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Sukkos 5766
B"H
EREV SUKKOS 14 TISHREI 5766
Shalom uvracha mi'Yerushalayim!
We are about to begin Sukkos here in Eretz Yisrael.
As is well known to all, Sukkos is the Season of Our Joy. We have learned about this topic in the past and b'ezrat Hashem we'll just add a few more words.
Reb Shlomo z"l taught that after a person makes a mistake he has to be very careful. He 'mamash' has to make much effort not to get angry.
There are many ways to look at anger and its source. What Reb Shlomo was suggesting here is that anger, according to the Rabbis z"l is very much related to self-worship and idolatry. When we make mistakes we are confronted with the reality of our imperfection. Such moments can be very uplifting and productive if used properly, or they can be very damaging if you get angry.
Reb Shlomo went on to explain further with a teaching of the Izbitzer Rebbe z"l: He said 'Why is it that Yaakov became a righteous person while Esav ended up following the path of evil? After all, Esav was no less of a scholar than Yaakov. Esav had studied Torah with the same teacher as Yaakov did- their father Yitzcahk Avinu.
The Izbitzer explains that Yaakov made much effort to cleanse himself of anger. He constantly prayed "Master of the World, please remove all anger from my heart." Esav, however, did not work on himself and that's why the two brothers went separate ways.
Reb Shlomo explained that in the Torah we learn that the Shechina dwelled amongst us even in the midst of our impurities. However, when a person gets angry, the Talmud teaches, the Shechina departs saying, "I and he cannot dwell together in the same place."
Sukkos is about joy and peace. The Sukkah is a very holy place. It is like a small sanctuary. Nevertheless everyone can enter inot it even with the mud on their boots. You don't have to be pure and holy to be in the Sukkah. the holiness of the Sukkah surrounds us as we are. But there is no room for anger in the Sukkah. Anger causes the Shechinah to leave, 'chas v'shalom'.
May we all be blessed to have a truly peaceful and joyous Sukkos. B'ahavah ubivracha.
Sholom
From previous years
I heard this at a Kiddush in the Sukkah of the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in Montreal about 35 years ago. Rabbi Kramer z"l gave over this teaching based on some Chassic text [sorry I do not know the source.] He said that celebrating Sukkot, sitting in the Sukkah is good for our mental health. I don't know why, but this teaching stuck in my memory over the years and I have thought about it many times. One way that I understand this is that in this sometimes 'insane' world that we live in, we need to have a special place of tranquility and true reality that we can go back to; a place where we can re-evaluate where we are and where we are heading, grounded in the reality of our existence – Hashem. Grounded in the knowledge that our security and our joy come from Hashem – the closer we are with Hashem, the more our lives will be filled with joy and tranquility.
THE SEASON OF OUR JOY [1]
V'SAMACHTA B'CHAGECHA ... V'HA-YEETAH ACH SAMEY-ACH
And you shall rejoice on your holiday ... and you shall be entirely joyous.
Devarim 16:14-15.
Sukkos is referred to as "the season of our joy" in our prayers. The mitzvah of being joyous on the holidays is mentioned specifically in the portion pertaining to Sukkos, even though we are always to serve Hashem with joy. And so the question has been raised, why is it that specifically Sukkos is known as "the season of our joy"? We have learned some answers to this question last week, and B"H i'd like to share another teaching about this that we learned in our Sukkah this week, here in Yerushalayim. In the sefer Emunas Itecha, Rabbi Moshe Wolfson brings the following teaching from the holy Zohar to answer the question.
In the holy Zohar (Vayikra 8a) we learn: Rabbi Yehudah began his teaching with the verse: "Serve Hashem with joy, come before Him with dance." When we serve Hashem we are to serve Him with joy and love. In this way our service is complete. But how can we bring a sacrifice [especially a 'sin offering'] with joy? Surely we are to experience bitterness over our wrongdoings and cry before Hashem for having acted against His will. Where then is the joy, where is the dance? It is the Kohanim with their shining faces and the Levites with their song and music, who bring (us back to) the joy and thus our mitzvah service is complete. Now that we cannot offer the sacrifices, we only have Tshuvah. In doing Tshuvah we must feel bitterness and remorse over our wrongdoings. But, our Tshuvah also requires joy otherwise it is not complete. Where then is the joy, where is the dance? We find the joy in the songs of praise that we sing to our Master and in the joy of Torah study. With this joy
our Tshuvah is complete.
