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From Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski, rabbi of Golders Green Synagogue and CEO of University Jewish Chaplaincy:

 Today marks the middle of the major Jewish festival season.  Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, has just finished and on Wednesday, we start the Sukkot festival, the most exuberant week of the entire calendar.  Jewish festivals are rather like buses – none for ages and then they all come at once!  It’s a wonderful time of the year, but sometimes it feels like God could have spaced them out a bit better…

 Recently, I’ve begun to understand why it must be like this.  It’s best explained with a story...

 As we know, rabbis love to disagree.  In fact, I don’t know what we’d do all day if we were to agree.  One of my favourite disagreements happened in central Israel in the early second century.  The rabbis gathered in an attic to discuss whether study or action is superior – in short, whether life is mainly about thinking or doing?  Rabbi Tarfon said that action is superior but Rabbi Akiva felt that study is better.  Apparently, the debate ended when their colleagues proclaimed that study is preferable because it leads to action!

 This mind-bending rabbinic discussion is really about whether we are able to turn our dreams into reality.  The Yom Kippur fast helps us to imagine how we’d like the world to be, what kind of people we want to become.  We end the day on a high, confident that God loves us, certain that we can make a difference.  But if we allow normal life to resume, our dreams will remain just dreams: beautiful but sterile.  This is where Sukkot comes in. We live in temporary huts – Sukkot, effectively creating a home within which those dreams can mature and become our reality.

 Golda Meir, in her time prime minister of Israel, captured this idea: Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

 That message is most obvious at our home during the meal following Yom Kippur.  We are exhilarated but exhausted, reflecting on a day well spent while reprising its greatest hits.  Yet for a few minutes, we leave the table to attach the roof to our Sukkah, in the dark.  This simple act, more than any I know, drives home the importance of active steps to turn our dreams into reality.  Chag Sameach – a joyful Sukkot.