Is there a silver lining in the cloud of recession that has been hanging over us this year? I think possibly there is one, and it can be connected to this High Holiday season.
After the solemnity of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, this week marks the beginning of Sukkot (my favorite Jewish holiday), also known as “Z’man simchatenu,” “the time of our rejoicing.” I love the opportunities Sukkot brings to build something and beautify it with our own hands, to be more aware of nature and savor its bounty, and to welcome guests - including our ancestors, through the custom of “ushpizin.” (Maybe this year we will even welcome back an occasional bee.) As the succah stands open to visitors, the meaning of this holiday is accessible to all.
Two messages of Sukkot are especially relevant today. First, when we “dwell” in the temporary huts we have erected, at the mercy of the elements, we are reminded of life’s fragility and transience. In the past year, so many of us have been affected by the economic crisis. We have become acutely aware that our circumstances can suddenly change for the worse. Even the best of planners have found their investments and retirement funds shrinking.
Here at Jewish Community Services, every day we are seeing people who have lost their jobs, from management positions all across the employment spectrum. Our Career Services staff is serving a record number of people. Each day this summer, at least two new families turned to JCS in significant economic distress. Some had been just making it, but now can’t afford to pay their rent or their mortgage, or must choose between feeding their families and buying medicines. The Jewish Community Food Fund of JCS is straining to keep pace with the needs. The losses people have suffered also come with enormous emotional and psychological consequences – from stress, anxiety and depression, to tensions within families. Our JCS mental health professionals are helping individuals and families deal with the realities and challenges, plan for the future, and recover hope.
Changing fortunes can also present unexpected opportunities. And here is where another message of Sukkot resonates for us today. On this holiday we pare life down to the essentials, or, as Henry David Thoreau advised in “Walden,” “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” Thoreau’s experiment in the woods of Massachusetts taught him that simplifying life can lead one to “elevation of purpose.” When we are sitting side by side in a succah, sharing a good meal with family and friends, looking up through branches at the stars, we may ask ourselves, “What do we really need?”
Maybe you couldn’t afford a vacation this summer, and maybe you can’t take your family out to dinner right now. Perhaps your children have also had to let go of some of their dreams. But these sacrifices can also open the door to some positive changes. Sukkot offers a perfect opportunity to spend time with your family, to invite friends and neighbors over, to be a guest, and to appreciate the blessings of the present moment. Perhaps we can bring these priorities with us when we re-enter our homes. Chag Sameach!
By Gail Lipsitz, Coordinator, Public Relations, Jewish Community Services.
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Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/29/09 at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
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