilst the Jews do not, then the Jews are spiritually
exposed to their enemies (the Assyrian empire) and destruction lurks. Yet there
is no mention or hint to this dimension in the text. What Yonah takes issue with
is a theological point and herein lies the message of the story (and the reason
we read it on Yom Kippur):
וַיֵּרַע אֶל־יוֹנָה רָעָה גְדוֹלָה וַיִּחַר לוֹ׃ וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל אֶל־ה’
וַיֹּאמַר אָנָּה ה’ הֲלוֹא־זֶה דְבָרִי עַד־הֱיוֹתִי עַל־אַדְמָתִי עַל־כֵּן
קִדַּמְתִּי לִבְרֹחַ תַּרְשִׁישָׁה כִּי יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אַתָּה אֵל־חַנּוּן
וְרַחוּם אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד וְנִחָם עַל־הָרָעָה׃ (יונה ד:ב)
Yonah is afraid
of the success of his mission as he perceives it to be a corruption of the attribute
of justice. No sooner has he announced the destruction that the whole city is
in sackcloth. The inclusion of the animals in the motions of Teshuvah, alludes
to the superficial and immature nature of the repentance process undertaken by
Nineveh, a point which may well resonate with our own experiences on Yom Kippur.
If God accepts this type of repentance, especially by an essentially evil
nation (and here lies the importance of Nineveh), can he really be called a God
of truth? He therefore stops short of the word Emet when referencing the
13 attributes in the above-mentioned verse. Where is the power of deterrent if repentance
is so simple? Yonah sits outside the city in his Sukkah as he
is waiting to see how long it is till they regress to their old ways.
In the meantime, God has caused a Kikayon to grow over Yonah’s Sukkah to provide him with (additional) shade. However, the next morning a worm is sent which destroys the plant. If this were not enough, God causes the sun to beat down on Yonah’s head resulting in Yonah wishing death upon himself.
Part of the message of the
Kikayon is about the fickleness of man. Yonah who engages God in theological
debate accusing God of changing his mind too quickly, is forced down from the ivory
tower to reckon with his own creature comforts (using the identical language he
used in the challenge to God - ‘death would be better than my life’). This experience
is essentially God’s answer why he accepts this form of repentance. As short
lived and shallow as it may seem, God accepts it as an inevitability of the
human condition.
Between
the Jews and the nations of the world
Much more
can be written and expanded on the above point, however I would like to focus
on how this relates to the strange story in the Midrash. The same elements are present in the Midrash and the story of Yonah. Someone
builds a Sukkah, after which God makes it artificially hot, to inflict suffering
on the person inside the Sukkah. This in turn leads to resentment and despair on
the side of the person/people who made the Sukkah. Both stories relate to the interaction
between God and the nations of the world and revolves around a threat of
punishment to those nations. So far the similarities. Now for the inversion. In
the story of Yonah, God accepts the hyperbolic repentance of the nations
(Nineveh) and Yonah is the one to succumb in the heat of the sun beating down
on his Sukkah. In the Midrash, it is the other way round. God defends the
credentials of the Jewish nation, whilst the flimsy attempt of the nations to quickly
‘repent’ by adhering to the simple Mitzvah of Sukkah is mocked (by way of the
Sukkah-in-the-sun model). The opposite reactions requires explanation.
I think the
contrast can be explained by appreciating the difference between the cycle of
rise and fall which the facility of Teshuvah presupposes, and the idea of long
term loyalty represented by the Mitzvah of Sukkot. If Pesach commemorates the momentous
exodus from Egypt, and Shavuot recalls the one-off revelation at Mt Sinai, it
is the Sukkah which recalls the day to day care and maintenance of the wilderness
sojourn: ‘...in order that future generations may know
that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the
land of Egypt’
(Lev.23:43). As Rashbam explains at length, the purpose of the Mitzvah is to help foster a life of
faith in the land:
...כי
בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל במדבר ארבעים שנה - בלא יישוב ובלא נחלה ומתוך כך תתנו
הודאה למי שנתן לכם נחלה ובתים מלאים כל טוב ואל תאמרו בלבבכם כחי ועוצם ידי עשה
לי את החיל הזה...
There is no
grand miracle or single event which the Sukkah commemorates, and this is
exactly the point. Over the prolonged period in the wilderness, God’s providence protected His people. But that is only half the
story. The other side is about how we faithfully followed God into the unknown:
‘I recalled to your favour the
devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride— how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown’ (Jer. 2:2). Yes, there was still divine
intervention in the wilderness, but it was more subtle and designed to transition
them to life in the land where God’s modus operandi would be to act within nature.
In short, the
Sukkah symbolises the translation of those formative experiences into a life of faith and loyalty. It recalls the wilderness period, but with an eye to providing an
educational message about life in the land. The ambiguity of whether the Sukkot
referred to in the Torah are ‘actual booths’ or represent the ‘clouds
of glory’ is inherent to the nature of Sukkah which is ultimately intended to project
an experience where the clouds of glory are integrated yet discerned within the physical
world.
