I caught an article by Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple titled Seven sukkah guests in which he discusses what can be learned from each of the Ushpizin, the seven guests that we symbolically invite into our Sukkahs. Here is an excerpt.
The first day’s guest is Abraham, the pioneer of faith who saw God in the panorama of nature and the elements. What Abraham has to say must be that a colourful festival of nature and harvest-time can spark a religious awakening, a sense of the presence of God and of wonder at the beauty of His creation – a creation which remains majestic despite all man’s furious attempts to injure, uproot and destroy it…
Isaac is the guest on the second day. He is no pioneer, no blazer of new trails. Even when he looks for water, he goes back and digs again the old wells which his father’s servants had dug. His message for Sukkot is surely that the old paths must not be rejected simply because they are old, old traditions such as the sukkah must not be despised simply because of their antiquity, and before a new age sweeps old habits and ways aside, it must make sure it has something better to put in their place…
For Jacob, the guest on the third day, life has been a struggle. The sukkah too is at the mercy of the elements. Jacob never gave in to fear (im yihyeh Elokim immadi, he says, setting off on his journey: “Let God be with me, and I will be safe!”); so too, he reminds us, the Israelites survived in the unfriendly wilderness because God was with them. Even in an age with menaces more fierce than any he knew, the only real security is faith in God, who does not abandon His world or His creatures…
Read full article: http://www.oztorah.com/2009/09/seven-sukkah-guests/
May we celebrate Sukkot joyfully.
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