This week's newsletter looks toward the holiday of Sukkot which is called zeman simhateinu--the time of our rejoicing. It explores joy and satisfaction.
hag sameah
michael
A word of Torah:
Finding Joy
The least known mitzvah/commandment of Sukkot is that we are supposed to rejoice during the holiday, as it says: ve-samahta be-hageikha/ You shall rejoice in your festival (Dt. 16:14). While some might argue that rejoicing on Sukkot is reflected in the daily recital of Hallel or ancient celebrations in Temple times such as simhat beit ha-shoevah, it is unclear how and why Sukkot is supposed to be joyous. The Sefer Ha-Hinukh, a medieval work that comments on each of the 613 commandments states: The nature of humans is that they need to rejoice just as they need to eat and sleep…and the result [of rejoicing] would be a great healing medicine for us (Sefer Ha-Hinukh #488). The author seems to be suggesting that Sukkot is an opportunity to focus on a critical aspect of our lives–joy.
Joy is associated with the holiday of Sukkot because it marks the end of the agricultural year. We gather the crops and hope they are a bountiful harvest to carry us through the coming winter. There is another more spiritual harvest that we celebrate as well. During the High Holidays, we reflect on our efforts to engage in teshuvah/repentance and hope those efforts will bear fruit in the new year. It is a time to rejoice over our accomplishments and the blessings of our lives.
How? Simha/joy comes from cultivating the quality of satisfaction. Feeling satisfied with what we have, or, as some call it “enoughness” (Mussar calls it histapkut), is a useful quality to cultivate for a healthy spiritual life.
There is a verse in Deut. that might suggest how to achieve satisfaction. “You shall eat, be satisfied and bless God, “(ve-akhalta, ve-savata uvei’rakhta Deut. 8:10). The verse suggests that we should enjoy the pleasures of this world, feel satisfied by what we have had, and then bless God, the creator of the world. Through partaking and feeling sated, we will feel blessed.
Satisfaction comes from enjoying the world, not from refraining from all the world has to offer, but it is important to come to a place of feeling satisfied. This does not come about by measuring what we have as compared to our neighbor. What they have doesn’t detract from the apple that we ate or the beautiful sunset that we have witnessed. The fact that there is always more should not distract us from what we have experienced through our five senses. Satisfaction is a great gift that only we can give ourselves.
On Joy
Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
- Groucho Marx
Song
Ashrei ha-am she-kakha lo;
ashrei yoshvei vei-tekha
Happy are the people who are content with what is;
Happy are those who sit/meditate in Your house
Ps. 144:15a;84:5a
