Psalm 27: Intensity

“Indeed, He will hide me in His Shelter on the day of evil; He will conceal me in the concealment of His Tent.” (Verse 5) In the future, God will remove the covering of the sun in order to exact punishment from the wicked. At that time, the Holy One, Blessed is He, will make a Succah for the righteous and protect them within its walls from the punishing sun. (Yalkut Shimoni, Emor #653)

People experience the intensity of the High Holydays in different ways. Many wonder if they could possibly live with such intensity for more than a few days each year. Others wonder whether we could possibly live with such powerful light when we are not praying all day as we do on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. We understand that the concentrated light is described as the vehicle that will destroy evil in the world, and we wonder whether we could live with such Light.

King David describes the Succot, into which we move after Yom Kippur, as a reenactment of God’s promise to protect us form the Light that will destroy evil. We can use the love we experience during these days to run into “God’s arms” for protection.