What remains of Yom Kippur when someone spills something on the table in the sukkah?
It is easy to speak about character in the synagogue. Then the festival arrives. Everyone is home. It is crowded and hot. Someone is late, a child complains, something spills and the food is not ready on time. That is where Yom Kippur is tested.
Not in the words of “Al Chet,” but in the first sentence we say now. Sukkot brings holiness into a real family, not into a perfect picture. “You shall dwell in sukkot for seven days” (Leviticus 23:42). Not visit the sukkah. Live in it.
Shared life creates friction. Perhaps one of the great tasks of the festival is not only what kind of s’chach we have, but what kind of person enters the sukkah with us. Is it the same person who promised at Ne’ilah to be more patient?
A person can leave Yom Kippur feeling very clean and stain everything with one sentence at the holiday table. Or a spilled plate can become a sacred moment if we choose to react differently from the way we reacted last year.