Nothing is by coincidence, the Baal Shem Tov insisted and celebrated Divine Providence and that there’s a lesson in everything!
As those who have experienced the Shabbos House Sukkah know, we cover the top with bamboo mats (which are Kosher as Schach, durable and sustainable and an investment that lasts pretty much from year to year) but we add evergreen boughs/branches for the feel and vibe and Sukkah-y spirit. Especially as our Sukkah is named and endowed in memory of Dr. Herman Prins Salomon, a Sukkah aficionado, a old-school purist who absolutely insisted on only-evergreen!
And those who have been here know how dear and beloved the Sukkot holiday and the Sukkah is to us. It’s a very special season of festive celebration, spiritual atmosphere in a physical environment. And this year it didn’t rain once on Sukkot and we had many memorable wonderful meals there with lots of students. As one student mentioned to me at the Simchat Torah Kiddush this year, “This must be a hard time of year for you when we leave the Sukkah…”
We have a relationship with a number of tree service companies in the area. One company we connected with after Hurricane Irene which especially affected Schoharie County. There were a lot of downed or broken trees that year and we got Schach that way, and since then, this Schoharie company has sometimes helped us get Schach, but even if years that we get it other ways, we pay them to come back after the holiday to come mulch it all up.
This year with the help of Moshe Denburg, Moshe Rubin, Hillel L. Gavi S. and a few others we got the Sukkah down right away, all the boards and mats stored away in the Sukkah Shed, and all the evergreen branches piled up near the ramp to the deck. I messaged the Schoharie folks, they said they would come by when they were up in our area, but didn’t have a set date. We didn’t hear from them in a few days, it’s late Fall, and we want to get to the leaves and such, but we didn’t hear back from them.
Then almost two weeks later, they texted that they are coming on Friday afternoon to mulch up the evergreen Schach branches. I couldn’t believe the Hebrew date of that Friday: It was the 7th of Cheshvan!!
<< Pictured here are Rivka and myself heading to school that morning, with a steaming tea and coffee in hand, bidding farewell to the last vestiges of Sukkot 2024 before the tree-cutters came later that day. The still extant Schach pile behind us.
Now what is so significant about the 7th of Cheshvan and what does it have to do with Schach mulching?
The Talmud tells us that Zayin (7th of the Hebrew month of) Cheshvan was the day when the last Jew, living furthest from Jerusalem, would return home after the biblical pilgrimage holiday of Sukkot. And given those traveling longer distances were still enroute home, all the people of Israel would delay their own prayers for rain until Zayin Cheshvan, so that these last Jews could reach home. The Rebbe says that Zayin Cheshvan is a great lesson in empathy and concern for even the furthest, most distant Jew.
And it also teaches us that in some sense the aura of the Sukkot holiday lingers and lasts until Zayin Cheshvan. It might be two weeks since the holiday ended, but something of it lingers until Zayin Cheshvan which starts the regular winter season (in Israel).
How auspicious and meaningful for the tree cutters, who know little or nothing about Sukkot, nevermind the obscure significance of this obscure date extending the spirit of the holiday, to decide to come specifically on Zayin Cheshvan! And in its final hours, in the afternoon, just before Shabbos – extending Sukkot and savoring its messages until the last possible day!