Every year, we invite guests into our sukkahs—literal company, as many of us will celebrate with fellow members of our Wise community throughout this week of celebration—and also visitors called ushpizin, an Aramaic word referring to guests we symbolically welcome into our sukkah on each of the seven nights of the holiday. While traditionally the biblical ushpizin visitors were all male—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David—the custom of welcoming biblical ushpizot—Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Hannah, Avigail, Huldah, and Esther—is now part of our practice, as well. The presence of these biblical ancestors is a meaningful way to weave their stories into our Sukkot conversations, as well as a beautiful emblematic reminder of how we might open our homes and hearts to any guest in need of a festive meal.
We can also contemplate which other ushpizin and ushpizot from the past that we would want to symbolically invite into our space. Who would be the best guest for conversation? Whose stories would you most like to hear? Who would you most want to ask about your family history?
This year, we might also consider who could be the ushpizin and ushpizot of the future: Who in our lives can we encourage to become the best versions of themselves so that they might be the heroes, heroines, and Jewish leaders of our next generation? Perhaps in 100 years, our own children and students may be the Albert Einstein or Golda Meir symbolically welcomed into the sukkahs of our grand-children and great-grandchildren.
This Sukkot, may you enjoy delicious meals and beautiful decorations, and may your ushpizin and ushpizot provide great conversation and inspiration for the year to come!
—Cantor Emma Lutz