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Rabbi Lipskar's weekly d'var torah
Sukkos is described in our prayers with a remarkable name: Zman Simchaseinu, “the season of our joy.” The Torah does not merely describe Sukkos as joyful. It commands us to rejoice, telling us, “V’samachta b’chagecha,” “You shall rejoice on your festival,” and then adding, “V’hayisa ach sameach,” “You shall be only joyful.” Somehow, this holiday is meant to teach us not simply how to celebrate, but something fundamental about the Jewish understanding of happiness.
But there is an obvious question. How can the Torah command an emotion? We can be commanded to eat matzah, hear the Shofar, fast on Yom Kippur or give charity. Those are actions within our control. But can someone simply tell us to be happy? What if life is difficult? What if we are worried about our health, our children, our livelihood or our future? What if we are carrying disappointment or loss? Can the Torah really command a person experiencing genuine pain to suddenly become joyful because Sukkos has arrived?
Perhaps the answer is that when the Torah speaks about simchah, joy, it is describing something much deeper than simply being in a good mood. There is a difference between pleasure and joy. Pleasure usually comes from getting something we want. We enjoy a beautiful meal, a wonderful vacation, an accomplishment, good news or a long-awaited success. These are blessings from Hashem and should certainly be appreciated. But pleasure is dependent upon circumstances. When the circumstances change, the feeling often changes with them. Simchah comes from somewhere deeper.
King Solomon explores this question powerfully in the Book of Koheles, Ecclesiastes. He describes his pursuit of everything that human beings normally associate with happiness. He accumulated wealth, built magnificent homes, planted gardens and vineyards, surrounded himself with beauty and experienced virtually every pleasure available to him. Yet he discovered that possessing more did not necessarily make life more meaningful. A person can have an abundance of things and still feel that something essential is missing.
Our Sages teach us that the Torah’s understanding of simchah, genuine inner joy, is not the ability to escape the difficulties of life. It comes from living with an awareness that our lives have meaning and purpose because we live in the presence of Hashem. Happiness asks, “Do I have what I want?” Simchah asks a different question: “Do I recognize the value of what I have, the purpose for which I am here, and the One Who gave it to me?”
If joy requires everything in life to be perfect, very few people will ever experience sustained joy. There is almost always something we are waiting for. One problem is resolved and another appears. We reach one goal and immediately begin thinking about the next. We tell ourselves, “When this happens, then I will be happy. When the deal closes. When the children settle down. When this challenge passes. When life becomes less complicated.” The problem is that “then” keeps moving. Sukkos tells us not to postpone joy until life becomes perfect. Life was never promised to be perfect. Joy comes from discovering that an imperfect life can still be an extraordinarily blessed life.
Perhaps this explains why Sukkos is also the festival of the harvest. In the agricultural world of our ancestors, this was the time when the farmer finally gathered the produce that had grown throughout the year. Months earlier he had plowed and planted, and then he waited. He could not control the rain, the sun, the wind or countless other conditions upon which his crop depended. At Sukkos, as he gathered the harvest, he recognized not only the results of his labor but also how much of his success was never entirely in his hands. He worked, but Hashem sent the rain. He planted, but Hashem made it grow. The harvest therefore became not only a celebration of accomplishment, but an exercise in gratitude.
Gratitude is one of the great foundations of joy. There is an enormous difference between possessing something and appreciating it. We can possess health without appreciating health. We can have family without appreciating family. We can have a home, friends, a community, opportunities and blessings that we once prayed desperately to receive, and after enough time passes, they simply become part of the background of our lives. Sukkos asks us to bring them back into the foreground.
This is also part of the message of the Sukkah. We leave our permanent homes and spend time in a simple temporary structure. Suddenly, many of the things we ordinarily consider necessary are stripped away, and yet this simple structure is where the Torah commands the greatest joy. Judaism does not reject material blessing. We make blessings over food, wine and the pleasures Hashem gives us. But Sukkos reminds us never to confuse the blessings with the source of blessing, or possessions with purpose. Sometimes having less around us allows us to notice more of what we already have.
Perhaps this is why Sukkos follows immediately after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Days of Awe force us to ask the most serious questions about our lives. Who am I? What am I doing with the time Hashem has given me? Which relationships truly matter? What needs to change? What kind of person do I want to become? Then comes Sukkos and teaches us that seriousness and joy are not opposites. In fact, the deepest joy becomes possible when we know what really matters. When I understand why I am here, I do not need every moment to be easy in order for it to be meaningful.
That is why Jewish joy is not denial. Judaism never asks a person who is hurting to pretend not to hurt. It never tells us that grief is not grief or disappointment is not disappointment. There are times to cry, times to mourn and times to acknowledge pain honestly. But Torah also teaches us that pain and joy are not always mutually exclusive. A person can miss someone deeply and still be grateful for the years they shared. A person can face uncertainty and still appreciate the blessings present today. A person can have unanswered prayers and still thank Hashem for the prayers that have already been answered.
Jewish joy does not mean that nothing hurts. Jewish joy means that nothing is meaningless. That, perhaps, is what the Torah can command. The Torah cannot command every circumstance to unfold exactly as we would choose. But it can ask us where we place our attention. It can ask whether we see only what is missing or whether we also recognize what is present. It can ask whether we define our lives by the prayers still waiting to be answered or whether we remember the countless blessings we have already received.
