The sukkah
is the most amazing place in the world.
Why? Because it is not in this world.
In the sukkah,
the Reality of ruchnius (the
spiritual world) is manifest. You are protected without any physical means of
protection; you are elevated while you are seated on the earth; you seem alone,
but you are surrounded by tzaddikim.
The Four Species are also not from this world: these flimsy plants which we
wave in six directions (during the Yom Tov of Sukkos) constitute a weapon of
such towering strength that those who wield it are invincible.
The mitzvos
of Sukkos demonstrate the complete dominance of ruchnius. They demonstrate that “ain
od milvado… there is nothing else beside Hashem.” Is this not the very
essence of our Holy Nation? Do we not demonstrate by our very existence the complete mastery of the King of the
Universe over every aspect of creation?
If secular logic ran the world, not a single
Jew would exist today, and there would certainly be no Jew who lives according
to the Torah. We are the nation whose remnant was scattered to “arba kanfos ha’aretz … the four corners of
the earth” some two thousand years ago. It seemed clear at that time that
we could never retain our cohesive existence and adherence to the Laws given to
our ancestors at Mount Sinai.
But no! Am
Yisroel Chai, the Nation of Israel lives forever! The Jewish soul cannot
die; the flame cannot be extinguished. Amidst the destruction and impurity, the sukkah sits eternal and untouchable.
From within its walls emanates a light which illuminates the entire world.
I would like to tell you a story.
Dr. Stephen Trokel is a world-famous
ophthalmologist. Why is he famous? For one thing, he is a principal pioneer,
inventor and innovator in laser vision correction. According to the “History of
Optometric Surgery” from the Optometric Professional Network, “Dr. Trokel
introduced Photorefractive keratectomy … He also patented the Excimer laser for
vision correction and performed the first surgery on a patient’s eyes in 1987.”
In addition, Dr. Trokel is a renowned specialist in thyroid-related eye
disease. He is a physician, surgeon and professor at New York’s
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, who still practices medicine at the age
of 83! It also happens that he has been my eye doctor for about forty years.
Although Dr. Trokel’s parents were born in
Europe, he grew up in America without the benefit of an observant home or yeshiva education. However, unlike so
many contemporaries, and despite his tremendous success, he felt the darkness
of a world which tries to forget its Creator. He built a sukkah inside his heart, from which an unquenchable light emanated.
Several months ago I received a phone call
from a distinguished Rav in Lakewood named Rabbi Aharon Zuckerman Shlita”h,
who also happens to be a patient of Dr. Trokel. Rabbi Zuckerman told me how Dr.
Trokel continually brought up questions in Yiddishkeit
and was fond of discussing his recent trip to his father’s shtetl. Rabbi Zuckerman wondered whether we could work with Dr.
Trokel to make up for the Torah which he had missed in his youth.
From this conversation grew a most amazing
event. Several weeks ago, we organized a small minyan in the Upper West Side of Manhattan at which Dr. Trokel put
on tallis and tefillin and was called up to the Torah for his bar mitzvah, seventy years after his
thirteenth birthday! Rabbi Zuckerman came in from Lakewood, and we had a small
festive meal afterwards at which Dr. Trokel spoke, and he stated that he wanted
it to be known that he was “born, lives
and will die as a Jew.” He said something which made a big impact on me
when he described what he called the “cold
spot in the core of man without Hashem.”
These are extremely
graphic and powerful words. Here
is a person at the pinnacle of the medical profession, a physician, a surgeon,
an inventor and professor at one of the country’s most prestigious medical
schools, but that was not enough. Dr. Trokel discovered that, at the core of
the world, unless Hashem is invited in, there is only lifeless darkness, “tohu
vavohu … astonishing emptiness.” (Genesis 1:2) Dr. Trokel built a sukkah in his heart. He invited our
Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to join him. The world of Sukkos exists only for those who know Hashem, and Dr. Trokel
desired to know Hashem.
At the meal, I mentioned that soon we will
read the Torah Portion of Beraishis,
in which the world’s creation is described. What are literally the first words
of Creation? “Let there be light … and
Hashem saw that the light was good, and Hashem separated between light and
darkness.” All creation begins with light. “[Light] is the elevated soul,
whose light is immense because it is carved from under the Throne of Glory.”
(Ohr Hachaim on Genesis 1:3)
Dr. Trokel’s career is dedicated to bringing
light to others. Thousands, perhaps millions, can see and see clearly because
of him! I told this story to Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Weinfeld Shlita”h, Rosh Kollel of Lev Avraham in
Yerushalayim, who said, “He who
brought light to others, Hashem brought light to him!”
And so, the year begins, a year which we all
want to bring light into the world. Dr. Trokel has done it and we can do it. We
can build a sukkah in our heart.