Big Wheel Turning By The Grace Of God ( Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzman- "The Wheel")

           Every year at this time my son and I get to bond while we assemble our Sukkah. As he grows older he is able to help in a more constructive manner than just sitting and talking. While we were putting the Sukkah together he shared with me something he learned in school. He exclaimed that one of the commandments associated with Sukkot is to be happy. He thought that this is a very difficult commandment to follow, at least compared to the other commandments associated with Sukkot, such a eating in the Sukkah and waving the Lulav and Etrog. He then asked a very poignant question. “Abba how can you be commanded to ‘be happy’ if you in mourning?” I asked him what he meant. He explained that since his Zeidy (my Grandfather) died at the end of August and the whole family has been sad since then, and we are still in the year of mourning, how can we be happy?” I stopped what I was doing and told him that I wonder the same thing. It is hard to be happy when you have suffered a loss. How do we do resolve the tension between how we feel due to a loss and the feeling associated with Chag Sukkot?

Among the most spiritually difficult and often perceived as harsh texts is the Sefer Kohelet the book of Ecclesiastes. We read it in its entirety once a year on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot, the Intermediate Sabbath of Sukkot. According to the tradition, Shlomo HaMelech, King Solomon, towards the end of his life, wrote this Megillah, this scroll. Tradition has this perspective because the language is not one of optimism but rather realism. This is a person who as “seen it all” – Ein Kol Chadash Tachat HaShemesh – There is nothing new under the sun! And yet there is a certain harsh realism and a certain sense of harsh optimism. The author provides us with a no holds barred sense of comfort. He does not coddle us. He does not baby us. Rather the author shoves our faces in this “reality” and gives us a perspective on how to deal with a world that is not as wonderful a place as we might have thought of in our youth, or even a few weeks ago. The question that so many of our sages have asked, is why is such a text, a text that does not offer such explicit hope, a text that does not offer explicit comfort, and is universally recognized as a “downer” of a text, why is such a text read on the holiday that is commonly regarded as Zman Simchateinu – the time of our joy?

            In Eretz Yisroel, the Autumn Harvest is complete. We unabashedly celebrate our joy on a physical level because of a successful harvest. We also unabashedly celebrate our joy for having been judged favorably by God, (Rosh HaShanah), having been the recipients of God’s mercy (Yom Kippur). On Sukkot we are commanded to Samachta b’Chagecha – celebrate in your holiday. Yet this text seems to diminish our celebration. While the nature of the Sukkot holiday is to celebrate our unrestrained joy in receiving God’s blessing, we also know that very often it is human nature to forget God and celebrate our achievements and ourselves. Kohelet reminds us that, like the fragile nature of the Sukkah itself, not everything is as much in our control as we think. V’Zerach HaShemesh U’Vah HaShemesh – the sun rises and the sun sets- no matter what we do, no matter how much control we may perceive that we have, at the end of the day, we are ultimately powerless. God is the ultimate cause of all things. The sun rises and sets because of God, not mankind. Kohelet helps us maintain our perspective. Kohelet reminds us that we are not the center of the world. Kohelet reminds us that for all the physical pleasures we seek, for the all the material comforts we work hard to afford, such things are fleeting.

            So how can such a text offer us comfort? Well if we have the perspective of Kohelet, then we can understand how an elderly person, who has seen everything: man’s goodness, man’s evil, the joy of life and the futility of life, offers us comfort.  Kohelet reminds us that there is only the Here and Now. The harvest and Thanksgiving that is associated with Sukkot reminds us that there is only the Here and Now. Next planting, pruning and harvesting is not in our control so why bother? Rather we celebrate that we arrived at Now. We acknowledge our portion and celebrate it. Yes we may be spiritually scarred beaten and bruised.. Yes we might have suffered horrible losses, perhaps devastating types of losses. Be we are here, sitting in the Sukkah, shaking a Lulav and Etrog, and that must be acknowledged and perhaps worth celebrating. Being having arrived in the Now just might be reason enough to be a certain type of Happiness.