Sukkos and Shmini Atzeres come right after the Ten Days of Tshuvah that begin with Rosh Hashanah and conclude on Yom Kippur. Our rejoicing on the festival of Sukkos completes our Tshuvah of the Days of Awe. We rejoice in the mitzvah of 'the four species' and in our Sukkot. Music fills the air of Yerushalayim and Israel throughout the holiday, as we all get together to sing and dance each morning and evening, B"H. In this way we are completing our Tshuvah and that is [another reason] why Sukkos is "the season of our joy".
THE SUKKAH AND OLAM HABBAH" – THE WORLD TO COME
The holy Sfas Emes brings us a teaching that the Sukkah is an allusion – a 'remez'- to "Olam Habbah" – the World To Come. It is for this reason that we first have to have had Yom Kippur, the day that we are commanded to "afflict your nefesh – physical being" by fasting etc.. This is so because, as the Midrash teaches, Olam Habbah and Eeretz Yisrael can only be acquired by first undergoing affliction. Thus we understand the 'remez' - allusion of Yom Kippur in the verse "And He caused you to suffer and He starved you, so that you should know that man does not live by bread alone, but rather by all that comes out of Hashem's mouth does man live." (D'varim 8:3) Therefore we spend Yom Kippur in prayer: holy words only, without physical pleasures, in preparation to enter the World to Come. And so when we enter in our Sukkot let us be aware that the fast is over, and we are entering into the World to Come. There, in the Sukkah, in the World to Come, we will drink water from the fou
ntain of Miriam, we'll eat the Mannah that Moshe Rabbeinu will bring us, and we'll love each other within Aharon haKohen's Clouds of Glory. What else could we possibly need? We just have to BE THERE. (Sfas Emes 5640)
THE SEASON OF OUR JOY [2]
"U'FROS ALEINU SUKKAT SHLOMECHA" : SPREAD OVER US YOUR CANOPY OF PEACE ...GOOD YOM TOV....GUT YOM TOV.....CHAG SAMEY'ACH........
In the Torah we read concerning the Sukkot Festival:
"V'SAMACHTA B'CHAGECHA V'HA'YITAH ACH SAMEYACH": YOU SHALL REJOICE WITH/IN YOUR HOLIDAY AND YOU SHALL BE ONLY HAPPY
In the Yom Tov Amiddah we pray: "And You, Lord our God, have given us in love. the Festival of Sukkot... the season of our rejoicing, a holy assembly, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt."
On this holiday, in addition to the two mitzvot that are unique to Sukkot: the mitzvah of 'the four species' and the mitzvah to dwell in Sukkot for seven days, we are also specifically commanded to rejoice before Hashem. Serving Hashem with joy is always of utmost importance.
However it is during the holiday of Sukkot, as Reb Shlomo zt"l taught, that we acquire joy for the whole year. On the Shavuot Festival we acquire our connectedness to Torah. On Rosh Hashanah we acquire our blessings for livelihood. We 'acquire' joy during Sukkot,specifically through our performance of the mitzvot of "the four species" and by living in "sukkot".
Obviously the joy we want to acquire, the joy that the Torah is speaking about is 'true joy'. This is not the joy that we are most familiar with. In fact, explains the Slonimer Rebbe, the joy of worldly possessions, is not real joy at all. The Midrash states that no one leaves this world with more than [not even with] half of his desires in his possession. In the Talmud the Rabbis say that this world 'satiates us with hunger' (Sukkah 52b). It is only by totally shedding our attachment to physical pleasures and the need to acquire material goods, that we can attain joy.
The Slonimer Rebbe brings a beautiful parable from the Mussar masters: A king who was very ill was told by his healers that the only thing that will cure him, is to wear the shirt of a man who is totally happy and is totally without worry. They searched for such a man and with great difficulty they finally found one. They asked him to contribute his shirt for the king's healing. He said that he would gladly do so, except that he didn't have one. The reason that he could be so happy, without any worry, is because he had no possessions and had no desire for any.
Does this then mean that we cannot have true joy, as long as we have possessions? Surely the parable is not meant to be taken literally. However the point must be well understood. It is by moving out of our normal comfortable dwelling places and living joyously in a 'temporary' dwelling, by removing ourselves from that which we have become so accustomed to, from that which we have become dependant upon; and by learning how to rejoice with the fairly ordinary 'four species', that we are to acquire true joy.
TZILLAH D'MEHEMNUTAH - IN THE SHADE OF FAITH
When Hashem took us out of Egypt we dwelt in temporary dwellings known as 'sukkot'. The defining aspect of the 'sukkah' is that it is a temporary dwelling. Its walls may be sturdy, but its roof can only be made of matter that grows from the ground, such as palm fronds, bamboo or tree branches, and these may not be attached to the structure, they just rest on the roof. In this way (There are many more rules, but this is not our focus here.)
