When you think about what it means to be spiritual, find spirituality, or anything remotely approximating those experiences, what do you think of? Do you find your attention turning to experiences and images of relative solitude? Of solitary walks on the beach or perhaps, lonely mountain peaks? That is certainly one spiritual type. But not the only one.
Perhaps, when you think of being spiritual, you imagine yourself amidst raucous crowds, at home in messy scenes replete with food and wine and loud singing. Do you find that your most spirited moments are more about connecting outward than about connecting inward?
There is no one right way or place to find spirituality, but it pays to know your own path and at least sometimes, to flirt with alternative paths and places. I find myself thinking about that a great deal at this time of year, as my own pursuits include celebrating Sukkot, the biblical festival of Tabernacles, which makes room for both the spirituality of retreat and of reaching out.
The sukkah is a temporary hut built outdoors, and for seven days, people gather there for meals, and some even to sleep. Anyone who has ever built a tree house, or gone backyard camping – whether as a child or with their kids – knows what it’s like.
There is no one right way or place to find spirituality, but it pays to know your own path and at least sometimes, to flirt with alternative paths and places.
You may only be steps from your back door, but you enter that space – be a hut, a tree house or a tent – and you have entered your own wonderful little retreat. Food tastes special, conversations feel more intimate.
The interesting thing about the sukkah is that while it provides all of that, it is a hut defined by the presence of a permeable roof – one which actually allows the rain to seep in when the weather turns bad. What kind of retreat is that?! One which knows that spirit is found both in our retreat from the rain which falls in our lives, and also in the rain itself.
I love the sukkah precisely because it makes room for both the spirituality of retreat and the spirituality of increased connection to the world in which we live. I love that it celebrates the fact that spiritual connection is not fundamentally an either/or kind of thing, but rather both/and.
We may all have a favored path, but the sukkah reminds us that when it comes to sacred paths of spiritual connection, there are many paths that we can take, and probably need to try at least more than one, at least some of the time.
Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”