When someone needs us, can we hear them through everything else we’re doing?

The sukkah, >> [music] >> no locks, no security system, and that is not a design flaw. That is the entire message. >> [music] >> Deliberately open, deliberately vulnerable, because the Torah is telling us something about what real protection actually looks [music] like. Real protection comes from what we are willing to do for each other when the walls aren't there. >> [music] >> And yet, look up. The schach is there, that thin and simple layer of branches and leaves between us and [music] the sky. No locks, but coverage from above, because even in your most vulnerable moment, even when everything feels exposed, >> [music] >> you are still sheltered. Hashem's presence is still there. Fragile looking? [music] Yes. Open to the elements? Yes. But present. Always present. [music] The schach reminds us that real shelter was never about the walls we build around ourselves. It is always about the coverage [music] that comes from above. Reb Moshe Leib of Sassov had said, "If someone comes to you for help, you must [music] act as if there were no God in the world, as if you alone are responsible for saving [music] them." And he didn't just teach it, he lived it. One night, while studying Torah, he heard a baby crying on the floor below. The infant had woken up hungry, and the exhausted mother didn't stir. >> [music] >> Reb Moshe Leib put down his farm, walked downstairs, picked up the baby, rocked him, and sang softly until the child fell back asleep. >> [music] >> When his students asked how could he interrupt his learning for this, he said, "If a person learns Torah so deeply that they can no longer hear the cry of an innocent child, >> [music] >> their learning is empty." He heard a cry, and he went. The sukkah asks the same of us. You cannot stay inside your comfortable, protected house while someone is crying outside. [music] You have to be open, reachable, willing to put down whatever you are doing, and go. If you can hear someone else's cry right now, the Sukkah of Ahavah is speaking directly to you. >> [music] >> Act as if you alone are responsible, because right now you might be. This is turning the wheel, because the road to healing isn't straight, but no one >> [music] >> should have to travel it alone. Wishing you and your families a Chag Sameach, a wonderful Sukkos, and a good Shabbos. Thank you. >> need [singing and music] the light of >> [singing]