The Rabbis teach us that we were encircled by six "clouds of glory", and thus we learn that the 'sukkot' that we live in during this holiday are more than memorial structures. In our 'sukkot' we are dwelling in the same 'space' that we dwelt in when we were in the desert. This Zohar calls this space, "Tzillah d'Mehemnutah", the shade of faith. This is the place of true joy. And in order 'to be' in this place we must have real 'ahavat Yisrael'.
REJOICING WITH THE 'FOUR SPECIES'.
This morning I had the honor and pleasure to go with my sons Netzach and Nachman to find and buy the 'four species': the esrog [a citron], the lulav [palm branch], three hadassim [myrtle], and two aravot [willow branches]'. We first went to the Machaneh Yehuda 'shuk' [market], from there we crossed Rechov Yaffo and continued towards the Geulah and Meah She'arim sections of Yerushalayim. All along the way as we were passing through all kinds of small communities, thousands of our brothers and sisters were totally occupied with getting ready for the holiday. There were hundreds of vendors selling the four species, and thousands of people looking for beautiful 'esrong and lulav sets'.
Can you imagine the scene? Hundreds of thousands of yidden, 'bli ayin hara', from the most learned to the most ordinary, from all walks of life and professions, scholars and holy shleppers poring over hundres and thousands of esrogim,lulavim, haddasim and aravot. And not only are these people looking for a kosher and perfect esrog, which is a beautiful fruit from the citrus family, many of them are willing and eager to pay very high prices for a really beautiful one, often well over a hundred dollars! And can you imagine a first time visitor to Israel, totally bewildered and astounded by the scene, finally gathers together enough 'chutzpah' and asks one of these holy yidden; what is it exactly that you will be doing with these four species?
"Why of course, i'm going to take these four species, i'll hold together in my two hands, and i'm going to recite a blessing over them and then i'll wave them in all directions, and i hope
to be doing so for the next seven days, b'ezrat Hashem". "And for this you are spending so much money?! Unbelievable!"
A PARABLE FROM REB NACHMAN
Can you imagine how much sense this Yerushalmi is making to this visitor. He might well imagine that we're nuts or something. Reb Nachman ztz"l, gave the parable of a drunkard who is sitting on the ground staring at a leaf next to him. In a moment of 'enlightenment' he begins to realize how beautiful this ordinary leaf really is. As he looks at it closer and closer, he is struck by its perfect color and beauty, 'why, it's a masterpiece!" Gevalt this leaf is so beautiful! Mammash the only thing to do with such a leaf is... "Why, of course, it be longs on my head!" And so our holy drunkard, takes the leaf and crowns himself with it. He is so happy; excitedly he gets up with renewed energy, and gevalt he's dancing through the streets, singing and dancing with so much joy, that can you imagine it, the whole town is getting excited about this beautiful leaf as well? Really? Unbelievable!
'What's it all about? I wish i knew, but it's about a lot more than i know. I'd like to share a few thoughts and i hope to hear some of yours as well.
There are quite a few ideas that are converging on Sukkos, and all together they bring us to deeper and deeper understandings of this wondrous holiday.
Do you think that a family living in a beautiful and secure home, moving out into a vulnerable temporary dwelling which can be blown down, makes any more sense than the drunkard dancing with the leaf on his head? Yet this is exactly what we are doing!
And we are doing it all with joy... because after Yom Kippur we have new eyes, a new awareness that real security does not come from another high tech super strong lock on my doors, it doesn't come from insulating myself from the world, it comes from Hashem. It comes from our making space for Hashem to live with us, among us. The more vulnerable we are the more we realize how important it is for us to live with each other in peace and harmony... the more we live with each other in peace and harmony, the more Hashem is wanting to live among us, the more Hashem's light is revealed in every person, in every community... the more we have cleansed ourselves of anger and jealousy, the more we are shining Hashem's light from within the more our eyes are open to see Hashem's unique light which is shining in each individual soul ... "gevalt the world really is beautiful" ... even a fruit from the citron family and even an ordinary willow branch is so beautiful ... each person ... each
branch and each leaf is so much to be appreciated ... with so much joy.... amen
On Sukkos we are blessing each other as we enter into the Sukkah, to enter into the air and atmosphere of Yerushalayim; into the Sukkah of peace. And as you are making the blessings over the four species, may the fragrance of the esrog, revive and refresh your soul, and may the lulav remind you how to stand straight, and let the hadassim help you heal your eyes and sight, and even the ordinary willow branch, let it teach you that even in your simplicity, especially in your utmost simplicity, you are so very special and beautiful.