“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….And the Word was made His sukkah among us, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth,” John 1:1,14
The Apostolic Writings record in the Besorah of Yochanan (Gospel of John) that G-d made His sukkah (tent) among mankind by becoming flesh–by being born as a little Jewish baby on the festival of Sukkot in a town called Bet Lechem.
Cue the scoffs from many Orthodox Jews: Our Rabbis tell us that G-d would never dwell with mankind in a sukkah of flesh!
But what do the Rabbis really say?
First, it should be noted that the Rabbis say that the Word of G-d (i.e. the Torah) corresponds to the form of a man:
” ‘The end of the matter, when all is said and done: fear God and guard His commandments, for this is all of a person.’ ‘The end of the matter’ is Adam, who was created last. And the first in thought is the last in deed. He was created at the end so that he could include everything in his image and likeness. He was created with 613–248 limbs and 365 sinews, corresponding to the positive and negative commandments. ‘Fear God’ refers to the negative commandments ‘and guard His commandments’ refers to the positive commandments. Thus it is written, ‘for this is all of a person.’ For a person is constructed from limbs and sinews,” Isaiah Horowitz, The Generations of Adam, pg. 216
” ‘Rabbi Eliezer says–they were actual booths; R. Aqiba says–[they were Clouds of Divine Glory],” (Sifra Emor, Ch. 17)
This argument considers two positions: one claiming that sukkot are meant to replicate and therefore symbolize the booths in which the Israelites dwelled in the desert following the exodus, and the other asserting that the ritual sukkot….symbolize the ‘Clouds of Glory’–the Clouds of Divine Glory that protected the Israelites in the desert during the daytime hours (while a pillar of fire did so at night; see Ex. 13:21-2)….
The tannaitic midrash, the Mekhilta d’Rabbi Ishmael…preserves a different version of the opinion attributed to R. Aqiba above. Commenting on the biblical report that ‘they travelled from Sukkot’ (Ex. 13:30, where ‘Sukkot’ is clearly the name of a place) the midrash says, ‘R. Aqiba says: ‘Sukkot’ is none other than the Clouds of Divine Glory.’ This association is partly suggested by the fact that the very next verse in the torah describes the children of Israel as travelling during the day with protection of the clouds. But the simple meaning of ‘Sukkot’ leaves no room for doubt; it is unambiguously a place (the version of the midrash at pisha 14 records such an opinion explicitly). So what we have here is an early tradition insisting that ‘sukkot’ should be seen as the Divine Clouds–protectors of redeemed Israel both in the past and, as the midrash goes on to teach, in the future. This insistence shows the power of this interpretive tradition at the earliest level of rabbinic interpretation. In fact, after having reviewed the traditions in detail, Rubenstein concludes that this interpretive tradition…is ‘the dominant or at least majority opinion’ in the rabbinic setting (Rubenstein, 1995, p. 243, n. 15),” David Kraemer, Rabbinic Judaism: Space and Place
Next, consider that the Rabbis say that the “sukkah” in Amos 9 (“the fallen sukkah of David”) refers to the Moshiach:
Nachman said to R. Isaac: “Have you heard when Bar Nafli will come?” “Who is Bar Nafli?” he asked. “Messiah”, he answered. “Do you call the Messiah Bar Nafli?” “Yes”, he responded, as it is written, “on that day I will raise up the fallen Sukkah of David.” (Sanhedrin 96b-97a)
So the sukkah represents both Moshiach and G-d Himself. But this is not the first time that Moshiach has been identified with G-d in Rabbinic writings. Observe:
“We conclude this section with a quotation from Genesis Rabbah 2.4. Commenting on Gen. 1:2, R. Simeon b. Lakish is credited with saying, ‘And the Spirit of God hovered’: this alludes to the ‘spirit of the Messiah’, as you read, ‘And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him’ (Isa. 11:2)….” McDonough, Christ as Creator
Source: Orthodox Messianic Judaism (http://goo.gl/tTgTQM)
