Temporary Tents

2 Corinthians 5:1

"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."

What if we viewed the entire world as one big temporary neighborhood?

I believe the secret to peaceful coexistence lies in our abilities to understand the rituals and behaviors of our neighbors. Those 'neighbors' could be located anywhere in the world or right around the corner.

Just this week our neighbor erected a temporary structure in front of their home. I would later learn that the structure is called the sukkah (see picture above).

There is even a website that offers the "Pop-up sukkah" or temporary tents and you can see them here.

(Note: The Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot began Wednesday night, a sort of Jewish Thanksgiving, that lasts through Oct. 21 of this year.)

The sukkah is a temporary shelter used to celebrate the Jewish holiday. Rabbi David Wolpe describes it this way, "The sukkah is a symbol of impermanence," which the Rabbi tells us, "We must sit in something that is fragile, fleeting, sure to disappear tomorrow, for that is our fate as well."

Jean de La Bruyére, a French 16th century writer, described the fleeting life as,

"Life is just a temporary structure on the long road from Past to Future"

After I stopped to take the photograph of the neighbor's sukkah, I went to the Town Hall to speak with the supervisor's staff to ask for details. This is what I was told,

"They do not need a building permit to erect a temporary structure because it will be removed with the holiday has ended. I don't really understand it but I guess they have to sleep and eat in it and I think they lay down and look up at the stars, someone said it is a time to seek God."

It has been raining on and off for the past few days. I wondered about the neighbors sitting in the open, temporary shelter and if they were pondering the thought to "live for the good that will outlast us" as their Rabbi teaches.

I will drive past the sukkah today and I will not stare or pass judgment. We all have our rituals, our celebrations and our faith. As a Christian, we know that our bodies are just temporary tents and our fate lies in a permanent home with our Savior. For the time being, we are all just neighbors on planet earth and understanding our differences can make all of the difference.

It is a shame that we cannot make that permanent change in our thinking.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-david-wolpe/time-eternity-and-sukkot_b_1003755.html

http://popupsukkah.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2011/sep/29/south-africa-dalai-lama-visa-tutu