“Let There Be Love”

By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.

Every night in the Ma’ariv service, we recite the words of Hashkiveinu, our daily evening prayer in which we reference Sukkat Shlomekha, the peaceful shelter that God provides us every night.

This prayer’s central image of the “Sukkah of Peace” holds even greater significance during the festival of Sukkot, during which we spend time dwelling, eating, learning, and just being in our personal and communal sukkot.
With every translation from one language to another comes an interpretation. The following text is found within Siddur Mishkan Tefila as the interpretative translation of Hashkiveinu:

“Let there be love
And understanding among us. 
Let peace and friendship
Be our shelter from life’s storms.”

Not only does this verbiage speak of the values of this particular tefillah, but the concepts of love, understanding, peace, friendship and shelter are ideas that can be nurtured by our experiences dwelling in sukkot.
But I will focus on the first of these, love, because if there is love, the rest of those values will follow. 

“Let there be love.” 

According to Likkutei Torah, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi suggests that the sukkah represents a divine hug. A hug represents love in its physical form for any loving relationship, whether it be romantic, familial or platonic. 

…or divine…

Liadi suggests that the sukkah is a manifestation of Song of Songs 2:6, “God’s right hand hugs me.” And this connects with Shir haShirim Rabbah, a commentary on this verse, stating that “God’s left arm cradles my head.” And together, this hug of God’s left and right arms are represented by the sukkah.

When we immerse our entire bodies into the sukkot we visit and dwell in during this upcoming harvest festival, may we each feel that metaphorical embrace of God’s love surrounding us from every direction.

Chag Sukkot Sameach!