Sukkot: Celebrating God’s Presence

Sukkot 5786

David Tokajer, UMJC Vice-President, Congregation Mayim Chayim, Daphne, AL

Sukkot is called z’man simchateinu—the season of our joy—but the joy is not shallow happiness. It is joy rooted in God’s presence, His faithfulness, and the promise of ultimate redemption. The Torah reading for Shabbat Chol HaMoed during Sukkot (Exodus 33:12–34:26) and the primary Haftarah reading for Sukkot from Zechariah 14 together highlight this reality. They remind us that God’s presence is the true source of our joy, and that His glory will one day cover all nations as the waters cover the sea.

In the Torah portion, Moses pleads with God after the sin of the golden calf. Israel’s rebellion has jeopardized their loyalty to the covenant, and God has threatened to withdraw His presence. Moses refuses to settle for that. His cry is simple yet profound: “If Your presence does not go with me, don’t let us go up from here!” (Exod 33:15 TLV). Israel can survive without many things, but not without the Shekhinah, the Presence of God. Moses goes further—he dares to ask, “Show me Your glory.” God responds with a revelation of His character, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exod 34:6-7).

The essence of Sukkot comes into focus here: God’s people rejoice not because life is easy or secure, but because His Presence dwells among us. The sukkah itself is a reminder that our security does not rest in walls of stone but in the covering of El Shaddai.

How does the sukkah remind of us this reality? We build what can be best described as a temporary hut, leaving behind the comfort and security of our homes to reside in the outdoors where we have no control over the weather or natural environment. We step into our own vulnerability and place our trust in God for our security. We set aside the comfort of our homes that are designed to withstand significant external forces and we step into temporary dwelling places designed to remind us of God’s Presence leading our forefathers through the wilderness and of His divine hand providing for all our needs.

In the Haftarah reading, the prophet Zechariah looks forward to the end of days, when the nations will gather against Jerusalem but God Himself will intervene. His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and living waters will flow from Jerusalem to the east and the west. Then comes the stunning vision: “Adonai will then be King over all the earth. In that day Adonai will be Echad [One] and His Name Echad” (Zech 14:9 TLV). And what feast will the nations be commanded to celebrate at that time? Sukkot. The nations who once opposed God’s covenant people will be required to ascend to Jerusalem year after year to worship the King and to keep the Feast of Booths (Zech 14:16–19).

Why Sukkot? Because this festival embodies dependence on God, universal joy, and the gathering of all peoples. Unlike Pesach or Shavuot, Sukkot is explicitly tied to the nations. Seventy bulls were sacrificed in the Temple during the festival—one for each of the seventy nations of the world (Talmud, Sukkah 55b). The prophetic picture is that in the Kingdom age, all nations will acknowledge God’s sovereignty, and Sukkot will become the great unifying festival of worship.

The Torah and Haftarah together frame the tension we live in today. We, like Moses, cry out for God’s Presence in the midst of a broken world. We build sukkot to remind ourselves that our true dwelling is not yet here. But we also look forward with hope to the day Zechariah describes, when Messiah Yeshua reigns in Jerusalem and every nation comes to rejoice before Him.

This is one of the most significant reasons why Sukkot relies so heavily on the concept of l’dor v’dor (from generation to generation). Leviticus 23:42–43 relays that we are to live in Sukkot so that future generations will remember all that God did for Israel as He brought us out from the land of Egypt. It can become all too easy to become comfortable, complacent, and assimilated into the environment we find ourselves in, however once a year we are commanded to give up that comfort and to remember how we are to rely wholly upon God’s Presence for our security and our blessing. Sukkot is a fun and energetic holiday, it is a time of great joy and gladness, but the reason for that joy and gladness is that we know God is with us. We know that God is our covering and our protection, and every year we have a divinely orchestrated time in which we not only recognize His Presence as our ultimate covering, but we also have the opportunity to sew that beautiful reality into the tapestry of our future generations as well.

So as we celebrate this z’man simchateinu, we don’t simply shake the lulav—the palm frond, myrtle, and willow branches (Lev 23:40)—and dwell in the sukkah out of ritual. Rather, we proclaim with our lives that God’s Presence is our covering, His mercy is our joy, and His coming Kingdom is our hope.