Sukkot - Integration
Summary: Sukkot comes on the heels of some of the most transformational days of the Jewish year. One of the things this holiday offers us is a change to integrate some of what has been happening through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
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In The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the otherwise respectable Doctor Henry Jekyll has developed a serum with which he can transform himself into another being in order to indulge in unacceptable vices. In that other state, he has literally become another person - Edward Hyde. Jekyll thinks he can control his transformation into Hyde by means of this serum, but doesn’t have as much control as he thought he had. Eventually Hyde comes out whenever he wants, with terrible and destructive results.
This theme of one person who moves between two states is prevalent in many of stories and movies. Sometimes it happens according to some external rules - like a werewolf with the full moon. Sometimes it happens when the person gets angry - like the Incredible Hulk, or Any in Avatar the Last Airbender. Sometimes it happens when there is a perceived need - Superman, He-Man, She-Ra. Sometimes it happens without a person knowing - Fight Club. Sometimes the other persona is always there, and it’s just a matter of changing clothes, like Batman. Sometimes that other state is a sort of dreamworld - Matrix, blue people Avatar. I don’t know where Outlander fits, but it’s there somewhere.
At first glance, each of these Jekyll/Hydes seems like a full split - one side has power and the other side does not. One side can do what it wants, and the other must do what others want. The Hulk has infinite strength but Dr. Banner is meek. Jake Sully in human form is crippled and weak, while his avatar can do anything. The Narrator in Fight Club is a cautious man who is concerned with matching his Ikea furniture while Tyler Durden is rampaging. Jekyll is respected but repressed, and Hyde gets to do whatever he wants.
And it may be that these stories capture the imagination because they reflect our own fantasies that we could perhaps become someone else - someone who can do all the things we want to do but cannot (or will not).
But this is a dangerous fantasy, and the split in these characters is clearly not ideal. Even if we set Jekyll and Hyde aside (Hyde being a completely bad egg), as exciting as it is to put all sense-of-your-own-power eggs in one basket and all your what-can-I-do eggs in another, this arrangement is neither sustainable, useful, or even accurate. To bring the situation into balance, a person must realize that they are not vacillating between Hulk+Durden+Superman+Neo=Power on one hand and Mr. Anderson+Dr. Banner+Narrator+Jekyll=Weakness on the other, but rather between two different kinds of power.
Dr. Bruce Banner can work in a lab and do research; Bruce Wayne can do good within society; Clark Kent can woo Lois Lane. These characters, in their “lesser” form, wield a different kind of power. Yes, they cannot meet the villains head on and win. But they can consciously navigate and make adjustments in an important - albeit less flashy - terrestrial and temporal world. The best things happen - and the story gets good - when the character integrates both sides of themselves into something that is not so split. They learn to recognize and value the different kinds of power that they have.
For better or for worse, Jewish life offers very few serums that allow a person to become someone else. But we do have times of power - when we see that freedom, or forgiveness, or joy or light are within reach and we have been given Incredible Hulk-sized capacity to attain it. Such times are precious and we would be wise to use those times to maximum effect and to fill our baskets with those eggs.
Sukkot is also such a time - but the super-power that is offered to us on Sukkot is of a different order: it is the super-power of integration. At this amazing time of year we are encouraged to gather all the amazing things that have happened - the breakthroughs and catharses, the honest prayers and inspiring words, the moments of self-transcendence and transformation - and integrate them with our terrestrial selves, our mistakes and flaws and shortcoming, limitations, and even fears, setbacks, missed opportunities and missteps.
One of the tools we have in order to work toward integration during this holiday is the lulav. The lulav, both literally and figuratively, is a big vav. It is the physical embodiment of the Hebrew word ‘and.’ The waving of the lulav is the ability to project the power of ‘and’ in all directions, toward all beings in all directions.
With the lulav/vav in hand, you can connect the Incredible Hulk and Dr. Banner, Bruce Wayne and Batman, She-ra and Adora, your highest soul and your realest body, your most articulate moments and those times when you are dumbstruck, Uman and Sharon, left and right, me and you, up and down, now and then. This is, indeed, a great super-power.