Special holiday reading for Sukkot on 16 Tisrei, 5764 - October 12, 2003 Sukkot Bet: Holiday Torah reading Leviticus 22:26 to 23:44; Haftarah: 1 Kings 8:2-21; Brit Chadashah: Revelation 11:1-30


The Bagel: Loaded Sukkah. In keeping with the tent experience in the desert of Sinai, Sukkot Bet's reading reminds all readers of another experience - the Cloud. This cloud was the Glory of G-d that filled the Tabernacle in the midst of the camp of Israel. When the Tabernacle was consecrated, that is after the holy furniture was installed and ritually purified, then the Divine Cloud descended with such a holy brightness that even Moses was driven out. From a distance the average Israelite could see the Shekhinah as a cloud by day or a pillar of fire at night. The key to this desert experience was the loaded Tabernacle. G-d added the finishing touches on the Mishkhan (Tabernacle), when all that was humanly possible was completed. The equation can be summed thus: Tabernacle loaded equals Glory descended. The Cloud took over.

The Haftarah reading brings out that loaded experience again in Israel's later history. This time it was when Solomon orchestrated the completion of Beit Ha Miqdash Rishoni (the First Temple). Once the furniture was installed and the priests consecrated the Temple the Cloud descended and its light, as it were, blew out the priests with a repeat of that holy brightness. When the Ark of the Covenant, the wings of the Cherubim, and the D'vir itself (the Holy of Holies [Kodesh Ha Kodeshim]) were properly set up, then "Bam!" The Cloud appeared. The loaded Temple drew open the curtains, as it were, G-d's Glory was now on stage.

Solomon's twofold statement in verses 12 and 13 brings out the nature of G-d's dwelling with us. The first part that Adonay would dwell in a thick (making it dark) cloud (Araphel), speaks of Divine separateness from us. G-d is obscured in darkness. But the other part of the statement which Solomon said: "I have now built for You A stately House, A place where You May dwell forever" (Tanakh JPS) speaks of conditions for the permanent dwelling of the bright Cloud (Anan) in the D'vir part of the Temple. The loaded Temple drew the bright cloud out of the dark one. These clouds are a way to express the transcendent nature of G-d. The Dark Cloud (Araphel) represents the transcendent nature of G-d, while the Bright Cloud (Anan) represents the Immanent nature of G-d. But the Bright Cloud had to be housed, hidden because of holiness, in the permanent structure of the Temple. G-d was close, but not too close.

In 587 BCE the First Temple was destroyed. It was the sin of Judah that brought down the curtain. The show was over. The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of the departure of the Shekhinah from the Temple, but there was also a promise of hope in that solemn scene:

"Say then: Thus said the Lord GOD: I have indeed removed them far among the nations and have scattered them among the countries, and I have become to them a diminished sanctity (or small sanctuary - Miqdash)*in the countries whither they have gone. Yet say: Thus said the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the Land of Israel. And they shall return there, and do away with all its detestable things and all its abominations. I will give them one heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove the heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, that they may follow My laws and faithfully observe My rules. Then they shall be My people and I will be their God. But as for them whose heart is set upon their detestable things and their abominations, I will repay them for their conduct -- declares the Lord GOD. Then the cherubs, with the wheels beside them, lifted their wings, while the Presence of the God of Israel rested above them. The Presence of the LORD ascended from the midst of the city and stood on the hill east of the city. A spirit carried me away and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God to the exile community in Chaldea. Then the vision that I had seen left me" (Ezekiel 11:16-24 Tanakh JPS, *italics added).