By by Cheri Weiss
If you have ever had the pleasure of decorating a sukkah (a temporary hut used during the holiday of Sukkot), you know how great it feels to beautify this space. Children delight in creating all sorts of artistic adornments to hang on the walls and frames: colorful paper chains, flowers fashioned out of newspaper or cupcake liners; and hand-drawn pictures of trees, flowers and other objects found in nature. Adults might hang Judaic-themed prints; and for a fresh fragrance, pine cones, cinnamon sticks and dried citrus fruit.
The roof is made of any natural material that has grown from the earth yet allows the sky to be visible. Popular choices of sukkah roofing materials include palm fronds, evergreen branches, corn stalks, or woven bamboo mats — all of which add to the aesthetics of the structure. Strings of small lights may be hung, imitating the shimmering stars twinkling in the sky while creating a warm and cozy atmosphere.
While there is no specific commandment to decorate a sukkah, the custom of doing so stems from the Jewish law of hiddur mitzvah — “beautifying the commandment.” The Torah commands us to rejoice during Sukkot (Z’man Simchatenu, or the Season of our Rejoicing). It is also a mitzvah to dwell in a sukkah for seven days. (Today, most people satisfy the commandment by eating their meals in the structure while the more observant may opt to sleep there as well.) Creating a lovely environment, however, is not technically part of that commandment. Instead, doing so is based on a Talmudic principle devised by the rabbis which stipulates that we should go above and beyond the bare minimum when fulfilling our obligations concerning certain types of mitzvot.
The source of this rabbinic requirement is found in the Book of Exodus 15:2. After their successful escape from Egypt and crossing of the Red Sea, Moses and the Israelites sing: “God is my strength and my song and has become my salvation. This is my God whom I will glorify, the God of my father, whom I will exalt.” Through linguistic analysis, the sages in the Talmud interpreted these words to mean that God must be glorified and exalted in the most aesthetically pleasing way possible (Tractate Shabbat 133b).
The fulfillment of certain mitzvot requires the use of ritual objects such as a wine goblet for making kiddush on Shabbat and holidays, a shofar to blow on the High Holy Days, a lulav and etrog to shake on Sukkot, and mezuzot to hang on the doorposts of our homes. The sages determined that in order to honor the Divine to the best of our abilities, instead of using plain or ordinary objects, we must extend ourselves to purchase (or create) items that are truly special, encouraging us to spend up to 33 percent more than the cost of simple objects in order to ensure that we are using objects of real beauty. Perhaps our kiddush cup is made of silver, our shofar is of superior craftsmanship, our lulav and etrog bought from a vendor we know supplies the highest quality items, while our mezuzot have been enclosed in artistic casings and their tiny scrolls written in the highest quality ink by a first-rate professional sofer (scribe).
Adding beauty to our Jewish celebrations enriches our aesthetic experiences, imbuing them with a sense of the extraordinary. In this way, we honor not only God, but our Jewish heritage. So, the next time you sit in a Sukkah, may its beauty fill you with the joy and delight this holiday is meant to bring.
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