Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and the Renewal of Hope: Shabbat Chol Hamoed Sukkot. Kol Shalom, 2025

This Shabbat of Chol Hamoed Sukkot finds us dwelling in fragile 

huts open to the sky. Sukkot invites us to step out from the security 

of our walls, to accept our human fragility, and to open ourselves to 

the experience of the Divine Presence. It is no coincidence that the 

texts we read on this Shabbat speak of that same tension: 

vulnerability and presence, judgment and mercy, destruction and 

Hope.

In the Torah reading, Moses finds himself in a moment of deep 

despair. The people have just fallen into the sin of the golden calf; 

the covenant seems broken, trust shattered. And Moses offers a 

heartbreaking plea: “Please, show me Your glory.” God does not 

respond with punishment or distance, but with revelation. 

God teaches Moses the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy—

compassionate and gracious, patient, abundant in kindness and 

truth. In the darkest moment, the most radiant teaching emerges: 

that the Divine Presence reveals itself not in perfection, but in 

sensitivity, love, forgiveness, and resilience.

That same spirit resonates in the Haftarah, from the 

prophet Ezekiel, who describes the war of Gog and Magog—a 

vision of total conflict, yet also of its resolution. The prophet’s 

message is not destruction, but the certainty that, in the end, God 

will bring lasting peace and moral restoration to the world. In the 

midst of chaos, there is a promise of redemption.

Every war must be avoided, but if one breaks out, it cannot be 

allowed to continue indefinitely. War is never a normal condition. 

Wars must always come to an end.

Can we imagine a path truly opening toward global peace in the 

Middle East?

Thus, Torah and Haftarah meet at a single point: human fragility 

and the possibility of renewal. And that is precisely what we 

celebrate on Sukkot. We dwell in temporary shelters, yet we 

rejoice. We acknowledge the uncertainty of life, yet we affirm trust. 

It is a beautiful paradox: happiness does not depend on strong 

walls, but on the faith that sustains us.

In a few days we will celebrate Simchat Torah, the culmination of 

this sacred cycle. 

We finish the last verse of Deuteronomy and, without pause, begin 

again with Bereshit. There is no final period—the Torah flows like 

life itself: always in motion, always beginning anew. In a time of so 

much pain, that continuity is itself an act of hope. To dance with 

the Torah is to declare that, despite suffering, the Jewish people 

continue to choose life, faith, and joy.

This year, however, our dancing carries the weight of reality.

Last Tuesday, we commemorated the massacre of October 7, 

remembering the victims, the horror, and the savagery of a 

barbaric ideology. It happened on the morning of Simchat 

Torah two years ago.

Since that day, not all the sons and daughters of Israel have been 

able to dance in freedom. The death and destruction that followed 

that genocidal and unprecedented act brought indescribable 

human suffering—on both sides of the border.

We remember the hostages who remain in captivity, the families 

who await them, those who have lost loved ones, and all the 

innocent people caught in this obscene violence. 

We lift our prayers for them—for their release, for the end of the 

war, and for the possibility that one day peace will cease to be a 

dream and become our destiny.

On this Shabbat, in the midst of Sukkot, we hear God say to Moses: 

“Behold, I will make all My goodness pass before you.” May that 

goodness pass before us as well—covering our wounds, easing our 

fears, and renewing our hope. Hope mixed with doubt and fear, but 

hope nonetheless.

May the fragility of the sukkah remind us that even the most fragile 

shelters can be filled with divine light. And as we dance with the 

Torah on Simchat Torah, may our souls rise above the sorrow of 

that Simchat Torah two years ago and renew the hope of a future 

of peaceful coexistence and harmony.

We are waiting with a mix of anxiety and controlled joy the 

returning of the hostages. If so, this Simchat Torah will bring us 

relief and hope, that this future of peace, is possible.

Ken yehi ratzon – May it be God’s will.