(2.

Sukkot: Miracle
Of The Harvest

"We can live here for
about the same as
:rwhat we were paying

-Dan and

.

Nori Braude,
enjoying life at
Fox Run since
2003

Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot: Exodus
33:12-34:26; Ezekiel 38:18-39:16.

A

t first glance, there seems
to be little or no connection
between the Torah portion
that we read on Shabbat Chol HaMoed
Sukkot and the themes of the holiday
itself.
True, the Torah portion briefly
mentions one of the holiday's epithets
— Chag HaAssif Tekufat
HaShanah, (the festival
of the great harvest at the
conclusion of the year). Yet,
most of the Torah reading is
a dialogue between Moses
and God in the aftermath of
the Golden Calf fiasco — a
far cry from the image of
Sukkot as Z'man Simchatenu,
the time of our rejoicing.
Why, then, do we read this
portion on this particular
Shabbat?
A closer look reveals a deeper con-
nection. More specifically, Moses'
descent from Sinai and the celebration
of the harvest that is at the heart of the
festival of Sukkot are two moments of
transition between Heaven and Earth
that mirror each other.
As Moses descends from Mount Sinai
after communing with God for 40 days
and nights, he first hears and then wit-
nesses the worst possible scenario —
idolatry immersed in decadent revelry.
Standing at the juncture between the
sublime holiness of the divine and the
mundane drudgery of human imper-
fection, Moses finds himself unable to
transition from the sublime back to the
mundane.
He pleads to God for guidance:
"Make known to me your ways."
(Exodus 33:13) Commenting on this
phrase, 19th-century Litvak Rabbi
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (aka "the
Netziv") noted that Moses is asking to
be shown not God's way but God's ways
because "there are two ways God leads
Israel through the wilderness — by

providing parnasah [sustenance in the
form of manna], and haganah [protec-
tion through the pillars of smoke and
fire]."
Moses' descent from Sinai is, thus, a
means of importing God's divine lead-
ership into the ordinary though still
complex challenges of leadership in this
world — first and foremost,
by cleaning up the mess that
awaits him below.
God continues to provide
sustenance and protection,
but hereafter as a joint ven-
ture that combines divine
influence with the increas-
ingly active participation
of Moses and the people of
Israel.
So, too, the celebration of
the harvest linked this world
with the divine realm, albeit
in the opposite direction. As the Netziv
points out further, "prior to the incident
of the Golden Calf, harvest festivals
were simply national celebrations."
In light of this incident, which
revealed the depths to which a this-
worldly celebration can sink, the Torah
re-orients the passions of a human
celebration away from pagan decadence
by adding a recognition of the miracu-
lousness of nature that implants in the
celebrants a deep sense of faith and
devotion.
Immediately following the instruction
to celebrate the harvest is the command-
ment to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem
and celebrate in closer proximity to focal
point the divine presence. An ordinary
celebration is transformed into a bridge
between Heaven and Earth.

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Professor Howard N. Lupovitch is the

Waks Family Chair of Jewish History

Add more Living to your Life'

at the University of Western Ontario in

Novi

London. He is an adult education lecturer

in Metropolitan Detroit and reads Torah at

Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield.

EricksonLiving.com

7361303

1783420

October 4 2012

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