Elizabeth Hurley and the Hoff Museum

From Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:

 We’re in the middle of the festival of Sukkot, Tabernacles, or more accurately temporary shelters, this week, one of my favourite times of the Jewish year. What’s not to like about building a temporary shelter, open in part to the sky, decorated with flowers, fruit and vegetables, with abundance everywhere. 

Technically, we Jews are supposed to ‘dwell’ in the Sukkah, the temporary shelter. Most of us fulfil that religious duty by sitting down in it briefly each day. But many traditional Jews literally move out into their Sukkah and have their meals there. My grandmother, a very orthodox Jew, was determined to eat her meals in the Sukkah, even as she grew frailer. 

So she used to heat it, long before the days of outdoor heaters. And this is NOT a festival designed for British weather. So she used old-fashioned 2 bar electric heaters on a long lead. But because she wouldn’t switch them off on the Sabbath, the heaters got rained on, and she managed to set fire to her house by short-circuiting the electrics on several occasions!

 But the serious message is not just about dwelling in our temporary shelters. We do that to remind ourselves of those without shelter, homeless and displaced. It’s all about the fragility of life, and of human possessions. All of us who live snug and secure all year are forced to realise that that security can vanish in an instant, and it’s not to be relied upon.

 “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” That’s the beginning of the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, which we read at Sukkot. Everything is meaningless, except for loving God, doing what’s right, and holding on to your family. That’s quite a downer as we celebrate plenty, but in fact so typical of the light and shade of everyday life- celebrate plenty, but give it away, rejoice in the beauty of nature, but never forget it’s all temporary.

And so we celebrate and rejoice….. But we also use the festival to remember that we are fragile, and that those more fragile than we are deserve our support.