The Willow and the Compost Heap

The Willow and the Compost Heap

At Jewish Newport

Sukkot 2020

October 9, 2020

By Aaron Ginsburg

Thank you to Rabbi Marc Mandel

Also at https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewishnewport

Rabbi Marc Mandel of Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island shared a message with Jewish Newport,

“As the year 5781 begins, we are all feeling a sense of vulnerability. As this blog goes to press, we have reached the grim milestone of one million people who have lost their lives to the pandemic. We feel vulnerable because we can't control this invisible virus. We feel as unstable as a blade of grass or a passing cloud. But the festivals of the month of Tishrei teach us that our attitudes can help us deal with our vulnerabilities.

“Once we accept vulnerability as part of our reality, we are ready to live with it and even conquer it. With a changed attitude, we can have the confidence to position ourselves in a flimsy Sukkah and still feel secure. With faith in God, we can maintain peace of mind and serenity in our unpredictable and vulnerable world. Chag Sameach!”

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In 2005 I remember rushing back to my home in Sharon, Massachusetts after visiting a friend in Amherst, MA.  I was trying to arrive in time for evening services on the first night of Sukkot. I ran so fast to shul that I was out of breath when I arrived. To my shock, the shul was empty! I was a day early. 

While walking home, an idea popped into my head on Pond St. in Sharon: a website devoted to pictures of Sukkahs. I struggled the next morning to set up a website, and then went looking for sukkahs with my Kodak digital camera. I was so nervous I only found 5 sukkahs. And so Sukkahsoftheworld.org was born. 

During Hol Hamoed, I learned about many more sukkahs in Sharon, even the ones that were behind high fences. Soon I had pictures of 70 sukkahs from Sharon alone, not to mention ones from Shanghai, China and St Louis, Missouri. 

On Hashanah Rabbah that year, it snowed early in the morning, and a gust of wind blew down some of the sukkahs. I ran out after services to catch sukkahs in the snow before melting began.

This year it has also been windy, and Jeff Weizenkorn’s sukkah blew down just a few hours after he erected it, even though it was secured with concrete blocks. Jeff is handy. He went to Home Depot, got some brackets and secured the sukkah to the cement deck using TAPCON screws! 

Hoshanah Rabbah is Judaism’s most visceral holiday. As always in Judaism, we say a blessing before starting. A youtube video at https://youtu.be/n2gcQuZGRUs shows benching the lulav, etrog, hadass, and aravah-palm branch, citron,  myrtle and willow.

After marching around seven times while holding the four species, we take the willow and beat it on the ground at least five times for the leaves to fall off. 

Purportedly, this is a symbolic casting off of our sins; the gate of forgiveness that opens on Rosh Hashanah closes on Hashana Rabbah. But beating the ground with a branch is so dramatic and so violent, it must have more meaning.Is it rage or frustration at the fragility of our existence?

This morning, at Hashanah Rabbah services in the Temple Israel Sharon parking lot, Brian Silver wondered if we should recycle our willows and myrtles. As if on cue, Ken Sperber collected them for his compost heap. Rabbi Ron Fish told us to save the lulav for the burning of the chametz before Passover.

May you, your sukkahs and your compost heaps be well during 5781 and beyond!