It’s late and I’m contemplating all that is temporary. Not in the anxious way I might regularly, but in a more welcome and inspired way that lays the foundation for Sukkot — my favorite holiday. I hear Moshe murmuring in the Sukkah, the one time I stand back from creating and decorating a space. The one time I trust it will be enough. The one time I feel hugged by bare walls and simplicity and don’t need to leave my creative mark. What an unexpected relief. Every time. My feminine basks in the letting go. But I do love listening, I love watching. He’s connecting beams that feel secure, but only secure enough for eight days of dwelling under the sky. Protected by clouds, we say. In our element, in all the elements. Truly safe. And once it’s built. And we are satisfied with how — get this — impermanent it is… We lean in. With joy! Absolute joy of trusting beyond the structures that surround us! With delight! Absolute delight of the feeling of weightlessness in existing — no, living! — in this understanding that our only protection is and always has been from the divine. We will delight in the temporary. We will delight in the exposure. We will delight in this vulnerable space. Imagine if we could do the same in our relationships, in our mothering, in our friendships, in our connection to God. To look up, see sky, feel safe, lean in. Because in and of itself, vulnerability is a delight. Easy to say, hard to do. Yet the Sukkah says “I’ll show you how good this can be.” So we enter a new home made of thin beams and open spaces. But it’s a safe space. The kind that needs to be experienced, not told. And not like safe spaces where everything and everyone is protected. Oh no. This safe space is not coddled, it’s brave. This safe space is not protective, but trusting. This safe space is not nestled, but malleable. The safe-space Sukkah is a space where we embrace the unknown, unclench our jaws and release our fists and not double check that the door is locked and truly sink into what trust and safety and being held truly feels like! Ahhhh, the Sukkah as a symbol for all our being and journeying year-round. ______________
The Sukkah is trusting in spirit, but it comes with tangible guidelines. Laws. This high. This wide. A minimum of this, a maximum of that. The details matter. Vulnerability comes with a map. With awareness. With integrity. The specifications, to help the intimacy flourish. Every vulnerability must come with some clarity, with some boundaries. A roof, to see stars. Just not too many stars. This way, that way. Kosher. No free reign. But intentionally made for us to prosper. In the feeling of being truly held. Even when we can’t see it, can’t touch it. We can exist inside of it and revel within it. And when we reside in it, we can let go completely! Our totality engaged in the commandment! Just by being here! The pleasure! Fulfilling the commandment. Just by being present. Right here right now. Mmmmm. Under the branches. Beneath the stars. Aside thin walls. That whisper in our ears “This is what’s possible. This embrace is yours for the taking.” So while we’re in Gods hammock, we resolve to remember. That the concrete walls we need year round Are better loved from having built From having known From having seen From having felt The embrace The Sukkah Under the stars