OCTOBER 17 • 2024 | 51 J N brated their strength. They built palac- es and castles as expressions of invin- cibility. The Jewish people were dif- ferent. They carried with them a story about the uncertainties and hazards of history. They spoke of their ancestors’ journey through the wilderness with- out homes, houses, protection against the elements. It is a story of spiritual strength, not military strength. A MATTER OF SURVIVAL Sukkot is a testament to the Jewish people’s survival. Even if it loses its land and is cast again into the wil- derness, it will lose neither heart nor hope. It will remember that it spent its early years as a nation living in a sukkah, a temporary dwelling exposed to the elements. It will know that in the wilderness, no encamp- ment is permanent. It will keep trav- eling until once again it reaches the Promised Land: Israel, home. It is no accident that the Jewish peo- ple is the only one to have survived 2,000 years of exile and dispersion, its identity intact and energy unabated. It is the only people who can live in a shack with leaves as a roof and yet feel surrounded by Clouds of Glory. It is the only people who can live in a tem- porary dwelling and yet rejoice. Economist John Kay and former governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King published in 2020 a book, Radical Uncertainty. In it, they make the distinction between risk, which is calculable, and uncertainty, which is not. They argue that people have relied too much on calculations of probability while neglecting the fact that danger may appear from a com- pletely unexpected source. The sudden appearance of the Coronavirus just as their book appeared proved their point. People knew there was a possibility of a pandemic. But no one knew what it would be like, where it would come from, how rapidly it would spread and what toll it would take. More important than the calcu- lation of probabilities, they say, is understanding the situation, answering the question, “What is going on?” This, they say, is never answered by statistics or predictions but rather by narrative, by telling a story. That is exactly what Sukkot is about. It is a story about uncertainty. It tells us that we can know everything else, but we will never know what tomor- row will bring. Time is a journey across a wilderness. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we pray to be written into the Book of Life. On Sukkot, we rejoice because we believe we have received a positive answer to our prayer. But as we turn to face the coming year, we acknowledge at the outset that life is fragile, vulnerable in a dozen different ways. We do not know what our health will be, what our career or livelihood will be, or what will happen to society and to the world. We cannot escape exposure to risk. That is what life is. The sukkah symbolizes living with unpredictability. Sukkot is the festival of radical uncertainty. But it places it within the framework of a narrative, exactly as Kay and King suggest. It tells us that though we journey through a wilderness, we as a people will reach our destination. If we see life through the eyes of faith, we will know we are surrounded by Clouds of Glory. Amid uncertainty we will find ourselves able to rejoice. We need no castles for protection or palaces for glory. A humble sukkah will do, for when we sit within it, we sit beneath what the Zohar calls “the shade of faith. ” I believe that the experience of leaving the protection of a house and entering the exposure of the Sukkah is a way of taming our fear of the unknown. It says: We have been here before. We are all travelers on a jour- ney. The Divine Presence is with us. We need not be afraid. That is a source of the resilience we need in our interconnected, hazard- ous, radically uncertain world. The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, 1991- 2013. His teachings have been made available to all at rabbisacks.org. Warnings & Welcoming O ne of the questions that always guides my study is: What does the Jewish wisdom tradition want us to pay attention to right now? This ques- tion grounds our learning both in Judaism and in the wisdom of the moment. At this moment, we are paying attention to Sukkot, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and change and transformation during this high holiday season, both individually and as a com- munity. In the Sukkot reading, there’s a warning from the character of God, instruct- ing Israelites to be cautious when making agreements with other nations (Exodus 34:15). This feels particularly relevant with respect to the ongoing war and the yearning for its end, as making compromises with other nations is necessary in the quest for peace. Which posits the question, how do we show up to inevitable conflict in a way that honors both our integrity and our desire for justice? God’s warning comes alongside a reiteration of key commandments for Passover, particularly “observ- ing the Feast of Unleavened Bread” such as when the Israelites fled Egypt (Exodus 34:18) Here, the story of the Israelites’ liberation from Egypt serves as an annual reminder that we must be careful not to align ourselves with powers that can harm us — like Egypt. On the other hand, the context of Israel’s liberation in the same story is based on the coming together of a “mixed multitude” (Exodus 12:38), of people from other nations, who were freed alongside the Israelites. While caution is advised regard- ing covenants with other nations, the same Passover story justifies the inclusion of multiple groups coming together for the sake of liber- ation, and perhaps the great Jewish poet Emma Lazarus’ idea of “until we are all free, we are none of us free” (Epistle to the Hebrews, 1883) rings true more than ever. This raises critical questions: Should we behave unilater- ally or engage with nations around us in the pursuit of peace? How can God be our help? What can we do to set a table for inviting the stranger we’ve been warned against sitting with? Should we? As we gather for Sukkot — a fes- tival that invites all to the table — we are asked to wrestle with how we show up for inevitable conflict. Do we approach with a closed heart or with openness to differ- ence? Both approaches can exist with aligned integrity and empathy, but which should we choose at this time? What vision do you want for our community, not just for our- selves, but for the world? Shana tovah, and may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life in 5785. Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh is Executive Director/ Rabbi of The Well. SPIRIT TORAH PORTION Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh Parshat Sukkot (3): Exodus 33:12-34:26; Numbers 29:17-22; Ezekiel 38:18- 39:16.