The ‘Sabbath of Sabbaths’
The Second Sukkot After October 7, 2023
desecrated
at 9.31 am
in the midst of
morning prayers
in a north Manchester suburb
it could have been
so much worse
security volunteers
holding-fast the door
the arrival of armed police
at 9.38
sealing the fate of the attacker
still
two congregants dead
three wounded
the rabbi’s white robe
stained with blood
the worshippers
traumatised
the heart of
Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation
broken
by malevolent violence
rooted
in age-old-Jew-hatred
fuelled
by a century-old conflict
elsewhere.
And so
back in Gaza
where since
a previous sacred-day-desecrated
in southern Israel
by the massacre of twelve-hundred
days have had
no distinctions
even the sacred days
lives destroyed
every day
for hundreds of days
while hostages
for those same
hundreds of days
incarcerated.
And now
on the second Sukkot
since October 7, 2023
hope revived
that this Sukkot
will see an end
to bloodshed
the release
of the remaining captives
alive and dead
plans for
reconstruction
steps towards
a lasting
and just
peace?
Meanwhile
as we ‘dwell in Sukkot’
for seven days
those fragile
temporary shelters
open to the elements
constructed in remembrance
of our ancestors’
wilderness wanderings
for our rejoicing
in the fruits of the harvest
the wandering
starving
people of Gaza
displaced again and again
have been dwelling
in flimsy tents
open to the elements
for two years.
May Sh’mini Atzeret
the ‘eighth day of closure’
that concludes the sacred season
the day
on which the past two-years-of-horror
commenced
be transformed into
the day
of new beginnings.
Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah