Outside the Everett House on the campus of the Chautauqua Institute is a display of a tent from 1870. Unlike the elaborate popup tents of today, the design of the 19th century was simple – a tall wooden pole, a large canvas fabric, and voila you have a place to stay for the night. Perhaps because I’m a rabbi and I think about such things, my mind immediately asked the question: if this was what a tent looked like a century and a half ago, what about the tents of Jacob? Were the design of our ancestors huts any different?
It turns out – at least according to Wikipedia – not much. Our ancestors used tanned camel or goat skin, propped up by wooden poles, and held down by ropes. Similar to the Bedouin designs of today, they were as large as a two-car garage, divided into several rooms for different parts of the family.
Here at the end of the Torah, our final double portion Nitzavim-Vayeilech, meaning “standing and walking” is a sign that the time for tenting has come to an end. To begin their final journey to the Holy Land all of their tents would have needed to be packed up, the animals saddled and their feeble possessions gathered to be moved. The act of standing together collectively was no simple matter. As we come toward Rosh Hashanah it is a reminder of all the hard work our community puts into our holiest of days. Over the next week, hundreds of chairs will be set up in the social hall, machzorim (High Holy Day prayer books) will be laid out on tables, and the synagogue spruced up for everyone’s arrival. We are lucky to have a beautiful permanent sanctuary where both standing and sitting is easy. Protected from the elements, we have the great luxury of being able to gather together in peace.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Alex
p.s. – I hope you’ll join us for our joint Slichot service on Saturday night in our sanctuary where I will be talking with Mohammed Darawshe from Givat Haviva, an Israeli organization dedicated to creating a shared society in Israel, followed by a traditional Slichot service led by Cantor Frank and other area cantors. For more information about the work of Givat Haviva check out this article I wrote in the Times of Israel