When we speak of Sukkat Shlomecha, we usually translate that as the Sukka of  Your Peace.  But Shalom, peace is a subset and consequence of the real root of the word, Shalem, whole.  So we can retranslate the phrase to be The Sukka of your wholeness, and change the referent to address ourselves.

Sitting in this Sukka of wholeness, what do we see?  It’s unlikely that there is a forty-inch HD TV.  Leather couch?  No.  Fine and valuable artwork? Not in that sense.  Wall to wall carpet?  You get the idea–this Sukka of our wholeness is a simple shack, wobbly and temporary, with a leaky roof on top!

The simple message is that you’re whole just as you are.  Your possessions, or lack of them, have nothing to do with who you really are.  Coming through the repairs of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, we start the year fully empowered.  Zman Simchatenu the time of our happiness–perhaps can remain powered by our Emunah.