Musings Of A Shliach From Montana
Rabbi Chaim with Menny at Sukkos 2017
Sukkos is upon us and it’s my favorite yom tov.
There’s something unique about the experience of sitting outside, often in frigid cold, enjoying dinner under the stars, sharing a l’chaim, singing niggunim, and farbrenging over divrei Torah with our beautiful community. Add to it the beauty of the Arba Minim, the Four Species, that we make a berachah on during Sukkos and my soul is elevated to a place of spiritual bliss. Who isn’t lit up when singing Hallel with a lulav and esrog? Who isn’t on fire when saying Hoshanos around the Bimah? Who isn’t inspired when learning the Chassidus on Sukkos which is full of so much Kedushah enlightenment?
According to Kabbalah, the sukkah is a Divine hug. My friend Rabbi YY Jacobson speaks about it at length but the gist of it is as follows:
Halacha states that a sukkah must have two complete walls plus a third wall that may even be one handbreadth or “tefach” long. If your sukkah has three or four complete walls, that’s wonderful, but the minimum requirement is two walls and a tiny piece of a third wall. While the Gemara in Sukkah discusses the verses and nuances in the Torah from where this halachah is derived, the Holy Arizal (later elaborated by Alter Rebbe) gives us the mystical and spiritual reasoning for this halachah. In Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs), the bride, the Jewish people, affectionally says, “His left arm lay under my head and His right arm embraces me.” These words address, metaphorically, two distinct moments in the relationship between G-d, the Groom, and His bride, the Jews. During the Yomim Noraim, the “days of awe,” Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, G-d’s “left arm,” as it were, lay under the head of the Jewish people. The left side represents in Kabbalah “Gevurah,” introspection, awe, discipline, and discernment. And this is the primary theme of the days of awe. Sukkos, on the other hand, is described in the Torah as “the time of our joy,” and constitutes the point in the year when “G-d’s right arm embraces me.” The right arm represents in Kabbalah “Chessed,” which is loving kindness.
Look at any of your arms, says the Arizal, and you will notice that it’s divided into three distinct sections, each one usually extending in a different direction. The first is the arm itself, which extends from the shoulder to the elbow. The second section is the forearm, which extends from the elbow to the wrist, and the third section is from the wrist to the tip of the fingers.
Now, take a look at your sukkah and you will notice a “right arm’s embrace.” The first complete wall represents a Divine embrace from the “shoulder” to the “elbow.” The second wall reflects the embrace of the “forearm,” and the third tiny wall symbolizes the palm embrace. So, Sukkos is a loving hug from Hashem to His people. (Visit https://www.theyeshiva.net/jewish/item/135/class-sukkos-were-you-ever-hugged to learn this idea in greater depth.)
While Sukkos represents Hashem hugging us, I want to talk about the Jews I interacted with on Rosh Hashanah who were hugging Hashem. Words cannot begin to describe how powerful it is to see Jews coming close to their Bashefer, their Creator, and to know that you played a part in making that happen. So, join me as I relate some of the moments that took place at our Chabad Lubavitch Center for Jewish Life and Learning on Rosh Hashanah, and I hope it will tickle your soul as it tickled mine.
On Rosh Hashanah evening, as we ushered in the New Year, over 100 Yidden came together for daveningat our shul. This is Bozeman, Montana on a Monday evening, a school night in September, when the weather is breathtaking, yet the shul was packed with Am Yisrael coming home.
After the service, about 95 of the attendees joined together for a five-star gourmet meal that Chavie prepared for seudas yom tov. Among the guests was almost a minyan of nine college students attending Montana State University, a few Israelis who own souvenir shops in West Yellowstone, a visitor or two to Big Sky, and mostly our local community. But there was one Israeli couple who came very late and were super grateful. They had signed up for the dinner, but were flying out the next morning. Yes, they were set to fly on Rosh Hashanah morning! Yet deep down, they clearly couldn’t miss their connection to their people, their connection to their chag, and their connection to Hashem, and made sure to come and eat a kosher yom tov meal with the symbolic simanim, along with their Jewish family, and to me that spoke volumes about the strength, albeit sometimes super-confused, soul of the Jewish people.
At 10:30 p.m., as I walked home from the seudah in the 40-degree temperature, I couldn’t stop thinking of the beautiful neshamos: Howie and Kathie, Holly and Tal, Max and Ashleigh, Edis and Randy, and all the others who chose to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with their fellow Jews despite all we’ve been through and still go through all the time, especially since October 7th. The atmosphere in the room was not one of fear or despair; it was one of unity, devotion, and Jewish pride. Seeing the toddlers eating apples and honey and pomegranates is so special, knowing they are carrying the traditions on.
