Out for Sukkot: Sacred Pride
Leaving what is familiar. Putting yourself in a place that is vulnerable. Proudly displaying the symbols of who you are. Coming out. These are the key elements of the celebration of Sukkot, the annual festival during which the Israelites were commanded to dwell in outdoor booths sheltered by roofs made from branches and leaves. On Sukkot, we build these special shelters right outside our homes, decorate them with pride, and joyfully eat our meals and say our prayers in this spaces that generally is in the public view. In this way Sukkot is the perfect backdrop to the return of another annual local tradition, Atlanta Pride and our strong Jewish contingent showing up every year with Sojourn: a celebration highlighting every permutation of diverse gender and sexuality that bends the expectations that still prevail around gender, sex, sexuality and expression as well as elevating those whose identities continue to make them vulnerable and ignored.
The power and profundity of making oneself known to others and being unafraid to be open and honest about oneself is sometimes hard to grasp for many whose identities have never been questioned let alone condemned, subject to legal restrictions, or required to be invisible.
The Sukkot festival teaches us many lessons, but what they have in common is visibility and awareness. In Leviticus 23:43, we learn that the purpose of building this unexpected and somewhat conspicuous structure is "to make it known." Make what known? That the Israelite liberation from Egypt and our continual presence is not something to take for granted. So to our humanity and dignity should not rely on the shelter of heavy barriers erected to keep out danger but in a promise can dwell without fear or despair. That is why the protection we were given in leaving Egypt were vulnerable Sukkot and why celebrate the holiday not in the warmth but when the weather gets colder. That it be known that we are here without fear.
And yet even though we only pay such attention to the lessons of Sukkot on these days, these lessons about faith, vulnerability and pride of presence, so too What is brought to the fore during Pride should be a source of inspiration on any day, Celebrating gender and sexual diversity with joy and without compromise as well as promoting a society of safety and dignity, making known that expressing oneself in full is an act of sacred faith.