You are invited, please do come in,
Honored Guests, builders of this sukkah:
You are invited,
Builders of our past sukkot
In the backyard, the park, the roof:
Every year
You put up the walls
You hung the decorations.
Where are you this week?
You are invited,
Builders of our Torah and Midrash
In the shul, in the ark,
In the books and the scrolls:
For thousands of years
You told the stories,
True even if not true.
We need good stories.
Builders of Halakha and Talmud
In the home, on the street, in the Beit Midrash:
All those many do’s and don’ts and questions.
This year we have too many challenges.
This year we are all questions.
All of us, trying to make sense
Of the unexplained and incongruous and cruel.
Can you make meaning of this year?
You are invited,
Builders of Jewish culture,
All the creatives
Forced to sit on your hands.
Please, find a way to reach us.
We wish it was always safe to sing.
Builders of ideas and rational thought,
Science and philosophy, change and experimentation
In universities and conferences and back rooms across the world,
Ask the questions, do the math, challenge us.
Don’t be nice, make us listen.
You are invited,
Builders of social change,
Of unions and parties and social movements,
Of agitation and resistance,
In the streets and online,
Join us in the voting booth,
A most important sukkah.
You are invited,
Builders of rituals and services,
Clergy and prayer leaders,
Inventing Judaism in an unprecedented era.
Help us save ourselves,
And save yourselves, too, please.
Have a sip or two of wine, say a blessing.
Rest for a second. You okay?
And you are invited,
Builders of necessary services,
Food and sanitation and transportation,
Caregivers and teachers and medical workers,
On zoom and online and on our doorstep.
You are all essential workers
Essential to our souls and our bodies
And we pray for your health and well-being.
We pray you are paid a living fair wage,
We cannot survive without you.
How can we serve you?
You are each invited,
You are the builders of all our sukkahs,
Past and present.
Please do come in, Honored Guests.
Sit. Eat.
Have you shaken the lulav yet today?
Stay safe,
