Chow Tails: Sukkot

I don't know if I've told ya'll this, but I work in the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Harvard Divinity School (I know, I know. Two jobs...but such is life). Anyway, on Wednesdays we have a service that is hosted by a different religious/spiritual group each week. This week was hosted by the Jewish Student Association, and it was one of the most amazing services I've ever been to.

In celebration of Sukkot (the feast of booths), we met under the Sukkah, a temporary structure erected during this seven-day holiday and removed after. Different students led songs, or offered prayers, but I was most struck by a classmate named Max's address in the middle. He spoke about the way the Sukkah recalls a wedding tent and how the Sukkot celebration itself is much like a wedding ceremony. Both are times for celebration, but both are also times marking transition.

Max talked about the way Sukkot is a time to celebrate the harvest, but also a time to look forward to what is next. A time to ask ourselves: So what? What is next? He compared this question to the way when a wedding ceremony is over, the question is: What will you do together with the rest of your life?

Max laughed as he considered that question. He smiled to himself, cocked his head to the side and said again, "So, what now?" My eyes welled with tears and I wondered to myself: "Yeah. What now, Sierra?" Then Max said: "Just like these New England trees, we are in transition," followed by a quote from someone whose name I cannot remember: "The only sin is to be stuck."

The honeymoon is over at HDS, but I am certainly not stuck. Max's words are such a relief as I realize that I am in transition, that I will always be in transition, and that thankfully, that means I am alive. I am still alive, still moving, still learning, still growing. Everyday a new idea pops into my head. Everyday a new theorist or a new article piques my interest. Everyday I am living the most perfect and beautiful life I could imagine.

-Sierra

p.s. I am attaching some photos just so you can get a glimpse of my lovely life here...and because my new phone has a camera and I'm just so excited to be able to share!