Rabbi Haviva Horvitz

The clocks soon turn back; the leaves are changing from green to red, yellow and brown; the sweaters have been taken out of storage…so we build a hut and live outside for a week.

Why do we celebrate the holiday of Sukkot in the fall?

Pesach, which focuses on the Exodus from Egypt, is observed in April. Shavuot, commemorating the receiving of the Torah, is celebrated seven weeks later. What are we doing on the holiday of Sukkot that requires it to happen in the early fall season?

When the Israelites traveled in the desert for 40 years, they used temporary dwellings.  Spending one week eating, if not actually living, in sukkot (huts) connects us with our ancestors.

But they traveled through the desert for 40 years, so we could connect with them at any time within the year. Why don’t we do so at an easier time of year?  Why specifically as the weather turns cold?

Sukkot is also a harvest festival in Israel and the sukkah (hut) reminds us of those who would stay with their fields and guard the harvest from thieves and animals.

But it is colder in America and hard to believe that this is the only reason to justify a week of “dwelling” outside with no television and none of the usual comforts of home.

The commandment is to dwell in the sukkah, and there are those who temporarily make the sukkah their official home during the festival.

The American holiday of Thanksgiving is also taking place at this time of year.

Historically this holiday was celebrated after the successful harvest season, hopefully saving sufficient food for the winter. But isn’t there more to this scheduling than that?

For the past 20 years, Xavier University in Cincinnati has created a “Shantytown” out of cardboard boxes, wooden crates and plywood roofing early in October.

Students live in these boxes for five days as a re-creation to connect them personally with the plight of people who are homeless. They have the right idea.

Whether it is a cardboard box or a sukkah, living outside when it is the summer is called camping.

When it is just chilly enough to be uncomfortable, it becomes something much more; it becomes a learning experience.

Living without our everyday comforts, outside in the cold, we learn how lucky we are and how thankful we should be for many of the things we might tend to take for granted.

When we look up at night and see the stars, let alone the rain, we begin to value the roof over our heads during the rest of the year with a renewed appreciation.

At Temple Beth Sholom in Middletown, in honor of Thanksgiving, food is collected and baskets compiled and delivered to help those less fortunate in our very own community.

Our religious school students, as well as their parents and other members of the congregation, are enthusiastically motivated by this mitzvah.

By including this additional dimension to the Thanksgiving holiday, we have the opportunity to reach out to those in need, which, in turn, helps us appreciate what we have.