Dear TEE community,
This Saturday morning we will be welcoming Varian Gregory into our community as she celebrates her b’mitzvah. The rituals of Sukkot offer a lovely metaphor for welcoming young people into Jewish adulthood. Both center on the sacred act of making room—creating space for growth, vulnerability, and transformation within the embrace of community.
The sukkah’s temporary structure reminds us that all shelters are provisional, yet the love and intention we bring to them make them holy. Similarly, a b’nai mitzvah represents a threshold moment—neither child nor fully adult, the young person stands in a sacred “in-between” space, much like the sukkah itself exists between the security of permanent homes and the openness of the wilderness.
Central to Sukkot is the mitzvah of hospitality, the tradition of ushpizin, welcoming both earthly and mystical guests into our fragile booths. When we celebrate b’nai mitzvah, we perform a parallel act of radical welcome—inviting a young person to claim their voice in Jewish life, to join the minyan, to be counted among those who wrestle with Torah and carry forward our traditions.
The sukkah’s roof, through which we glimpse stars, teaches us to remain open to wonder and divine presence even as we seek shelter. A b’nai mitzvah student engaging with Torah embodies this same openness—bringing fresh eyes to ancient words, asking questions that elders may have forgotten to ask, breathing new life into our inheritance.
Both the sukkah and b’nai mitzvah ask us to trust: trust that flimsy walls can provide real shelter, trust that young voices deserve to be heard, trust that our traditions grow stronger when we make space for those who will carry them forward. In welcoming our youth with the same intentionality we bring to building our sukkah, we acknowledge that community itself is our truest dwelling place.
Please join us to welcome Varian into our community and reaffirm our commitment to creating a holy and nurturing space for all of us.
Rabbi Drorah Setel
PS Please note we won’t be having Friday night services and hope everyone will plan to be with us on Saturday.