As we finished putting up our Sukkah, I finally figured out an answer for our son. Maybe the lesson of Sukkot and the commandment to be happy, “VeSamacha b’Chagecha”, is to remind ourselves to be happy with what we have, and not focus upon what we don’t have.  No we don’t have Zeidy, but he have wonderful memories of him and the laughter that results from the sweet memories of our son’s great grandfather.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

Can't See Much Difference Between The Dark And Light (Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter - "Comes A Time")

Our family received some difficult news a few weeks ago. A friend of mine in his late thirties was diagnosed with cancer. Besides our concern for my friend, we are concerned for his wife and four young children.  Needless to say this upsetting news reminded us both of our own mortality. As we have stood in judgment on Rosh HaShanah, as we have appealed to God’s merciful aspect on Yom Kippur, we now begin preparations for Sukkot. We build a sukkah, we decorate a sukkah, we purchase our Lulav and Etrog, and we, actually my wife, prepares numerous festive meals. Amid all these preparations I am reminded of the Torah’s command concerning Sukkot Samachta b’Chagecha – celebrate in your holiday. Then my thoughts drift towards my friend. I wonder how anyone with real pain, real tsuris such as this, how do they put it aside in order to  Samachta b’Chagecha?

On Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot, the Intermediate Sabbath of Sukkot holiday, one of the Five Scrolls is traditionally read.  On this particular Shabbat, we read from Sefer Kohelet, the scroll of Ecclesiastes. According to the tradition, Shlomo HaMelech, King Solomon, towards the end of his life, wrote this Megillah, this scroll. Tradition has this perspective because the language is not one of optimism but rather realism. This is a person who as “seen it all” – Ein Kol Chadash Tachat HaShemesh – There is nothing new under the sun! There is a certain harsh realism and a certain sense of harsh optimism. The author provides us with a no holds barred sense of comfort. He does not coddle us. He does not baby us. He doesn’t offer any artificially sweetened philosophy, or anything will dull our pain, diminish our disappointment, or ease the fear of death. Rather the author shoves our faces in “reality” and gives us a perspective on how to deal with a world that may not be as wonderful as we thought when we were younger and more innocent. Like our sages, I often wonder if one can derive any comfort.

Our sages have asked, is why is such a text, a text that does not offer such explicit hope, a text that does not offer explicit comfort, and is universally recognized as a “downer” of a text, why is such a text read on the holiday that is commonly regarded as Zman Simchateinu – the time of our joy? Historically and agriculturally speaking, "the time of our joy" was the harvest season. In Eretz Yisroel, the Autumn Harvest is complete. We unabashedly celebrate our joy on a physical level because of a successful harvest. We also unabashedly celebrate our joy for having been judged favorably by God, (Rosh HaShanah), having been the recipients of God’s mercy (Yom Kippur). On Sukkot we are commanded to Samachta b’Chagecha – celebrate in your holiday. Yet this text tempers our celebration. While the nature of the Sukkot holiday is to celebrate our unrestrained joy in receiving God’s blessing, we also know that very often it is human nature to forget God and celebrate our achievements and ourselves. Kohelet reminds us that, like the fragile nature of the Sukkah itself, not everything is as much in our control as we think. V’Zerach HaShemesh U’Vah HaShemesh – the sun rises and the sun sets- no matter what we do, no matter how much control we may perceive that we have, at the end of the day, we are ultimately powerless. God is the ultimate cause of all things. The sun rises and sets because of God, not mankind. Kohelet helps us maintain our perspective. Kohelet reminds us that we are not the center of the world. Kohelet reminds us that for all the physical pleasures we seek, for the all the material comforts we work hard to afford, such things are fleeting.

            So how can such a text offer us comfort? Well if we have the perspective of Kohelet, then we can understand how an elderly person, who has seen everything: man’s goodness, man’s evil, the joy of life and the futility of life, offers us comfort.  With control comes responsibility. With power comes responsibility. Kohelet teaches us that we should celebrate the fact that we have so little control. Kohelet teaches us that we should derive joy from the fact that we don’t need to worry about the sunrise or the sunset. We shouldn’t be so overly joyous when good things occur nor overly upset when sad things occur. Intellectually speaking, life and death is not within our control. Living our life is within our control. Living the best possible life is within our control. Living a life that has spiritual meaning and the acquisition of wisdom is the crux of our existence, the purpose for our living. Perhaps that is what we the Torah means when we are told to Samachta B'Chagecha - celebrate in your Holy Day.

           I have spoken with my friend only a few times since I heard the news. We talked about his cancer, we talked about the increased sense of  “chaos” in his life, and loss of control. Remarkably, he innately understood Kohelet’s message. As we talked he realized that there are certain things in his control; the most important things remain in his control: his attitude, his perspective, and his outlook on life. Needless to say, he very much looks forward to celebrating Sukkot this year. I imagine the concept of V’Samachta, V’Chagecha will be even more meaningful when he sits in the Sukkah with his wife and children celebrating and cherishing his most precious blessings. He deeply and intuitively understands the awe inspiring nature of being able to celebrate life under any circumstance. Sof Davar Ha’Kol Nishmah et Ha’Elohim Y’rah v’Et Mitzvotav Shmor  Ki Zeh Kol HaYamim- The sum of the matter, when all has been considered: Be in Awe of God and keep his Commandments, for that is man’s whole duty.

