How do we rebuild our hopes up again and again as they keep crashing?
In the 16th Century, a Jewish mystic and poet by the name of Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz composed Lecha Dodi - Go Lover -- a prayer-poem that would end up inserted into every Friday night service in every synagogue worldwide. There are secret and mystical layers to this beautiful hymn and many of the famous lines and expressions were inspired by the prophets - esp. Isaiah and Jeremiah.
One of the key concepts in Lecha Dodi is the rebuilding of Jerusalem -- but it isn’t just the physical city that the poet refers to but what it represented -- the return of peace, the rise of the divine protection - the Shechina, the individual soul’s sense of connection to the sacred, and the national yearning for a return home - to the homeland. All of those will one day, from the rubble - rise.
It’s been a tough week for Jeremiah - almost killed and put on trial for his voice, fighting with false prophets in both Jerusalem and Babyolon - he sticks to the truth at all costs. And then he shifts tone to include some visions of future consolations that will follow the fury. In Jeremiah’s 30the chapter he hopes for better days -- those will emerge out of the ashes of Assyrian and Babylonian conquest and exile. The image that he saves for the future days of redemption is a city rebuilt, a temple or palace rising from its heap of ashes:
Lecha Dodi echoes the phrase -- The city will be rebuilt on its mound -- a vision of continuity. The very heap of ruin is the site of the sacred center of the future - the new will rise from the old.
Hope and optimism play such a vital role in our lives, too often dismissed as naive.
That’s why I love the transition of the Days of Atonement to the celebration of Succot - the holiday in which we build, again, a temporary temple, a holy hut in our backyard. There are many weird and wonderful reasons for this harvest holiday and its many traditions but for me, the essence is in the annual invitation to rebuild our lives, again, from the past, fully present, impermanent, transient and hopeful. The Succah is up for a week, rain or shine, and like the vision offered in Lecha Dodi - it is the shelter of the sacred, the hope of homecoming, and the promise of joy out of repentance and remorse.
In the words of Jeremiah - let’s rebuild the temporary homes of peace and optimism, starting tonight, inviting ancestors and prophets, friends and guests to feast and to share visions -- what’s the hopeful future looking like for all of us? And sure - invite the prophet Jeremiah to your Succah! I’m sure he’ll have a lot to say..
Shabbat Shalom and Joyful Succot!
Thank you for joining Jeremiah and me @belowthebiblebelt929.
Rebuild Your Sacred Shelter, Again.