The Book of Numbers includes a listing of the festivals and the sacrifices offered to commemorate these days (Numbers 28, 29). While elsewhere in the Torah only the three major holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot are mentioned (Exodus 23:14 -16; 34:18 -22; Deuteronomy 16), the Book of Numbers (as in Leviticus 23:4-44) includes Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The different listings speak to different approaches to the holiday experience, which in turn illuminate different goals of Judaism.
AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner
Jewish men pray during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. AP Photo/Sebastian ScheinerWhen only the three holidays of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot are listed, they reflect the cornerstone of what makes up our nationhood:
• On Passover, as we left Egypt; we were birthed as a people – Am Yisrael.
• On Shavuot, we received the law – Torat Yisrael.
• On Sukkot, the festival that marks our marching through the desert to Israel, we commemorate the gift of the land of Israel. Indeed, the four species taken on Sukkot are viewed by many as especially connected to the land – Eretz Yisrael.
From this perspective, the holidays send a very nationalistic message, which became the foundation of the Religious Zionist movement – Am Yisrael (the people of Israel) according to Torat Yisrael (the Torah of Israel) in Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel).
But in the Book of Numbers, the list is expanded to include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. One could argue that the actual order presented – Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot – highlights another aspect of Judaism – the universal vision of our religion.
• Through the Exodus from Egypt, we physically came into being; we emerged as a people. But a people without a purpose, like a body without a soul, has no meaning. Hence Shavuot commemorates the day we received the Torah, the infusion of spirituality into the physicality of Am Yisrael.
• The holidays now become more expansive as the list moves forward to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of God creating all of humankind. This theme reaches its crescendo on Yom Kippur with the reading of Jonah, the Jewish prophet who was told by God to take the message of repentance to Ninveh, a heathen city. And Sukkot is the most universal of festivals; during the week of the festival, we offer seventy sacrifices symbolic of the nations of the world (Sukkah 55b) and dwell for all to see in outdoor booths.
Passover and Shavuot speak of the development of the Jewish People. The remaining holidays aim to fulfill our task of bringing light to the world. It is no accident that these latter holidays fall seven months after Passover. Seven can be vocalized save’a, to be satiated. We realize our mission when we do our share to uplift humankind.
There has been long debate whether Judaism is fundamentally nationalistic or universalistic. Some express their Judaism by separating themselves from the larger world while others feel that their mission to perfect the world is so predominant that they forget their roots. The two archetypal Torah listings of the holidays indicate that we are both. As Natan Sharansky wrote in Defending Identity, “Identity without democracy can become fundamentalist and totalitarian. Democracy without identity can become superficial and meaningless.”
From my perspective, loving all people begins by loving one’s own people. An enlightened sense of national identity, rather than being a contradiction to universal consciousness, is a prerequisite for it.
Candle lighting:
Parshat: Sukkot
Friday, September 29, light candles at 6:52 p.m.
Saturday, September 30, light candles after 7:43 p.m. from a pre-existing flame
Sunday, October 1, holiday ends at 7:42 p.m.