Peace,

Rav Yitz

She Can Make Happy any Man Alive (Hunter, Weir - Sugar Magnolia)

Well in typical weather related irony, we have experienced a beautiful Indian summer for the past two weeks from the Shabbat after Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur and right up until Sukkot. Now that our Sukkah is up, decorated and the table is set for one of my wife’s delicious Yom Tov meals, we are expecting rain. Why couldn’t we have Indian summer for Sukkot? Why couldn’t it be sunny and beautiful while we are eating in the Sukkah? My wife of course, has divided her time between cooking and asking these questions. Yes, we have all noted the irony of the weather. We can control our preparation for Yom Tov. We can control our how we express our joy and happiness during Sukkot. We can control many things that enhance our Sukkot experience. But we all have limits to the extent of that control.

Among the most spiritually difficult and often perceived as harsh texts is the Sefer Kohelet the book of Ecclesiastes. We read it in its entirety once a year on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot, the Intermediate Sabbath of Sukkot. According to the tradition, Shlomo HaMelech, King Solomon, towards the end of his life, wrote this Megillah, this scroll. Tradition has this perspective because the language is not one of optimism but rather realism. This is a person who as “seen it all” – Ein Kol Chadash Tachat HaShemesh – There is nothing new under the sun! And yet there is a certain harsh realism and a certain sense of harsh optimism. The author provides us with a no holds barred sense of comfort. He does not coddle us. He does not baby us. Rather the author shoves our faces in this “reality” and gives us a perspective on how to deal with a world that is not as wonderful a place as we might have thought of in our youth, or even a few weeks ago. The question that so many of our sages have asked, is why is such a text, a text that does not offer such explicit hope, a text that does not offer explicit comfort, and is universally recognized as a “downer” of a text, why is such a text read on the holiday that is commonly regarded as Zman Simchateinu – the time of our joy?

In Eretz Yisroel, the Autumn Harvest is complete. We unabashedly celebrate our joy on a physical level because of a successful harvest. We also unabashedly celebrate our joy for having been judged favorably by God, (Rosh HaShanah), having been the recipients of God’s mercy (Yom Kippur). On Sukkot we are commanded to Samachta b’Chagecha – celebrate in your holiday. Yet this text tempers our celebration. While the nature of the Sukkot holiday is to celebrate our unrestrained joy in receiving God’s blessing, we also know that very often it is human nature to forget God and celebrate our achievements and ourselves. Kohelet reminds us that, like the fragile nature of the Sukkah itself, not everything is as much in our control as we think. V’Zerach HaShemesh U’Vah HaShemesh – the sun rises and the sun sets- no matter what we do, no matter how much control we may perceive that we have, at the end of the day, we are ultimately powerless. God is the ultimate cause of all things. The sun rises and sets because of God, not mankind. Kohelet helps us maintain our perspective. Kohelet reminds us that we are not the center of the world. Kohelet reminds us that for all the physical pleasures we seek, for the all the material comforts we work hard to afford, such things are fleeting.

So how can such a text offer us comfort? Well if we have the perspective of Kohelet, then we can understand how an elderly person, who has seen everything: man’s goodness, man’s evil, the joy of life and the futility of life, offers us comfort. With control comes responsibility. With power comes responsibility. Kohelet teaches us that we should celebrate the fact that we have so little control. Kohelet teaches us that we should derive joy from the fact that we don’t need to worry about the sunrise or the sunset. We shouldn’t be so terribly joyous when life comes into the world or upset when life leaves the world. Intellectually speaking, life and death is not within our control. Living our life is within our control. Living the best possible life is within our control. Living a life that has spiritual meaning and the acquisition of wisdom is the crux of our existence, the purpose for our living. Struggling to acquire anything else is futile. Torah is the embodiment of Wisdom. Sof Davar Ha’Kol Nishmah et Ha’Elohim Y’rah v’Et Mitzvotav Shmor Ki Zeh Kol HaYamim- The sum of the matter, when all has been considered: Fear God and keep his Commandments, for that is man’s whole duty. By doing so, we don’t need to worry about another Judgment on Rosh HaShanah; we don’t need to worry about God’s showing us mercy on Yom Kippur. We will have guaranteed that we have done everything in our control to make our lives meaningful. The joy in our celebration is the joy in our opportunity to acquire wisdom and internalize it.

Peace,

Rav Yitz