During this festival of Sukkot, may the fragile sukkah, which recalls our ancestors’ forty-year sojourn in the barren wilderness, remind us of our obligation to assist the poor, the homeless and the persecuted, and to remember those peoples across the globe, experiencing oppression, anguish, grief, loss, hardship and humiliation at this time.

This Sukkot we think, in particular, of the trapped people of the city of Aleppo, devastated by daily bombardments, and all those across Syria, who are in flight for their lives, aware that half of all the refugees are children.

Just as we wave the lulav in all the directions and so acknowledge the earth around us and Eternity beyond us, may we also to reach out to other peoples in distress, wherever they live, contribute to the alleviation of their suffering, and commit ourselves to the sacred task of tikkun olam, repair of the world.

And let us say: Amen.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah