From Antisemitism to the Sukkah: The Unseen Law Behind the Hatred

What is the connection between an effigy hanging from a gallows outside the UN building and a few branches laid over the roof of a Sukkah? Or put simply: what connects global antisemitism to the holiday of Sukkot?

Hardly a week goes by without another report of Jewish hatred. A synagogue requiring heavily armed guards. A Jew attacked on the street. Demonstrations calling to erase Israel. Country after country openly turning against us.

Today, we will sit in the Sukkah. It seems like these two worlds have nothing in common, but the Sukkah holds the exact answer.

First, we have to recognize that there is no logical explanation for this. Those who murder and burn receive applause. Those who develop medicines and save lives face boycotts. And it’s not just isolated individuals - it is entire nations.

Our response is always the same: another speech, more diplomacy, another PR campaign listing everything we’ve contributed to the world. It doesn't help, and it won't help. Because this is a law of nature.

The law of gravity doesn't care whether you believe in it or not. Human society is governed by similar invisible laws. One of them states that the people of Israel - an assembly gathered from all the nations of ancient Babylon - must unite and show the world how to connect.

I am not inventing anything here; we all see it. Year after year, the hatred among us grows, and parallel to it, the external hatred toward us grows too. What happens on the inside projects outward. What separates us isn't politics or differing opinions - it's the ego. It's our nature. You cannot erase human nature; you can only balance it.

And that is precisely what the holiday of Sukkot is all about.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a Sukkah is defined by its roof (Schach), not its walls. The Schach symbolizes the Masach (screen) - a force that balances our egoistic desire. Someone who builds such a screen over their ego simply stops trampling the person sitting next to them. That is the only way we can sit tightly together under the same roof.

In the evening, we invite the Ushpizin (guests). They symbolize the spiritual forces that correct us, and they only enter when we agree to open the door to them - when we first agree to learn how connection works. That is the cure. Not diplomatic PR.

All year long, we complain about each other and vent to the world: “What do they want from us?” It doesn't make logical sense - and that irrationality is the proof.

Maybe this year, before we ask the world what it wants from us, we should ask the person sitting right across from us in the Sukkah.

Chag Sameach!