OCTOBER 13 • 2022 | 57

SPIRIT

Spiritual Intensity
T

he choice of this Torah 
portion for this Shabbat 
appears straightforward 
at first glance: the passing men-
tion of the festival of Sukkot 
toward the end of this part of 
Exodus. Upon further reflec-
tion, there is no obvious 
connection with Sukkot. 
Unless, of course, one 
considers the parallel 
contexts of the narrative 
in the Torah reading 
and where it lands with-
in the spiritual ebb and 
flow of the fall holidays. 
The portion begins 
in the immediate after-
math of the Golden Calf 
episode, with Moses 
begging for forgiveness 
for the people of Israel 
and then proceeding up 
the mountain to receive 
a replacement set of tablets. 
 The Golden Calf fiasco was 
an early example of an inability 
on the part of many to handle 
the spiritual intensity of rev-
elation and the immediacy of 
the Divine without devolving 
into idolatry and bacchanalian 
revelry. Seemingly, moments 
after Moses heads up the moun-
tain, the spiritually immature 
regressed to a lesser need for a 
corporeal God, and the results 
were disastrous. An analogy 
is the behavior of people who 
cannot handle their liquor and 
slide easily from fun and levity 
of drinking in moderation to 
enhance a simchah into crude-
ness, belligerence and a total 
loss of decorum and dignity. 
Our forebearers saw in the 
sequence of festivals during 
the month of Tishrei a similar 
potential pitfall, especially as 
the intensity of the Days of Awe 
give way to the levity of Sukkot. 
Only four days after the end 

of Yom Kippur, we turn from 
a day of pounding our chests 
to a week of mandated hap-
piness followed by the public 
celebration of starting anew the 
reading of the Torah. The sim-
ple fact is that, for some people, 
the spiritual intoxication 
of Sukkot devolves into 
excessive drunkenness on 
Simchat Torah under the 
guise of “making a l’
chaim” 
over and over and a mis-
placed notion that getting 
hammered on Simchat 
Torah is somehow a mitz-
vah (It is not). Accordingly, 
this week’s Torah portion 
pumps the brakes on this 
attitude. 
Thus, whereas during 
the original revelation at 
Sinai the children of Israel 
stood up close when the 
voice of God boomed from the 
mountaintop, this time they 
are removed to a spiritually 
more cautious, less immediate 
and ecstatic distance, as God 
instructs Moses (34:3): “ No one 
else shall come up with you, 
and no one else shall be seen 
anywhere on the mountain,
” 
an instruction Nachmanides 
understands to mean that 
“unlike the first time, no 
one, not even the Elders will 
approach God with you ... not 
even in the area adjacent to the 
mountain where they had stood 
before.
” This subtle change is 
enough to prevent another 
disastrous trampling of the, for 
some, tenuous line between 
enjoying a moment of simchah 
and acting like a vilde chaya (lit-
erally a “wild animal”). 

Dr. Howard N. Lupovitch is an associate 

professor of history at Wayne State 

University and director of WSU’s Cohn-

Haddow Center for Judaic Studies.

TORAH PORTION

Dr. Howard 
Lupovitch

Parshat 

Sukkot Chol 

Hamoed: 

Exodus 

33:12-34:26; 

Numbers 

29:26-31; 

Ezekiel 38:18-

39:16.

Fall Fix Up is generously sponsored by:

Invite your family, friends or community 
Invite your family, friends or community 
groups to this outdoor, family-friendly 
groups to this outdoor, family-friendly 
volunteer event. Help rake leaves and 
volunteer event. Help rake leaves and 
winterize homes of older adults served 
winterize homes of older adults served 

by Jewish Family Service.
by Jewish Family Service.

Sunday, November 6th

9:30AM REGISTRATION BEGINS
Breakfast and supply pick-up to follow
CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK
27375 Bell Road, Southfield

All ages welcome
Specific sites for young adult participants

To register visit
jfsdetroit.org/fallfixup
or contact Alyah at 
alyah@jfsdetroit.org or 313.622.5687

Worksites are pre-assigned. Register by October 24th.

Come rake in 
the FUN!

