An Order of Protection

I was joined for breakfast this morning by a nice family from Chicago. Last night, they told me, they were at a restaurant near the Old City when suddenly someone yelled in Hebrew, "Under the tables! Immediately!" Everyone got down under their tables, some turning their tables over to use as shields. Plates of food shattered on the ground. Police and soldiers rushed in to secure the area.

Thank God no one was hurt at that restaurant; the real danger was happening elsewhere. But what a traumatic experience! My breakfast buddies found themselves suddenly cowering on the floor, their prone bodies shielding their daughter beneath them. "We though we were going to die."

How can we live like this? When faced with such terror, where do we turn?

My brother Ely noted yesterday that the Sukkah is a callback to the protective clouds that God used to shield us from harm in the desert. Sukkah is from the term s'chach, which connotes protection. Isn't this strange? Isn't the sukkah actually the least protective of structures?

But, continues Ely, what is true protection? Whom are we really protected by? All our "protections" are illusory, whether they be permanent homes, protective clouds, or overturned tables.

On Sukkos, when we willingly place ourselves in a vulnerable situation, living outside in a flimsy, temporary hut, we are reminded that there is only One Protector on Whom we can truly rely.

And that realization, rather than fear, can bring joy.