Sukkah: the Portal into the Holy Land

Sukkah: the portal into the Holy Land

Sitting with my wife in our sukkah-hut recently, I was struck by a memory from some four decades ago. During Chol HaMoed Sukkot, I visited my mentor and friend, Rabbi Benzion Feldman. I shared with him that, while sitting in our sukkah, my wife and I had discussed the possibility of making Aliyah to Israel. Rabbi Feldman smiled and said, “The reason you and your wife were thinking about Israel while sitting in your sukkah is that the air in the sukkah is the air of Eretz Yisrael.”

Indeed, Eretz Yisrael is under constant divine watchfulness, as it says:

A land which the Lord your G-d cares for; the eyes of the Lord your G-d are always upon it. (Deuteronomy 11:12)

The sukkah also symbolizes G­‑d’s protection over the Jewish people, wherever they may be.

In Sha’ar HaKavanot, Rabbi Chaim Vital records the teachings of his mentor, the Arizal (Rabbi Isaac Luria). Regarding Sukkot, he explains the mystical intentions (kavanot) behind the mitzvot of the festival. He describes how the sukkah is imbued with divine energies that mirror those present in Eretz Yisrael. By dwelling in the sukkah, one connects with these energies, effectively bringing the spiritual essence of the Land of Israel into their immediate environment.^[1]

In Kedushat Levi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev expounds on the idea that the sukkah conveys the holiness of Eretz Yisrael to the Jewish people, regardless of their physical location. He suggests that the act of dwelling in the sukkah allows one to partake in the sacredness of the Land, as the sukkah serves as a vessel that transports the spiritual “air” of Eretz Yisrael to the diaspora.^[2]

The Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger) discusses the idea that the sukkah represents a spiritual environment akin to the holiness of Eretz Yisrael. In his discourses on Sukkot, he often emphasizes that dwelling in the sukkah allows one to experience a level of sanctity similar to being in the Land of Israel.^[3]

In his work Pri Tzadik, Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin explains that the sukkah embodies the spiritual essence of Eretz Yisrael. He suggests that the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah envelops a person in the sanctity and purity associated with the Holy Land.^[4]

In Nesivos Shalom, Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky discusses the sukkah as a spiritual environment that embodies the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael. He teaches that dwelling in the sukkah allows individuals to experience a level of holiness and divine connection similar to that found in the Land of Israel. The sukkah becomes a microcosm of the spiritual atmosphere of Eretz Yisrael, enveloping those inside with its sacred “air.”^[5]

At the time, I didn’t fully grasp the meaning of his words. But as I reflected on this conversation this year, I said to my wife, “Perhaps, in a sense, a sukkah is a portal—a wormhole—into Eretz Yisrael.” Although we can’t physically walk through this wormhole, we can at least breathe the air of the Holy Land.

Wormholes are hypothetical shortcuts through spacetime that could connect two distant regions of the Cosmos. This concept, first proposed by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in 1935, is often referred to as an Einstein-Rosen bridge or ER bridge.^[6] They are also known as wormholes. Some physicists speculate that black holes might serve as portals to other universes or wormholes connected far regions of our universe.^[7],[8]

One of the most intriguing ideas about ER bridges is their potential connection to quantum entanglement. Entanglement is a quantum phenomenon where two particles become inextricably linked, regardless of the distance between them. If one particle’s state changes, the other immediately follows suit, even light-years apart.

Leonard Suskind^[9] and Juan Maldacena^[10] have proposed that ER bridges could provide a physical explanation for entanglement. The idea is that entangled particles might be connected through a hidden wormhole, allowing instantaneous communication between them. This connection would bypass the usual limitations of spacetime. This concept is often summarized by the formula EPR=ER, where EPR refers to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox (a thought experiment that highlights the strange properties of entanglement), and ER stands for Einstein-Rosen bridge.

While this is still a theoretical concept, and there’s no definitive experimental evidence to support it, it remains a fascinating area of research that could potentially transform our understanding of the universe.^[11],[12]

Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that a sukkah hut is literally a wormhole or a physical portal to Israel. I don’t want to put El Al out of business. It is a mere metaphor. As we sat on that beautiful autumn day, basking in the dreamy atmosphere of our sukkah, I couldn’t help but imagine that the sacred space of our sukkah was connected to the air of the Holy Land through a spiritual wormhole.

References:

Berezovsky, Rabbi Shalom Noach. Nesivos Shalom. Vol. 2, Sukkot Discourses. Jerusalem: Yeshivat Beit Avraham Slonim, 1998.

Einstein, Albert, and Nathan Rosen. “The Particle Problem in General Relativity.” Physical Review 48, no. 1 (1935): 73-77.

Hayden, Patrick, et al. “Black Holes as Mirrors.” Journal of High Energy Physics 2016, no. 12 (2016): 157.

Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Rabbi. Kedushat Levi. Berdichev, 1811.

Maldacena, Juan, and Leonard Susskind. “Cool Holes and Warm Holes: Towards AdS/CFT.” Fortschritte der Physik 61, no. 9 (2013): 781-800.

Marklof, Jens, and Stephen A. Fulling. “Quantum Teleportation and the ER=EPR Correspondence.” Physical Review D 97, no. 4 (2018): 046012.

Susskind, Leonard. “ER=EPR: What’s the Point?” International Journal of Theoretical Physics 52, no. 11 (2013): 3830-3843.

Thorne, Kip S. Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.

Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, Rabbi. Pri Tzadik. Warsaw, 1901.

Vital, Rabbi Chaim. Sha’ar HaKavanot. Venice, 1620.

Wheeler, John Archibald. “Geons.” Physical Review 97, no. 3 (1955): 1023-1027.

Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, Rabbi (Sefat Emet). Sefat Emet al HaTorah. Jerusalem, 1998.

Endnotes:

[1] Vital, Chaim, Rabbi. Sha’ar HaKavanot: Inyan Sukkot. In Etz Chaim, Vol. 3, Derush 5. Safed.

[2] Berdichev, Levi Yitzchak, Rabbi. Kedushat Levi. Sukkot Discourses, Discourse on “Ushpizin” (Guests). Berdichev: n.p., 1811.

[3] See Sefat Emet commentaries on Sukkot in the years 5641 (1880) and 5643 (1882).

[4] Pri Tzadik, Sukkot, Essay 1.

[5] Berezovsky, Shalom Noach, Rabbi. Nesivos Shalom. Vol. 2, Sukkot Discourses, Discourse 5. Jerusalem: Yeshivat Beit Avraham Slonim, 1998.

[6] Einstein, Albert, and Nathan Rosen. “The Particle Problem in General Relativity.” Physical Review 48, no. 1 (1935): 73-77.

[7] Wheeler, John Archibald. “Geons.” Physical Review 97, no. 3 (1955): 1023-1027.

[8] Thorne, Kip S. “Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy.” W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.

[9] Susskind, Leonard. “ER=EPR: What’s the Point?” International Journal of Theoretical Physics 52, no. 11 (2013): 3830-3843.

[10] Maldacena, Juan, and Leonard Susskind. “Cool Holes and Warm Holes: Towards AdS/CFT.” Fortschritte der Physik 61, no. 9 (2013): 781-800.

[11] Hayden, Patrick, et al. “Black Holes as Mirrors.” Journal of High Energy Physics 2016, no. 12 (2016): 157.

[12] Marklof, Jens, and Stephen A. Fulling. “Quantum Teleportation and the ER=EPR Correspondence.” Physical Review D 97, no. 4 (2018): 046012.