The courage to live with uncertainty

Faith is not certainty. Faith is the courage to live with uncertainty  -Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

A colleague joked with me recently that since his kids will now be home for the summer, he was going to build his sukkah so he could have some privacy. It made me think of the fragility of the sukkah.

As sturdy as it may seem after you first build it, a sukkah is subject to the whims of nature. A strong wind can knock it over and a soaking rain can make it inhabitable.

Yet our liturgy asks God to spread a Sukkah of Peace over us. Strange. Why the precarious sukkah? Why not something strong and sturdy, something unmovable and impenetrable?

Maybe because like a sukkah, peace is fragile. To sit in a sukkah is itself an act of faith. And faith, as Rabbi Sacks says, is the courage to live with uncertainty.

During these uncertain times, may we strengthen our courage to confront uncertainty, so we can reinforce our faith and spread our own sukkot over those we love.