Judaism of Fire & Judaism of Water

It is a very busy holiday season (and that’s without factoring in the three three-day yom tovs).

I have always felt that Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot create a three-week Jewish new year’s celebration. On Rosh Hashanah, we begin a new year declaring how great we know we can be. We don’t repent or list sins. We boldly sound the shofar as a coronation of God’s Kingship and a declaration for what we are capable of, while recounting the patriarchal and Sinaitic covenants.

We then work to repair our mistakes and eliminate the sins that might get in the way of fulfilling our potential during the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur. Finally, two weeks into the new year, we celebrate over Sukkot. Sukkot is a chance to put our grand plan for the new year into practice with its myriad observances, rituals, and religious celebrations. We also keep things in perspective by reading Kohelet on Shabbat Chol Hamoed with its reminders that life isn’t one big party.

Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin (La’Torah U’Lamoadim, V’Zot Haberacha) notes that Yom Kippur and Sukkot present two different models of Jewish living: fire and water.

On Yom Kippur, there is a lot of focus on fire. We read about the mizbeiach (altar) and all the sacrifices that were burned on it. The Kohein Gadol (High Priest) would bring fiery coals into the Kodesh Hakodashim (Holy of Holies). Sukkot, on the other hand, is a festival of water. There is the unique nisuch hamayim ceremony where water was drawn and poured out. The arba minim (four species) are all dependent on water, and the aravah (willow) specifically must grow by the water. Sukkot is the holiday where the rainfall for the year is set, and we start praying for rain at the end of the holiday on Shemini Atzeret.

Rav Zevin says fire is the Judaism of Yom Kippur, and water is the Judaism of Sukkot.

On Yom Kippur, we try to elevate our religious lives and experience a more sanctified existence. We forego physical pleasures. We spend the entire day in shul, within sacred space. We try to purify ourselves “lifnei Hashem,” standing before God, more angel than human. We try to transcend the earthly plane and rise the way fire burns upwards.

Sukkot is very different. On Sukkot, we bring holiness down into our daily lives. We leave our homes – not to go to shul but to the Sukkah. The mitzvah of dwelling in the Sukkah takes eating, sleeping, and just hanging out and creates an exalted religious experience. We take ordinary agricultural objects and turn them into the mitzvah of the Four Species full of symbolism and spiritual significance. Just as water drips or flows down, we bring kedushah down into our everyday lives.

Yom Kippur and Sukkot are opposites – fire and water. They provide two models of Judaism, The Judaism of striving upwards towards holiness through extraordinary means, and the Judaism of bringing religion into the nitty gritty of daily living.

Since October 7, we have seen many examples of both types of Judaism.

We have seen the sacrifice of so many who have given of themselves – and sometimes given their lives. The heroes who inspire us by their bravery, their resilience, or their sacrifice. There is a fiery religiosity on the battlefield. Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon noted that there have never been so many sefarim, Torah books, brought to the battlefield by soldiers who study every chance they get. There have never been as many soldiers declaring “Sehma Yisrael!” and other prayers before heading into combat. This is the fiery Judaism of striving mightily to rise higher and sanctify impossible conditions.

We have also seen ordinary people who inspire us with simple, heroic actions. We have seen goodness and kindness “trickle down” from the losses and horrors so many have endured.

Alon Mesika’s 23-year-old son, Adir, was murdered at the Nova festival along with most of his best friends. Adir was an avid surfer and traveler in the process of starting his own jewelry business, following in the footsteps of his father, a jeweler himself. He died trying to fight back and protect his girlfriend, Yuli, who ultimately survived. After sitting shiva, Alon told himself that he needed to stay busy. Coincidentally, he heard from one of Adir’s friends that there was a soldier hoping to propose who was looking for a ring. Alon invited him to the Diamond Exchange to pick up a diamond ring. He wanted to do more. He put out a Facebook message offering an engagement ring to the next soldier who comes out of Gaza and is about to get engaged. Within minutes, he got a response, and then another. As of May, he had given away 84 diamond engagement rings to soldiers!

Alon said, “Hamas is destroying houses and I am building them.” Transforming tragedy into a chesed opportunity is an example of bringing kedushah down.

Sukkot is Zman Simchateinu, a time to rejoice. Even in difficult times, we should celebrate the opportunities we have as Jews to rise up and improve our lives and the lives of those around us. We should also rejoice in the ordinary opportunities that allow holiness to flow down into our everyday lives.