This year, Sukkot has special significance. Beyond the womb that we will all crawl into, beyond the stars above that “shined up on Abraham and Sarah,” beyond the reminder of the evanescence of life and all of its fragility, this year, I will invite Dolly and Gloria and Annie and Annette (Zichronot L’vrachot).
Ushpizin invite us to “welcome in our ancestral constellation and dwell amongst them.” This year, it’s Ushpizot, for the women. It’s the year of the Feminist Visitation.
As I turn into the mystical call of the time, I will invoke Annie Dillard, the transcendental feminist writer who brought Thoreau into the 20th century and into the feminist movement through the invocation of the medieval kabbalists as they welcome the Ushpizin:
Enter, holy and sublime hosts; Enter, holy and sublime leaders; Enter, faithful hosts, to sit in the shade of sublime faith; in the shade of the Blessed Holy One,in the shade of the Divine-Presence.
No doubt, Annie dwells at the entrance of our mystical huts, watching the birds soaring above as the sunrays cast their silhouette of palm leaves. Her presence is like the shade of a tree beside us, with observations of radical amazement of what we Jews offer to a God that transcends pagan beliefs as we reclaim our humanity. With her on the “other side,” I call in her presence to endow me with the wonder of being alive.
This year, when we follow the command of inviting the poor to our table, I will invoke the presence of Dolly Parton, the iconoclastic country singer who brought the justice and feminist movements to those who may have never realized they needed liberation. Dolly, I will welcome you into the sukkah this year, as I sit amongst the most needy. I will play “Hello, God” as I invoke the presence of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, D’vora, Bruriah and Rashi’s Daughter to do the holy work of repair in our time. I will raise my eyes to the heavens, and pray with awakened hope that something is smiling down upon our Sukkah, embodying grace and generosity, like the Sukkot holiday itself.
And as I apprehend the stars above, twinkling between the leaves, I will welcome in Gloria Steinem. With these same stars above, I remember the 19-year-old I once was, at a fundraiser at Nell’s in Chelsea, where I first met Gloria. Indeed, she wore her trademark aviator glasses and arrow straight parted hair. I will recall the prayer that came out of my mouth, a student at Barnard who was mystified by her power, as the words “you are even more beautiful than I could have imaged” tumbled out of my mouth. Star struck, I look to the stars for Gloria, and ask that she guides every woman, young and old, and all of their sons, to create a better world for all, where everyone can feel the call from the stardust within and the stardust beyond to make for a more redeemed presence of Godliness in our time.
And finally, as I sit with my children, huddled as if in the desert itself, I will whisper stories of their grandmother, Annette Shapiro (z”l) to them. Of how she drove herself from the Valley at 15 in 1945 to attend high school at Fairfax “so she could meet a Nice Jewish Boy.” Of how she loved community and Judaism in a way that worked for her, and how Judaism is a geode for each of us to crack open in our own way and discover its light that is the gift of our inheritance. I will whisper in their ears until their spines rise with goosebumps and giggles from their breath, of how their grandma can always be found in this hallowed space that we crawl into to grasp onto life – all of life – from the origins of time through our own DNA and into the future that will someday be our own visitation.
Beloved Matriarchs, I will welcome all of you there.
Rabbi Lori Shapiro is the founder and artistic director of The Open Temple in Venice.
