In a little over a week, the holiday of Sukkot will be upon us, part and parcel of which is observing a kabbalistic custom to invite one of seven exalted guests–or ushpizin, in Aramaic–into the sukkah for each night, each one being one of the seven “shepherds of Israel”: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David.
According to tradition, each night a different guest enters the sukkah followed by the other six, with a unique lesson to teach that parallels the spiritual focus of the day on which they visit, based on the sefira–the divine attribute that categorizes G’d’s relationship with our reality–associated with that personage, and empowering us with the particular quality that defines them.
The traditional guests and their corresponding sefirah are:
| Day | Sefirah | Guest |
| First day | Chessed: “Benevolence/Love” | Abraham |
| Second day | Gevurah: “Severity/Discipline” | Isaac |
| Third day | Tiferet: “Beauty/Harmony” | Jacob |
| Fourth day | Netzach: “Victory/Endurance” | Moses |
| Fifth day | Hod: “Splendor/Humility” | Aaron |
| Sixth day | Yesod: “Foundation/Connection” | Joseph |
| Seventh day | Malchut: “Sovereignty/Leadership” | David |
In more recent times, there has come to be a recognition of a set of seven female shepherds of Israel–called variously Ushpizot (using modern Hebrew feminine pluralization), or Ushpizata (in reconstructed Aramaic)–the most widespread of which being in accordance with the listing of traditional Judaism’s main seven prophetesses–as per Tractate Megillah 14a-b–with the associated sefirot established by Rabbi Menachem Azariah de Fano in his 17th century work Asarah Ma’amarot:
| Day | Sefirah | Guest |
| First day | Chessed: “Benevolence/Love” | Sarah |
| Second day | Gevurah: “Severity/Discipline” | Miriam |
| Third day | Tiferet: “Beauty/Harmony” | Deborah |
| Fourth day | Netzach: “Victory/Endurance” | Hannah |
| Fifth day | Hod: “Splendor/Humility” | Abigail |
| Sixth day | Yesod: “Foundation/Connection” | Hulda |
| Seventh day | Malchut: “Sovereignty/Leadership” | Esther |
To be fair, these seven (or fourteen) souls are our “shepherds” all year round, but during the seven days of Sukkot it is a time when their presence in our lives is more pronounced and revealed, where they are able to empower us to connect with the seven dimensions of our soul’s divine image and nourish us for the rest of the year.
As such, what would it look like–in the wake of the social and racial unrest in these days, and particularly in America–if (as Jews who are also Black Americans) figures from our past would should up to our sukkah this year, to likewise empower us? Who would they be? What would they represent?
And so I present the Ushpizin of Black America:
| Day | Sefirah | Guest |
| First day | Chessed: “Benevolence/Love” | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
| Second day | Gevurah: “Severity/Discipline” | Malcolm X |
| Third day | Tiferet: “Beauty/Harmony” | Madame C. J. Walker |
| Fourth day | Netzach: “Victory/Endurance” | Eartha Kitt |
| Fifth day | Hod: “Splendor/Humility” | John Lewis |
| Sixth day | Yesod: “Foundation/Connection” | Maya Angelou |
| Seventh day | Malchut: “Sovereignty/Leadership” | Barack/Michelle Obama |
Disagree with my choices? Feel free to leave a comment or shoot a tweet to me or Tribe Herald with your own ushpizin.
At any rate, shana tova um’tukah & g’mar chatima tova.
Let this coming year be better for all of us.
