The Secret to Sukkot Joy - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

many of you remember a couple months ago i was going through a pretty rough time right we sort of went through it together a lot of you really helped me through it and i tried to be just transparent and honest and it just helped me to do that and i remember meeting with a rabbi mentor friend of mine and he was you know helping me dig deep and he helped me realize that i was in a state of disintegration disintegration not disintegration but disintegration meaning that my heart and my mind weren't aligned that i believed one thing in my head but my heart had somehow become on a different wavelength and sukut is a time where the brain and the soul and the heart the essence are able to integrate and align together and i believe it's that sukkot really lays bare the reality of our existence in the world the truth of our existence some people are afraid of the truth i think we've all been afraid of it one time or another i know i have but if we know that truth is god's seal right we spoke about this truth is the seal of god and god is good then truth is always good no matter how scary or challenging it is it's always good and so what is this fundamental truth that is so elusive and so counterintuitive that if we integrate it into our essence on sukkot that it can really set us free at least in my case what's that truth the truth is that our entire lives are a sukkah that there is no such thing as true security that our fate is totally out of our hands in the most extreme way i just always think of someone i knew from houston that just cut his finger on a little fence and got a staph infection and lost his arm nearly died just like over nothingness that any attempt to take real control over our lives or the world around us is meaningless and futile and will end up in frustration which brings us to the book of kohelet which i have to say is one of my favorite books ecclesiastes right we read it on sukkot and kohelet means literally vanity emptiness it's often described as futility right that's what king solomon is saying this is futile that everything is futile there's nothing new under the sun it's all futile and while that could seem depressing if harnessed in the right way it's extremely liberating and if taken to the right place it inevitably results in joy because the sukkah is a temporary dwelling right when the wind blows the walls blow when you look up you don't just see the bamboo according to jewish law you need to be able to see the stars you're you're just so acutely aware of the temporariness i don't know if that's a word the vulnerability of our lives and just as the sukkah is a temporary dwelling kohelet really drives home the truth that the human body is a temporary dwelling as well to anyone who just was in rosh hashanah and yom kippur one of the greatest themes is that life is a fleeting dream a gust of wind this is taken from the liturgy a withering flower and there were nothing but dust and ashes and food for the maggots and the ones that's straight out of the prayer it's just all so temporary but we believe in it so much when we're in our houses during the year i know i start to really believe that these walls are protecting me that the roof is protecting me that this building is protecting me that this body of mine that i'm gonna somehow live forever but it's just all so fleeting and temporary so why does that result in joy you know particularly like now the world the the illusions of security are really coming apart jeremy mentioned it but there's this plague that is ravaging the world the world economies are in flux and global power balances and alliances are shifting after especially after what happened in afghanistan in fundamental ways that don't appear very good and as far as security and predictability is concerned we're at like an all-time low and that's why my friends this sukkah this year can be so therapeutic if we really allow it to wash over us this global instability is exactly that it's global it's out of our hands there's nothing we can do about it fully and completely trusting in hashem that's all we have to do just put our fears and our doubts exactly where they belong just handed hashem he can handle it he wants us to hand it to him just allowing us to relinquish our fears and hand off our worries and clear our minds and leave us just with one precious thing all we're left with is now is this very moment we're under the stars it can blow away in an instant which by the way out here in judea it's happened the people's not only people sukkahs but people's houses their caravans fly away almost every year it happens so the the joy it lies in embracing that wind and understanding that that wind comes from one source from our father in heaven and as rabbi sachs explains so beautifully and i encourage you to read his words in your sukkah this year if you have one he brings the words of havakook of habakkuk perhaps it is an english habakkuk to demonstrate that joy is not dependent on anything it's not dependent on reason or calculations here's what he says in havacook chapter 3 verse 17 and 18. though the fig tree does not blossom and there's no fruit on the vines though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls yet i will rejoice in hashem i will exalt hashem the god of my salvation that's what's about it's about internalizing from our heads our hearts that while we need to do our best to accomplish in this world to achieve and to do ultimately it's in hashem's hands and everything's in hashem's hands and if we have nothing that doesn't need to stop us from truly rejoicing because all we have is this moment that we're totally consumed and immersed in godliness wrapped in it as the masks are coming off and much of the world is turning not only against israel but yes against the jewish people if you feel different if your love for israel is growing deeper and stronger if you're thirsting to cleave to the nation of israel and to the god of israel if you're thirsting to learn authentic torah from jews in judea then the land of israel fellowship is for you hundreds of individuals and families from around the world come together on zoom every week in what can only be described as a fellowship of love friendship of learning and praying and belonging a fellowship really unlike any other it's more than just a movement it's a family to learn more about the land of israel fellowship click on www.thelandofisreal.com fellowship or send an email to fellowship at the land of israel.com love and blessings from judea