I’ve long marveled at the inherent paradox of Sukkot:
On the one hand, this is the festival we refer to as “zeman simḥateinu,” the time of our joy, in which we unite together in joy, singing, and celebration, offering thanks to God for the bounty that we have enjoyed in the previous year. This is the one holiday in which we are explicitly commanded to be happy! On the other hand, during Sukkot, we also read from the book of Ecclesiastes, a sobering book of eternal wisdom, and we expose ourselves to the elements by inhabiting huts that are flimsy and temporary by design. This festival comes at a time when the days are growing shorter and the weather is turning colder and more inclement.
It is perfectly fitting that the very symbol of our ancestors’ precarious wanderings in the desert is the huts described in our Torah. (Leviticus 23:43) The Torah leaves to our imaginations just what these temporary dwelling places looked like. Only generations later did our ancient rabbis prescribe how we are to reenact dwelling in these temporary structures. Where and how we live so deeply defines our relationship not only to ourselves, but to others and even to God. Stable, safe housing affords us the opportunity for refuge, growth, and connection. The psalmist in both Psalms 23 and 27, which we recite throughout this season, yearns to dwell in God’s house.
Find more resources on Sukkot.
I write from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where we are facing a serious housing crisis. We are plagued by a shortage of homes, while the cost of housing is soaring and drastically outpacing residents’ household income. We need 222,000 new homes in Massachusetts just to stabilise our housing market.
Two years ago, during the peak of the family shelter crisis in Massachusetts, the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church down the block from my synagogue opened its basement classrooms to immigrant families, hosting stays ranging from a few nights to over a year. The experience impressed upon all of us the urgent need for affordable housing in our area. Even with two working family members and state-sponsored rental assistance, families could not afford apartments anywhere near our area. Ultimately, they were forced to move away, commuting over an hour between home and work.
Our neighbours at the church have been trying to build affordable housing on their premises since 1969 and have tried four times since. Their community and our synagogue are part of a local interfaith coalition working together with other state-wide partners to advance the YIGBY (“Yes In God’s Backyard”) bill currently under consideration.
The idea of YIGBY is to allow faith-based institutions to build multi-family housing right on the institutions’ own property. This is legislation that is based on a law that was passed in California in 2023 and has already resulted in the construction or construction plans of hundreds of new units of housing. (Similar legislation is now under consideration in New York and Virginia as well.)
Here, in Massachusetts, an important condition for turning the YIGBY ask into law has been ensuring that the faith-based institutions would enroll these housing properties onto municipal tax rolls, allowing municipal governments to then decide whether to provide a tax exemption. Of course, municipalities with thinly stretched budgets might forego said exemption and thus find YIGBY in action to be an appealing source of revenue.
Many faith institutions are already working hard to find ways to create housing, but they are often slowed down or shut down by such obstacles as obtaining special permits or general local attitudes of NIMBY (“Not In My Backyard”), opposed to expanding opportunities for affordable housing. YIGBY would entitle faith institutions to zone by right and free them from the hurdles the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church has faced when trying to build affordable housing on their own property.
YIGBY benefits everyone: folks in need of housing; state residents who are forced to pay unmanageably high rents; and the religious institutions at large. In Massachusetts alone, faith-based organisations own nearly 2,000 parcels that can support housing development. This one measure could produce up to 100,000 new homes, which is half of the housing stock that we need.
Religious institutions already serve as centers of their community; they are natural gathering places and deeply understand the value of creating housing that can keep our cities and towns vibrant and open to people who want to become neighbors.
Our work has just started. Two weeks ago, I testified at the Massachusetts State House in front of the Joint Committee on Housing in support of YIGBY. If you live in Massachusetts, I invite you to help us take the next step and write to the editors of your local papers in vocal support of YIGBY. Explore with your community leaders how your community might help create affordable housing. Share with your community how this exciting piece of legislation could transform lives.
As we look ahead to the new Jewish year, may we all merit not only to dwell in God’s house, but to enable others to do the same.
Rabbi Dr. Raysh Weiss is blessed to serve as co-senior rabbi at Temple Israel of Natick. In addition to being a co-founder of the MetroWest Caring Coalition, Rabbi Weiss sits on the executive council of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Weiss was ordained by JTS and holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies and comparative literature from the University of Minnesota. She lives in Natick, MA, where she lives with her spouse, Rabbi Jonah Rank, the Weiss-Rank children, and a good number of plants she is actively trying to keep alive, and where she serves as town constable.