Guest blogger and professor, David Levine, shares his answer to our question: If you could invite one person, living or dead, to be your Ushpiz (guest) in your sukkah, who would it be and why?

“I’d have to split my answer into several parts:

1. A few guests from the 12th century Tosafist Academy of Rabbeinu Tam in the town of Ramerupt in Nothern France. The grandson of Rashi together with his student R. Isaac of Dampierre redefined halakhic thought. During these decades they developed a new approach to the talmudic text, expecting all talmudic sugyot (discussions) to be harmonious and conceptually consistent. In order to make this happen, new understandings and categories had to be discovered and invented. The theory and practice of Halakhah were transformed.

2. Reb Simcha Bunim and his circle from the Polish town of Przyzucha (pronounced Peshischa). This Hasidic rabbi had traveled some of Europe’s urban centers and supported himself and his family as a pharmacist. He developed an inner-hasidic critique of the prevalent routine and stock-pile expressions of Jewish religiosity. He combined psychological insight with intellectual rigor in a desire to encourage personal paths of spiritual expression for his students. Menahem Mendel of Kotsk was one of these students. This expression had a down-to-earth quality but was likewise engaged with the deepest recesses of spiritual yearning. Simcha Bunim’s ‘quest for authenticity’ was thought-provoking and mesmerizing.

3. Last but not least…Deep Purple, with an up-close look at Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar prowess (not the geriatric images of yesteryear Rock stars that are rampant these days).

Imagine a Sukkah with all this…”