When a sukkah falls, we are inspired by the words of Amos,
asking God’s help to establish David’s sukkat hanophelet,
the fallen temple, for we know that it is right to be a zealot
for holy relics, shunning faithlessness that is inclined to shame us.
We all are shivrei sheymos, broken tablets, who must never fail our fellow fallen Jews,
But help them to stand up, arkaically preserved like us, all broken tablets Moses did not lose.
Amos 9:11 states:
יא בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, אָקִים אֶת-סֻכַּת דָּוִיד הַנֹּפֶלֶת; וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת-פִּרְצֵיהֶן, וַהֲרִסֹתָיו אָקִים, וּבְנִיתִיהָ, כִּימֵי עוֹלָם. 11 In that day will I raise the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.
Rabbi David Wolpe writes for Shabbat Noah, 5779, 10/10/18:
Yes, Sukkot is over, but Rabbi David Bashevkin drew my attention to a beautiful comment that you can remember until next year!
During the grace after meals on Sukkot we recite the blessing asking God to rebuild the “fallen Sukkah of David.” The blessing comes from the prophet Amos (9:11). The Maharal of Prague points out that when we ask God to rebuild the “fallen Sukkah” of David, we are saying something profound about the nature of a Sukkah. Unlike a house which, when it falls or crumbles, is no longer a house but a pile of rubble, even a dismantled Sukkah remains a Sukkah.
The lesson is one of restoration. The pieces of a relationship may be gathered back up and restored. The elements of something sacred retain their character, because they are awaiting renewal. The Jewish people, scattered, remained one people, not a random group, and when Israel was reborn we reassembled like a fallen Sukkah raised anew.
Sukkot may be over, but the lesson endures forever.
Gershon Hepner is a poet who has written over 25,000 poems on subjects ranging from music to literature, politics to Torah. He grew up in England and moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Using his varied interests and experiences, he has authored dozens of papers in medical and academic journals, and authored “Legal Friction: Law, Narrative, and Identity Politics in Biblical Israel.” He can be reached at gershonhepner@gmail.com.