On Rosh Hashanah morning we had a full house (Baruch Hashem, due to the growth, we need new taleisim and more Machzorim at the cost of about $2,200, if you want the mitzvah, please let me know). After davening, I went over to one our newer congregants, a man in his thirties, and asked him, “When was the last time you were in shul on Rosh Hashanah?” His response was: “Never, rabbi, never. It was my first time hearing the shofar.” I was blown away. While he was focused on the tragedy that none of his forebears had ever ensured that he would go to shul and experience this spiritual connection, I was focused on how the trajectory of his life changed when he walked through our doors around Pesach time and how there’s no going back. This beautiful Jew is called to the Torah as Moshe ben Moshe, because his father isn’t Jewish and his mother’s father is Moshe, whose name he carries.
Imagine a Moshe’le who never heard shofar his entire life and in 5786 merited to hear it for the first time. How can you quantify such a transformation?
Later that day, about thirty men, women, and children joined us for the “10 minute” walk to Tashlich. It was a beautiful day and it was a great crowd. It’s not a given, as davening started at 9:30 a.m. and finished at 1:00 p.m. We then ate lunch and only at 2:00 p.m. headed over to Tashlich. Some of you may be thinking that’s a short davening, but if you didn’t grow up reading fluent Hebrew or sitting in shul for long hours, three and a half hours is still a very long time (I did grow up with it and it’s still too long for me). So, it’s wonderful to see people care enough to stick around to attend and learn about “sin” and “casting away our sins” while at the creek.
Later the first day, Menny, Chana Laya, and Zeesy joined me on the 1.2 mile walk to Lindley Park where we were hosting a “Shofar in the Park” event for those who didn’t make it to shul but still wanted to hear the blowing of the shofar, which is the mitzvah of the day. About 25 Jews gathered at the park, including families with young kids, a few college students, a woman from Helena, a manager from Big Sky, a dietician from Billings, and even a few part-time residents. One of those who joined us was wearing a yarmulke and he proudly told me that with his son now attending yeshiva in Israel, he decided to wear his yarmulke full-time and put ontefillin each day. Having been in this “business” a long time, I asked him if he had put on tefillin on Rosh Hashanah morning to which he responded, “Yes, was I not supposed to? Am I in trouble?”
It gave me such a big smile.
I explained to him that on yom tov we don’t put on tefillin and I would let him know all the yomim tovimin Tishrei in which we don’t wear tefillin. Yet, I was tickled (again) since here was a Jew who just undertook greater devotion, greater involvement, greater berachah, and simply needed some guidance to sort out the details. He doesn’t live in Bozeman full-time, so I didn’t know about his resolution, but now I can guide him in greater observance. In the meantime, I felt like Hashem was for sure smiling on Rosh Hashanah morning as a devoted Jew showed up innocently to connect with His Creator wrapped in tefillin.
I always appreciate the innocence of a Jew.
On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, after davening and lunch, we did our annual trek to downtown Bozeman to find Jews who still hadn’t heard the shofar. My brother-in-law Rabbi Mendel, along with our Chana Laya on her scooter, joined us for the 4.5 mile-trek looking for Jews. No one was home at the first two stops, but on the third stop we blew shofar for Jeff and Karen, and from there we blew for David right in the middle of the street outside a busy coffee shop. Later, we did the mitzvah with Jennie and Stephanie and at the end we caught up with Larry “Leibel” and awaked his soul.
As we headed to visit the last Jew who was within walking distance, we suddenly heard a lady’s voice from behind saying, “Shanah Tovah.” We turned around and there were two women standing there. We wished them both a “Shanah Tovah” and asked if they’d heard the shofar. One lady responded, “Oh my gosh, are you Chabad? Chabad is awesome! I had Rosh Hashanah dinner back in DC where I live, but then flew out for my friend’s wedding and didn’t hear the shofar yet.” Mendel proceeded to blow shofar for her, and I don’t recall ever seeing someone so electrified about hearing the shofar.
Considering what we’ve been through as a nation, even if only the past one hundred years, the odds are against us that any Jew would still care enough to remain connected. Challenge after challenge, threat after threat, assimilation after assimilation, distortion after distortion, exile after exile, and now a world that is turning against us. Yet, despite all this, Jews are showing up in big numbers, and not only to hear the shofar, but also to Shabbos dinner, Tashlich, and hopefully for our sukkah as well.
Thank you, Hashem, for giving me the zechus to help Your children find their way home and thank you Klal Yisroel for supporting our work and making this a reality for our brothers and sisters so that they are never abandoned or made to feel alone. As we get ready for Zman Simchateinu, let’s remember all the people we can invite into our sukkahs to make this yom tov one that will usher in the true geulah shleimah.
Rabbi Chaim Bruk is co-CEO of Chabad Lubavitch of Montana and spiritual leader of The Shul of Bozeman. For comments or to partner in our holy work, e-mail [email protected] or visit JewishMontana.com/Donate.
