Join us as we explore the rich midrashic history of the “clouds of glory” in which the Israelites were enveloped during their forty years in the wilderness. This is a dynamic history, as the protective clouds vanish after the sin of the Golden Calf – and are then restored as the people engage with the creative work of building the Tabernacle. Loss and recovery come to structure the Israelites’ intimate experience of the divine. Ultimately, this dialectic informs the festival of Sukkot, traditionally associated with “exceeding joy.” We will draw on psychoanalytic understandings of the human experience of absence and presence.