Once upon a time there were three little pigs. One built a house of straw, until the big, bad wolf blew it down and gobbled him up. One built a house of sticks, until the big, bad wolf blew it down and gobbled him up. But one built a house of bricks and was safe from all the huffing and puffing of the big, bad wolf.
Society teaches values to successive generations through its children's stories. The story of the Three Little Pigs is one of our most enduring fables, teaching the importance of good planning and disciplined effort. But it also carries with it a more subtle message, that safety rests in our own hands and our own labors, that security can be bought for the price of a pile of bricks and a bucket of mortar.
This ideal, if it was ever true, went up in flames together with New York City's skyline and Washington's military nerve center one year ago on September 11. More appropriate now than the Three Little Pigs is Robert Burns's adage about "the best laid schemes of mice and men." Indeed, the Twin Towers were each designed to absorb the impact of a 727; what the architects failed to factor in was how the fuel carried aboard a transcontinental airliner would create an inferno capable of compromising the structural strength of steel support beams. Of course, we don't blame the architects; none of us imagined the acts of incomprehensible evil that brought down the towers.
Which is precisely the point. We cannot imagine the design and the reach of evil. We can make our best effort, erect walls of brick around ourselves and roofs of steel over our heads, but we will never be completely safe. The world is too unpredictable an arena, the mind of the wicked too dark a cavern.
As if to drive home the instability of temporal existence, traditional Jews around the world are preparing to disrupt their normal lives by moving out of their homes into little stick houses to live as our ancestors lived in the desert after their exodus from Egypt. But more than an attempt to recreate the experience of a fledgling nation traveling toward its homeland, the holiday of Sukkot offers us an opportunity to attune our minds to a most fundamental principle of Judaism -- that however great our strength and the might of our own hands, however elaborate and well conceived our plans, life strews unexpected obstacles in our path that can scuttle our most certain victories and demolish our most solid edifices.
A sukkah may be built of virtually any material: wood, brick, steel, canvas, or even string may be used to construct its walls. But no matter how stable or how precarious its walls, the roof of a sukkah must be composed of s'kach, thin strips of wood or leaves through which the light of the stars can shine at night. And when one sits in the sukkah and looks up at the s'kach -- the barest representation of a roof, which will not protect him from even the lightest rainfall -- he is inspired by the recollection of his ancestors who trusted in the protection of the Almighty, the One who took them out from under the rod of their oppressors and guided them through the inimical desert before bringing them safely home.
In his visionary writings, the prophet Ezekiel describes a great battle on the eve of the messianic era, when the all forces of evil in the world combine themselves into a great army called by the name Gog and Magog. The brilliant 18th century thinker, Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, interprets the prophet's vision not as a military battle but as an ideological war between the philosophy of "gog" -- which means roof in Hebrew -- and the philosophy of sukkah, where those convinced that their fate lies in the power of their own hands and their own resources will attack the values of those who recognize the limits of human endeavor to influence the world.
In the immediate wake of the World Trade Center attack, cries rang out for vengeance and military retribution. But as the year progressed, more measured voices asserted that this war will be like no other, without defined enemies or defined borders, without clear strategies or decisive victories. This is an unfamiliar kind of crisis, where we find our capacity to respond in our own defense or to secure our own future profoundly diminished in a new world order.
The Jew sitting in his sukkah will look up at the heavens and be at peace.
So the citizens and leaders of the world's last remaining superpower have had to grapple with the uncertainties of a violent present and a murky future. Some have responded by declaring that we must work harder to take control of our own fate. But others have conceded that we will never be secure again. And they are right: no building, no bunker, no shelter made of brick or concrete or iron will guarantee our safety from the perverse imagination of extremists who can rationalize indiscriminate mass murder.
Yet for all that, the Jew sitting in his sukkah will look up at the heavens and be at peace. He will recognize that the best laid schemes often come to naught and that, after doing all that can be done, we are best off leaving our fate in the hands of the One who placed the stars in their courses. Protection ultimately comes not from one's own strength, but from the Source of all strength.
As the winds of autumn blow with the first hint of winter, we may shiver with cold but never with fear. The sukkah's flimsy, see-through roof reminds us of the invisible reality of the wings of the Divine presence. We neither abandon ourselves to fate nor try to seize hold of it, but turn with confidence to face the future, secure in the knowledge that we have prepared ourselves as best we can to meet whatever life holds in store for us.
(6) Anonymous, June 9, 2010 12:40 PM
Very interesting, and very true
I live in the US and I can tell you that you are absolutely right on target when you say that we are grappling with a new kind of "war". I have heard many make comments about how to increase security. I've heard others comment on racial profiling. Then I think of all those in Israel who live with uncertain existance every single day. Where is their security? Where do they place their trust every single day? Several years ago, I lost a child. I lived in fear for the next several years that I would either lose another child, or die myself. Every time I got into the car, I worried that I would get into an accident. And then one day I decided that this was no way to live and decided to trust G-d instead. I had never thought of the war of Gog and Magog being a philosophical war, but your article really struck a chord with me.
(5) Anonymous, June 9, 2010 12:39 PM
I always thought that the war of Gog and Magog was going to be between countries and the physical world was going to be basically destroyed and then Moshiach would come, but this was a VERY INTERESTING thought that the war would be a philosophical war! Some authorities have said WW1 was the beginning of the war of Gog and MAgog and WW2 was the continuation of it and the third part which will bring Moshich i.e the 70 nations (the UN)against Israel. I was always afraid of the physical battle, but this makes sense the war is idealogy. This is what is going on now! It's clear the Muslim idealogy and the west against the Torah. Lets hope Moshiach should come now speedily in our days.
(4) Anonymous, September 26, 2002 12:00 AM
A well-written piece, appealing to both the doubt-free traditionalist as well as the more dubious (though ever hopeful) contemporary rationalist - the "rational traditionalist." Thanks.
(3) RCSommer, September 19, 2002 12:00 AM
This is really motivating
This is extremely true. I think that this will teach people things and keep everone at ease.
(2) Meredith, September 18, 2002 12:00 AM
Timely
Thank you for this timely reminder to always rely on HaShem not just on our own devices.
(1) Dani Miller, September 17, 2002 12:00 AM
Is G-d talking to President Bush?
Immediately after Sept 11. George Bush told the American public that best way they can fight terror is by loving their neighbour and by doing good deeds. That a million acts of kindness would gather 'momentum'. My immediate reaction was to think, if thats your best answer then we are all doomed. But, later on, something made me realise the implications of what he was telling the American people to do. I have recently been studying kabalah and have learnt that by sharing 'the light' of the creator and doing good things for others, we strengthen our connection with G-d. There is the 'pointsoflight.org' organisation that GW is promoting. Again, a reference to kabalistic principles of individuals shining 'the light'. Finally, in his most recent speach, Bush made a reference to another kabalistic principle, that no amount of darkness can hide 'the light'. In the same speech he also made reference to America liberating the death camps, a reference to saving the Jews during the holocaust (what was left of them by the time they acted, which is why the must act against Iraq before saddam nukes Israel). Bush's approach now makes more sense because he understands that the war on terror is a 'religious' war of good against evil which can only be won by turning to G-d. It has always been the Jewish responsibility to lead the world to the light through our special connection with G-d. The question is, why are the christians working harder than us?