Shemini Atzeret
Drew - October 2, 2026
Good evening, shabbat shalom, and chag sameach.
Are you comfortable? I hope so. The sukkah we're in is spacious, well decorated, and breaks the wind for us. It even weathered a nor'easter. It has been a lovely home for TBRS, a place where it has been easy to be joyous.1 At the same time, its incomplete walls and the holes in the schach are clear reminders that this structure will only last for so long. It is not meant to last forever.
The sukkah, much like everyone, is temporary.
Adam yelud ishah, ketzar yamim.2
Isn't it good that we're all here now!
During Sukkot, we strip away much of what divides humanity from the rest of creation and focus on rejoicing.3 We leave behind our typical walls, our ancient structures, and stay in huts where we can see the sky. Stand in this same spot in just a few days and there will be even less. You will be bare before the endless dark, before permanence, before the divine.
This brings me to the day's parsha. In the portion of Deuteronomy read for Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot and a holiday in its own right, we read that all of Am Israel will rejoice in Sukkot; sons, daughters, slaves, Levites, strangers, widows, and orphans are all specifically named.4 The use of stranger, ger, there bears note. It is the same word to describe the Israelites in Egypt. It means an immigrant, foreigner, and here a non-Jew.
Sukkot, more than any other holiday, connects us to the basic human experience. We reduce ourselves to as close to a raw state as we can for a few days and remember our direct connection with the divine. It is fitting that we reach out to everyone and bring them in to celebrate this basic state of being.
This idea that Sukkot is for everyone isn't new theology born in New York's "Commie Corridor." In Zechariah it states that, in the messianic age, all the nations will celebrate Sukkot.5 In the Talmud it is explained that the number of offerings made on the first seven days of Sukkot corresponds to the number of other nations and that these offerings are made by Israel to atone for all the world.6 From the time of the prophets, from the time of the temple, we have acknowledged this special breadth of Sukkot which we often forget.
This idea is incorporated into our social practices during Sukkot. During Sukkot we do not wall ourselves off, eating only with those we care for; those who close themselves off disgrace themselves.7 During this zman simchateinu, this time of rejoicing, we take joy in Hashem together with all who we can find.
The phrasing there is important. We do not take joy in our common human experience before Hashem, we take joy in Hashem together with all who we can find. During Sukkot we do not have weddings, because we could misplace our joy in the new union or spouse.8 We remain focused on taking joy in Hashem, a oneness beyond even the strongest ties between people. Neither during Sukkot do we mourn.9 We take joy in Hashem, a oneness beyond death.
Sukkot isn't so much an expression of Jewish existence as it is a Jewish expression of common existence. We live in the world simply and we rejoice in the endless oneness of it all. We come together with all the world, happy to be alive and a part of it.
In TBRS fashion, a few questions for you:
- Are you comfortable with this annual tradition of making ourselves more vulnerable and at the same time opening up to more people than ever? If you are not comfortable with it, what would it take to get there? To even take joy in it?
- Does being happy to just be alive, even under difficult circumstances, fit the Jewish community we are building together?
- NB: It is a mitzvah to be joyous during Sukkot. Deuteronomy 16:13-14. ↩
- Job 14:1 ("Man born of woman is few in days") ↩
- Recall that the letters in the word מחשבה, "thought," are the same as in the word בשמחה, "with joy," a reminder that joy is cultivated in the mind rather than a byproduct of circumstance. ↩
- Deuteronomy 16:13-14 ↩
- Zechariah 14:16 ↩
- Sukkah 55b:9-11 ↩
- Mishneh Torah, Sefer Zmanim, Rest on Festivals 6:18 ↩
- See, e.g., Moed Katan 8b:10 ↩
- See, e.g., Moed Katan 14b:8 ↩