October 6, 2025
Amos 9:11
בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא אָקִ֛ים אֶת־סֻכַּ֥ת דָּוִ֖יד הַנֹּפֶ֑לֶת וְגָדַרְתִּ֣י אֶת־פִּרְצֵיהֶ֗ן וַהֲרִֽסֹתָיו֙ אָקִ֔ים וּבְנִיתִ֖יהָ כִּימֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם׃
In that day, I will raise the fallen booth of David. I will mend its breaches and set up its ruins anew. I will build as days of old.
The timing of this holiday in relation to October 7th will always be a fact of life. I remember two years ago exactly where I was when I first heard the news. It was on Simchat Torah, the very tail end of Sukkot. I made the first phone call to my cousin in Israel in years as I was taking down my Sukkah. It was good to reconnect, but for the terrible reason. The pain of those early conversations as the sukkah was coming down was almost too much to bear. “Zman simchateinu,” the time of our joy was over, and bitterness was setting in.
This year, October 7th falls on the first day of Sukkot. Today, many of us will be putting the finishing touches on our sukkah as we get ready to enter for our first meal. “Zman Simchateinu,” the time of our joy, shamelessly starting on the eve of October 7th. Sukkot being raised up all around the world in preparation for the day.
My Rabbi and mentor, Rabbi David Wolpe, once shared a beautiful bit of Torah. He said that when a sukkah has come down, we call it “nofelet,” fallen. It is never destroyed. Just fallen and waiting for someone to raise it up again. The Jewish people are like the Sukkah. The strongest winds can blow and completely dismantle the sukkah, yet the structure has lasted the test of time. October 7th will forever be a day of grief and pain. But like the Sukkah, October 7th can also be a reminder of our resilience.
From the Nova site to Manchester, from the bloodied bedrooms of Kibbutz Be’eri to streets filled with protesters who want to see Israel destroyed, the Jewish people have been through so much in two years. We don’t only read, but feel every headline and social media post, and we are tired. But we are still here. Israel is still here. The Jewish people are still here, maybe stronger, and we aren’t going anywhere. We dwell in Sukkot to remember how our ancestors dwelt when they left Egypt. Things were not so easy then either. But though the storm has us down, we are not out – just fallen. We are remarkably resilient, and will get up again.