Let's Celebrate!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for making these High Holidays such a wonderful experience for our community.
Throughout Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur over 400 men, women and children, joined together; prayed together; ate together; and will, G‑d willing, be blessed together for a joyous New Year.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, we’re on to Sukkot – the festival of joy!
And Sukkot isn’t “just another holiday”; it is the most joyous of the three Biblically mandated festivals. But why? What is the reason for the tremendous joy on this holiday?
Incredibly, the secret of Sukkot seems to be its lack of any great miracle. All miracles (or personal achievements and gains) are, in many ways, limited. This, in turn, causes the resulting joy to be limited. For the joy is limited by the scope of the benefit which the miracle or achievement produces. When the effects of the miracle or accomplishment wear off, the joy becomes passé; there is a Mishnaic dictum: “He who has one hundred desires two hundred, and he who possesses two hundred craves four hundred.” It is impossible for one to be ecstatic about a certain achievement when there is always so much more that can be accomplished.
Therefore on Sukkot have no miracles to celebrate. We are simply happy and full of joy. Why? Because we exist. No reasons. No miracles. We are G‑d’s people and he is our loving and protecting father who shielded us with His clouds of glory for 40 years. This is the reason the Torah commands us to sit the sukkah, as the sukkah is meant to remind us of the clouds of glory that surrounded our ancestors like a “sukkah-booth” in the desert.
We therefore leave the security and comfort of our homes, recognizing that true happiness does not come from our beautifully decorated homes, our designer furniture, or any of our other belongings or achievements. We venture out into the Sukkah, which the Zohar dubs “The Shade of Faith,” and focus on our most important asset- our G‑dly soul and our special relationship with G‑d. An everlasting bond that is infinite and knows no bounds.
So let’s celebrate!
As Jews, we take every details of life seriously. So on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur we seriously experienced the awesome and humbling atmosphere that these potent days bring. And now on Sukkot we seriously experience and unleash the immense joy that these days of Sukkot contain.
There are 2 special mitzvahs we perform on these days to unleash this joy: 1) eating in the sukkah, & 2) shaking the lulav and etrog. To learn more: CLICK HERE
Please join us for this holiday and experience true joy!
Shabbat Shalom & A Joyous Sukkot,
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick
