Finding Timely Calls to Action in Ancient Traditions

In October 2011, during the harvest festival of Sukkot, a number of progressive Jewish congregations in New York City held a joint Sukkot service at Occupy Wall Street. It may or may not have been called Occupy Sukkot. I can’t remember. What I remember is that we observed the ancient traditions: held hands, danced in a circle, shook the Four Species—myrtle, citron, willow and palm frond. I remember the percussive green spine of the palm frond rising into the air, rattling, the citron bumpy and cool against my palm. I remember thinking about how generations of Jews carried these traditions across continents and millenniums, until they arrived here, with us, in this unlikely corner of the world, the bright yellow citron against the gray and black and silver of Zuccotti Park.

Last night, almost seven years later, I attended a Tisha B’Av service at OccupyICE in Portland, Oregon. Tisha B’Av is the opposite of Sukkot; the saddest day of the Jewish year, it commemorates the destruction of the ancient Temple, twice, as well as other catastrophic expressions of hatred towards the Jewish community. Rather than sing and dance, traditionally, we sit on the floor in a sign of mourning, and deny ourselves even the pleasure of studying Torah.

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