The beginning of the academic year coincides with one of the most intense times of celebration in the Jewish calendar. I often worry that Jewish students around the country, especially Freshers, must find it challenging to combine all the intensity of the beginning of their academic life with the great festivals which are happening in their faith communities. If anyone can tell me how you do it – I would love to know!
As I mentioned in my blog last month, the Jewish New Year fell this year on 26th September and was followed on 5th October by Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, a day of intense fasting and repentance. I’m writing this during the feast of Sukkot, the feast of Tabernacles. This week-long harvest festival commemorates the dwelling of the Israelites in temporary booths (sukkot in Hebrew) during their 40-year sojourn in the Sinai desert. If they are able to do so, Jewish families build their own sukkah outside, in which it is customary to eat meals and sleep.
Sleeping outside at this time of year, even with the protection of a flimsy shelter, can be challenging. Many Jews deepen their awareness of the sufferings of homeless people during this week and use it as an encouragement to help those who are sleeping rough for other reasons than religious practice!
They may also reflect on the teaching of Rabbi Akiva, an especially highly respected first century rabbi, who reminded his students that during their “camping” in the wilderness, the people of Israel were guided by and a pillar of flame by night and a pillar of cloud by day.[1]
Rabbi Akiva made a connection between the pillar of cloud that guided the people during the day and the ‘clouds of glory’ that came down and covered Mount Sinai as the Torah was given, the cloud that covered the Tent of Meeting, and the cloud that filled the Sanctuary in Solomon’s time. The clouds were signs of God’s presence, his awesome holiness sanctifying the people. And as well as coming to a building of stone, (Solomon’s Temple), they also came to the makeshift shelter of a homeless people wandering around, very unsure what was going on! The message is clear. God is present with us and can bless us, wherever we are!
On 16th October this year there will be the festival of Simchat Torah, which literally means, Rejoicing with the Torah, and it celebrates the gift of God’s Law. From this day the yearly cycle of appointed Sabbath readings from the Torah, (the book of the Law, the first 5 books of the Bible), goes back to the beginning. It literally goes back to the beginning, because the first words of the Bible are ,בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereshit, “In the beginning…” [2]
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.”[3]
These opening words of the Bible are so important that two of the writers of the Christian Gospels chose to open their books in the same way.
Among so many, many, things that can be said about these verses, they remind us that God, our creator, brings light where there is chaos and emptiness. As in the desert, his hovering presence is characterised by light and the creation of things infinitely good. Yearly cycles of festivals teach us that beginnings are things to which we have to return. We can make a new beginning every day, wherever we are – a beginning open to God’s presence, to the cloud of his glory, covering us, renewing us and guiding us.
Mother Sarah
[1] See https://www.ljs.org/thought.html
[2] Genesis 1:1
[3] Genesis 1:1 - 3
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