Sukkah
as a reflection of the Mishkan
In light of
the above, it is both remarkable and paradoxical that the Mitzvah of Sukkah is
presented as a reflection of the inauguration of the Mishkan. Both the Sukkah
and the Mishkan aim to create a space for the divine presence but in
very different ways. The latter by way of the priestly service within the sanctuary
perpetuating the Sinai experience, and the former by way of the integration of faith
within the home. For seven days and seven nights (the ‘Miluim’), the Kohanim were
instructed to ‘dwell’ in the vicinity of the Mishkan as preparation for their
new role. During this period, Moshe officiates whilst the Kohanim are largely
passive. On the eighth day, the initiation reaches its climax as the Kohanim led
by Aaron, officiate for the first time and the fire of God descends on to the Mizbe'ach.
This a typical seven-eight model where the seven is preparatory for what takes
place on the eighth. Sukkot follows the same model and parallels the ceremony
of the seven-day Miluim. Every individual is instructed to ‘dwell’ in their personal Sukkah
for seven days at outside their home just as the Kohanim dwelt at the
entrance to the Mishkan.
This interaction
between Sukkah and the seven-day inauguration of Mishkan was already recognized in
the Midrash Halakha (see TB Sukkah 43a) which derived a Gezerah Shavah based on
the identical word (and presumably the wider context) of ‘Teishvu’ prominent in
both.[3]
No other command (aside from living in Israel which relates to this discussion), revolves around the concept of 'dwelling' thus strengthening the
connection. During this non-priestly ‘inauguration’ of Sukkot, one is exposed to the elements
of one’s immediate environment recalling the period in the wilderness where dependency on God was in full force. This prepares one to re-enter their permanent
home on the eighth day – Shemini Atzeret - with a renewed sense of divine
consciousness integrated into one’s daily life.
As with the
other festivals, the national dimension mirrors the agricultural element. The Torah
specifically refers to Sukkot as a time of ingathering of the harvest, thus
highlighting the agricultural aspect. But it is also a time of ‘ingathering’ on
the spiritual plain through the assimilation of the divine presence into the individual home.
This follows the Mishkan paradigm as set out above. On the national level, this
finds full expression as the Jewish nation are gathered into the homeland with the
divine presence enmeshed within the national experience.
Returning to
the Midrash about the nations kicking down their Sukkah and the contrast to
Yonah. This Midrash is a remarkable commentary on the endurance of the Jewish people. Teshuvah
is a universal need as everyone succumbs and fails and needs an opportunity to
reset. Faced with God’s revelation or judgement, it is easy to be inspired to
repent like the people of Nineveh. But the Sukkah presents the other side which has been a unique quality of the Jewish people. Loyalty
through uncertainty.
The projected timeframe of the Midrash is the messianic era when God’s hand will be revealed to all. The idea of sitting in a Sukkah in this climate is absurd and undercuts what the Sukkah is all about. The Midrash is brought in the context of a discussion how all the nations will challenge the uniqueness of the Jewish people at this time. They will argue that had they received the Torah they too would have observed it. The symbolism of Sukkah is the perfect response.[4] There is on the face of it nothing particularly difficult about living in a Sukkah and it may indeed be regarded as an ‘easy’ mitzvah, much as everything seems straight forward and compelling, when embarking on any new relationship. But it is the ease which is deceptive. The challenge being alluded to by the Midrash is what happens when the sun is out and the heat is on. Will the relationship withstand the pressure and the test of time? This is what the Midrash is vaunting as the unique characteristic of the Jews. The quality of loyalty they have demonstrated through sweat and tears across generations of exile and suffering. This is undeniably unique to the Jews. In the words of Winston Churchill, ‘Some people like the Jews, and some do not. But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are beyond question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world.’ Add the leaves of faith as the key to the survival and that is the parable of the Sukkah.
[1] ...מיד כל אחד [ואחד] נוטל והולך ועושה סוכה
בראש גגו והקדוש ברוך הוא מקדיר עליהם חמה בתקופת תמוז וכל אחד ואחד מבעט בסוכתו
ויוצא שנאמר (תהלים ב, ג) ננתקה את מוסרותימו ונשליכה ממנו עבותימו מקדיר והא
אמרת אין הקדוש ברוך הוא בא בטרוניא עם בריותיו משום דישראל נמי זימני דמשכא
להו תקופת תמוז עד חגא והוי להו צערא והאמר רבא מצטער פטור מן הסוכה נהי דפטור
בעוטי מי מבעטי
[2] The more
obvious contact point is the final chapter of Zechariah which speaks of a
future time where the nations will ascend to Jerusalem specifically to
celebrate Sukkot and those that do not ascend will face retribution:
וְהָיָה כׇּל־הַנּוֹתָר מִכׇּל־הַגּוֹיִם הַבָּאִים עַל־יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם וְעָלוּ מִדֵּי שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺת לְמֶלֶךְ ה' צְבָאוֹת וְלָחֹג אֶת־חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת׃ וְהָיָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יַעֲלֶה מֵאֵת מִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָאָרֶץ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺת לְמֶלֶךְ ה' צְבָאוֹת וְלֹא עֲלֵיהֶם יִהְיֶה הַגָּשֶׁם׃ (זכריה יד:טז-יז)
[3] It is noteworthy that the dedication of the first temple took place on Sukkot (I Kgs
8:2). Incidentally, as relevant to this
article, it is also worth noting the tension between the universalism and particularism within Shlomo’s lengthy
prayer (compare 8:41-43 v 8:53).
[4] Compare also Vayikrah Rabba (30:3) which links the taking of the Lulav to the victory of the Jews against the nations.
