c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Because the Jewish autumn harvest holiday of Sukkot begins only five days after the spiritual magnificence of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), it sometimes gets short shrift in observance and attention. But Sukkot, mentioned 21 times in the Hebrew bible, is one of Judaism’s most joyous and religiously profound festivals.

This year, the eight-day holiday begins at sunset on Oct. 6 and concludes on Oct. 14.

The Bible commands Jews “to dwell” in frail booths during the festival. If the climate prevents people from actually sleeping in the Sukkot, people are obligated to eat their meals inside the huts joined by family, friends and, especially strangers.

The booths are decorated with colorful leaves, fruits, flowers and vegetables, symbolizing the fall harvest season in the land of Israel. While walls can be made of wood or metal, the roof of the Sukkot must contain organic material including palm leaves, bamboo, tree branches, and other types of natural materials.

In addition to the harvest, the lean-to-like structures commemorate the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the Sinai wilderness following their Exodus from Egypt. During those four decades, the former slaves dwelt in portable huts that provided protection from the blazing sun by day and the cold desert winds at night.

During Sukkot, prayers of thanks are offered to God who provided the rich harvest. Many American historians believe the Pilgrims, a Christian community that identified with the ancient Israelites and the Hebrew Bible, patterned their 17th century “Thanksgiving” holiday after the Sukkot festival.

However, the holiday has a third layer of meaning that probes deeper than blessings for an agricultural bounty or remembrance of the trek in an inhospitable wilderness.

During Sukkot, Ecclesiastes, the bible’s most pessimistic and cynical book, is read. Attributed to King Solomon, some of the book’s dark verses have entered into our everyday vocabulary.

Who has not heard “there is nothing new under the sun?” Or “vanity of vanities, all is vanity?” One of Ecclesiastes’ best known sections tells us that:

For everything there is a season,

And a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate,

A time for war, and a time for peace.

Why does the Jewish tradition link the reading of such a melancholy work with the joys of a bountiful harvest, the warmth of sharing meals with family and friends, and the “mitzvah” (divine commandment) of extending hospitality to strangers?

The answer represents an extraordinary example of Judaism’s delicate “balancing act.” While Sukkot has its joyous side, the public reading of Ecclesiastes is a necessary corrective that prevents the harvest festivities from becoming a raucous orgy of drunkenness, debauchery and excess. Sukkot occurs in the autumn of the year, and Ecclesiastes’ author was clearly in the autumn of his own life. With candid realism, he recognizes that life is more than reaping ambitious egotistical plans or harvesting selfish quests for personal glory.

Those “vain” things are for the spring and summer of our lives. But autumn is the mellow time for humans, and Ecclesiastes reminds us what is truly important: “The end of the matter … revere God, keep God’s commandments; for that is the whole person.”

But the last day of the Sukkot festival balances out Ecclesiastes’ bleakness. On Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah), in an annual ritual of continuity, the closing words of Deuteronomy are read (the death of Moses) followed by the opening words of Genesis (the creation of the world). The unbroken cycle goes on.

It is no accident that Sukkot, filled with so many meanings, is simply called “The Festival.”

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

KRE/RB END RUDIN

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