“And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water. And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying: ‘The water is ours.’ And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. And they digged another well, and they strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sitnah. And he moved from there, and digged another well; and for that they strove not. And he called the name of it Rehoboth, and he said: ‘For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’” (Gen. 26:19-22)

After cleansing ourselves during the 10 days of repentance, we are moving on to Sukkot — the holiday of happiness and peace. From the 613 mitzvot, only two command us to be happy when we fulfill them. Both have to do with the physical bounty of harvest and bikkurim (first fruits). If sitting in the Sukkah would cause unhappiness, a person is exempt from doing so. The happiest occasion in Judaism, according to the Talmud, was when Jews drew water from the well in Jerusalem and poured it over the altar, which happened on Sukkot. God wants us to have quality of life and happiness, not just material wealth. Hence, a Sukkah is aligned with peace.

Ironically, one of the most contentious places in the world is where the water libation originally took place — the old city of Jerusalem. One of the reasons I moved from Israel was because of that contentiousness. Each year that I return, I contemplate this issue. What prevents it from being peaceful? In recent years, I’ve led interfaith pilgrimages and seen Israel from different prisms. I see it now not just as Israel, but as the Holy Land many sought to “conquer.”

Using Isaac’s story above, Nachmonides interprets it this way: “And he called the third well Rehoboth (wide-open spaces), and this one alludes to the Holy Temple which will one day be built . . . and that one will be built without fighting or conflict.” The Jewish journey begins in Egypt, which means “narrow,” while Isaac’s third well, Rehoboth, means “wide.” Moving from narrowness to wideness and diversity, “all the nations will worship Him shoulder-to-shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3:9) Hence, it is not to be a Jewish journey alone. Israel has three major religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. We are not alone in the spiritual desert, for the desert belongs to nobody and to everybody.

Last year I asked our Christian Palestinian Egyptian Coptic Deacon a question about building the temple: Do Muslims have a problem with Jews building a temple, or is it the matter of the location on Temple Mount? Our guide, Dawud (David), immediately replied that the problem was the location, which “drew” my follow-up question: What if the Jews give up their aspirations to build the third Temple on the Temple Mount, and would continue to worship in the Kotel Plaza? Dawud jumped up and said with light in his eyes: “World Peace!” For me, that lit a small light at the end of a dark tunnel — the light I was waiting for years to see.

Isaac moved from the first and second wells to the third. Let us move 100 meters. And then no one would need to move anymore. At this point, we all have Hazakah on the land — stronghold. And this is the basis for the three holy sites. If the three religions, worked together, Jerusalem would be stronger.

May we all stand shoulder to shoulder in peace this holiday of Sukkot.

—Rabbi Gadi Capela