I have a great pun about shaving and Sukkot...

...although I don't think most people would get it. I am going to split hairs about Sukkot. [And how does one split a hair? I believe the word is "Shave". If you don't get the pun, don't worry, I will explain it below.]

I recently heard a sermon that focused on the film Ushpizin. If you are not familiar with the film, it concerns the plight of a religious couple around the time of Sukkot, who find themselves beset by a rather tawdry pair of guests over the course of the holiday.

Part of premise of the film is that the couple is very poor, and have difficulty in purchasing the materials needed for Sukkot, especially an etrog. As it stands, the couple find themselves the benefactor of an anonymous donation, enough to buy an esquisite etrog, which the husband quickly does, and just as the holiday approaches.

Now if you are not familiar with Sukkot and etrogs, the short version is that during this holiday, Jews are suppose to "wave" four species (a palm frond, a willow branch, a myrtle branch, and an etrog) every day of the holiday, and in all directions. Particular attention is paid to the etrog, that it should be unblemished, fragrant, and otherwise perfect. There are men who will scrutinize etrogs with a magnifying glass, to ensure the quality of the etrog they are buying.

Regardless, at some point in the film, the guests take this expensive etrog, cut it up and use it as a garnish for a salad. [I said they were tawdry...] Needless to say, the husband is very distressed about this. Which brings me back to the sermon.

The Rabbi in this instance suggested that the message that we should take away from the film is that we need to be cautious about how we approach ritual, that ritual is not an end to itself, and we should be careful not to come to view ritual as an extension of materialism.

Well, I have a problem with this -- not with that message per se, but rather with the idea that this is the moral of the story.

Ushpizin is a film. In particular, it is a work of fiction. Everything that happens in the film comes from the mind of the writer, Shuli Rand. Now Mr. Rand has written a popular and engrossing tale, but should we be taking lessons for our lives from it? Should we infer that we are individually focusing on the trappings of ritual, or that doing so from a very broad perspective is problematic?

Ultimately, my view is that we must look at the events around our own lives. How can we do more? How can we grow as Jews? How can we further Tikkun Olam? We must look to our own lives and answer these questions. Movies are just, well, movies.

[OK, so here's the pun. I'm splitting hairs with what the Rabbi (I'll not say which Rabbi, other then it was neither Rabbi (Levi) Deitsch or Rabbi Bluming, both of whom I daven with frequently) said in this sermon. I agree with his point, not with his analogy. Well, another way to split a hair is to shave it. (Yes, I know, paradigm shift.) OK, fine, but if I'm going to shave, I need to do it in a Sukkah... (Shave or Shav is how the Hebrew word for "Sit" is pronounced...)]