At the age of 20, I packed up and went off to US Navy Basic
Training. Whilst in ‘Boot Camp’ as military
entrance training is almost universally called, I continued my Jewish practice
as much as I could. I celebrated
Passover, and attended Jewish chapel services every week. Everybody in the company knew me as a proudly
self-affirming Jew. This opened me to an
experience I had not known previously. I
was the only Jew in my company. And the
other ‘boots’ were mostly Christians – of the sort that I had never before
encountered. I grew up in New York’s
borough of Queens and then Miami Beach.
The Christians I encountered there were mostly Roman Catholic. And they were as interested in having Jewish
friends, as I was in having Christian friends.
That is to say, it was simply considered an important part of life. But the Christians I met in Boot Camp were
different. Most of them didn’t even
consider Roman Catholics to be Christians.
And most of them had never, knowingly, encountered a Jew in an intimate
setting. And believe me, Boot Camp is one
intimate setting.
I’m not implying
that it was a hostile environment for Jews.
Nothing of the sort. It was
simply an unfamiliar environment.
For the first time in my life, I was asked time and again to explain
Jews, Judaism, and Jewish thought. I didn’t
always have the answers. But the
experience taught me the importance of making it my business to learn the
answers.
At some point during
Boot Camp, I wrote a letter to a Jewish outreach worker whom I’d met only a few
months before, through my then-girlfriend.
I told him of my experiences, being the only one in the company to ‘show
the colours’ for Judaism. And about my
frustrations in the task. His response
was to send me a book. What could be a
more Jewish response??! It was a book on
‘defending’ the Jewish faith to Christians. And inside the book’s front cover he penned an
inscription: Dear Don, you are truly
a Jew in the Wilderness.
That phrase, a
Jew in the Wilderness, really stuck with me. In a sense it is stepping into the
wilderness when we immerse ourselves in a culture, in an environment, where Jews,
and overt Jewish influence, are rare.
Some Jews, the outreach worker who was my correspondent included, avoid situations
where there are few Jews. They immerse themselves
in an environment where Jews are conspicuous and Jewish influence pervasive. This, to enhance their sense of being ‘at
home’ rather than ‘in the Wilderness.’ I’m
not criticising this tendency, mind you.
Who doesn’t want to feel that they’re in a comfortable environment, a
native habitat? But some of us, due to
our various influences and life choices, do not spend our days in such a
comfortable place. For various reasons,
we find ourselves more often in the Wilderness.
Sukkot, the festival
that we begin this evening with the advent of the harvest moon (in the northern
hemisphere, that is!), is all about surviving and thriving in the
Wilderness. The temporary hut that
we construct and enjoy, reminds us of the precariousness of life. And the Four Species that we wave around,
remind us of God’s Presence in all the ‘corners’ of our world. The combined message is that, whilst life is
more precarious as would sometimes seem given our prosperity and comforts,
God is always present to shelter us under the loving protection of His
Wings. Even when we are forced out of
our comfort zone by the circumstances of life.
Even when we must travel far into the wilderness to eke out our
living. Even when the Divine Voice
whispering Lech Lecha, Go Forth! gives
us pause because it means travelling unknown territory.
Historically, the
journey in the Wilderness evoked by this festival, is the 40 years’
wandering in the desert. That which was
the ancient Israelites’ lot because of their inability to shed the mindset of
slaves. That God was there, constantly,
to protect them, shows that this sojourn should not be seen as a punishment. Rather it was a necessity. If this people was going to become a free
people in their own land, under God’s Sovereignty, then it could not be
avoided. A new generation, forged in the
desert, had to succeed the Egypt-born generation. God acts on necessity. He doesn’t punish out of spite.
So even as God was
with the Israelites during their sojourn in the Wilderness, so too is He
with us in ours. We celebrate
this fact as we begin to dwell in the sukkah, and as we wave the Lulav and Etrog
in six directions.
This is especially
important to remember as we leave the recent Ten Days of Repentence behind. The twin occasions of the New Year and the Day
of Atonement are intended to re-focus our energies towards what’s most important
in life. Now, as we contemplate the
meandering and difficult road ahead, we spend a week reminding ourselves
through the sensory and tactile experiences of this festival, that we are not
alone in this journey.
And I’ll add that a rare ‘blood red’
moon is slated to appear with the advent of Sukkot this year. This is the final occurrence of a series of
lunar eclipses that have all occurred on major Jewish festivals. There are Jews and Christians who believe
that this is a harbinger of the ‘Day of Hashem’ predicted in Joel 2:31. Perhaps.
I’m personally not one of those looking to predict the Messianic Era, On
the other hand, many credible voices do engage in this speculation.
Yes, we are Jews in the
Wilderness. But we are not completely
left alone to be buffeted by the ceaseless and spirit-killing winds of the
desert. Instead, we shelter in a sukkah
which, despite its flimsiness, still provides important shelter. And we hold and wave the Four Species,
invoking the presence of G-d in every corner of our world. If that isn’t comforting, I don’t know what
it! Chag Sameach!
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