Chag Sukkot
The Yom Tov of Sukkot is unique in many ways, none more than the glaring difference in the sacrificial rite as found in the Torah. The offerings of each and every special day, Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Pesach and Shavuot, share a common obligation: one ram and seven 1-year-old lambs. Sukkot is the exception to that rule, as the Torah specifies that each day of Sukkot requires twice the amount, i.e., two rams and 14 one-year-old lambs. (Rav Yoel bin Nun of Michlelet Herzog argues that Sukkot is actually two separate holidays that happen to fall out on the exact same days, hence, the double offerings!)
Unique also is the amount of bulls to be offered that varies each and every day of Sukkot, decreasing in number from 13 on the first day of Sukkot to seven on the final day of the holiday. Chazal make this point in Tractate Sukkah (55b), explaining that the number of bulls sacrificed over the Yom Tov equals 70, symbolic of the “70 nations,” and hinting that they too are remembered on this holiday and will eventually observe it.
And that idea is reflected in the choice of haftarah for the first day of Sukkot, for, as Rashi explains, the observance of Sukkot is mentioned three times in this selection from Sefer Zechariah. Interestingly, each mention focuses not upon Israel but upon the universality of the holiday, telling of the eventual obligation of all nations to celebrate the holiday during the Messianic era. Indeed, it is an obligation regarded as so important that, if ignored, would carry a punishment to those nations who failed to heed Hashem’s command to celebrate the holiday.
And yet, I find this selection especially meaningful to us today. The navi Zechariah prophesied in Yerushalayim at the beginning of the Second Temple era. In the final section of his book, the prophet focuses upon the redemption of Israel and specifically the battle of the nations for the conquest of the Holy City. When our haftarah opens, Zechariah depicts this battle and tells of a time when “half the nation will go into exile (from Jerusalem) and half will not be eliminated from the city.” He then goes on to predict the great day when God will battle for the city and reunite it, bringing the Jews back to a liberated Yerushalayim.
Throughout our troubled and difficult exile we were banished and banned from our Holy City numerous times. However, there was never a time in our history when Jews were allowed to remain in only one half of the city and were banished from the other half—except for the years of 1948-1967. Nor do we know of a great war that would reunite the city—except the Six-Day War. When we listen to the words of the prophets we should realize that their prophecies no longer remain in the “hopefully soon” realm but are being fulfilled in our own time!
These are not quotations from the Tannaim nor suggestions from the Geonim—opinions that might be challenged by other great contemporaries. These are the words of Hashem Himself, spoken by His nevi’im! It is time, is it not, that we no longer see in these haftarot prophetic promises to be realized in the distant future.
They are no longer yesterday’s promises. They are today’s headlines!
Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.