There is a beautiful reason that we recite the blessing of Shehecheyanu at the beginning of the festival, thanking Hashem “Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.” We are not thanking Hashem because every moment since last Sukkos unfolded exactly as we hoped. We are thanking Him because after everything the year contained, we are here. We have reached another Sukkos, another opportunity to sit with the people we love, another opportunity to perform a mitzvah, make a difference, repair what needs repair and become more of the person we were created to be. Perhaps those simple words, Shehecheyanu, “Who has kept us alive,” contain one of the greatest secrets of happiness. Before asking what tomorrow will bring, recognize the gift of today.
Sukkos challenges the assumption that happiness is waiting somewhere in the future. It reminds us that some of the things surrounding us today were once the very things for which we prayed. Look around the Sukkah table. Look at the people who are there. Think about the privilege of celebrating as a Jew, continuing traditions that have survived thousands of years, teaching them to our children and grandchildren, and knowing that we are another link in an extraordinary chain. Not everything is perfect. Not every prayer has been answered. Not every problem has been solved. And still, there is so much for which to say thank You.
That is Zman Simchaseinu, “the season of our joy.” Not the season in which nothing is wrong, but the season in which we remember how much is right. Not a command to ignore what is missing, but an invitation to recognize what is present. Not happiness because we possess everything, but joy because we understand that everything we possess is a gift.
May this Sukkos open our eyes to the blessings that already surround us and our hearts to appreciate them more deeply. May Hashem bless each of us and our families with genuine simchah, true and lasting joy, with health, nachas and pride from our families, prosperity, peace of mind and abundant revealed blessings. And may we soon experience the greatest joy of all, when sadness and suffering will disappear completely with the coming of Moshiach and the ultimate Redemption, speedily in our days.
Chag Sameach, Good Shabbos, and a joyous Yom Tov.
(adapted from the writings of my Father and Teacher, Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar, obm)
- JEWISH HOLIDAYS
The Shul Pushka Campaign
It's the little things in life that count. G-d fills the world every moment with His divine energy. Tzedakah is one of the special and significant ways to create an all-encompassing Mitzvah, and in today's world, we need more Mitzvot than ever. It doesn't matter where or how much you give, just make Tzedakah part of your day.
The Shul provides beautiful Pushkas (charity boxes) to the community and to all those that would like to participate in the important Mitzvah of Tzedakah. To request a Shul Pushka please call The Shul Office at 305-868-1411 or fill out the form below.
Click here to request a Pushka
To Learn More About The Meaning of Tzedakah
Jewish Holidays
- PROJECT 33154
All Jewish holidays begin the evening before the date specified on most calendars. This is because a Jewish "day" begins and ends at sunset, rather than at midnight. If you read the story of creation in Genesis Ch. 1, you will notice that it says, "And there was evening, and there was morning, one day."
From this, we infer that a day begins with evening, that is, sunset. Holidays end at nightfall of the date specified on most calendars; that is, at the time when it becomes dark out, about an hour after sunset.
Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
Project 33154
Project 33154 is a community wide program to create a neighbor to neighbor Jewish experience. The initial case study started Chanuka 2002 where 10 young Yeshiva boys visited every home in Bay Harbor to identify which ones were Jewish and give them the necessary items (Menorah, Candles, Guides etc.) for the Holiday of Chanuka.
Over 250 Jewish Homes were identified together with a color coded map of Members, Non-Members and Unaffiliated Jews. Over the next Purim and Passover the same idea was used in the Surfside and Bal Harbour area and over 800 new Jewish homes were contacted and had a taste of The Shul.
Together with color coded map each neighborhood was split up into different areas that include a lay leader from The Shul.
Before each Yom Tov The Shul prepares a special food package which promotes holiday awareness.
Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succot, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach andShavout
Every newly identified Jewish household in the Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands and Surfside areas has been contacted with thousands of Apples and Honey packages, Chanukah kits and Purim Mishloach Manos and food packages distributed this year.
Over 350 pounds of hand-made Shemurah Matzo (that’s about 2,450 pieces of matzah) has been distributed throughout 33154. If you are new on the 33154 area, please let us know so you can be included in this amazing and inspiring Jewish Program.
Send a letter to the Rebbe זי"ע
Throughout his lifetime, the Rebbe received hundreds of letters every day, from people of every conceivable background, occupation and faith. Today people continue to send letters to be placed at the Ohel for the Rebbe's guidance and intervention On High, in the age-old tradition of written prayer petitions at our holiest sites
Whether referring to one's own self or mentioning someone else's name in a letter, one should always include the name and mother's name (e.g. Isaac the son of Sarah) of both the one(s) who are in need of blessing and the signer.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/761128/jewish/Why-Use-the-Mothers-Name-When-Praying-for-Someone. htm l
http://www.ohelchabad.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/78445It is preferable to use one's Jewish name. (Customarily gentiles use their father's name.) Letters can be written in any language. You can fax directly to the Ohel at: (718) 723-4444 Or you can use the form below to have the rabbis at Ohel Chabad Lubavitch http://www.ohelchabad.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/78445personally bring your prayers to the Rebbe’s resting place.
The Rebbe
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson of righteous memory, the seventh leader in the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty, is considered to have been the most phenomenal Jewish personality of modern times. To hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of sympathizers and admirers around the world, he was -- and still is, despite his passing -- "the Rebbe."
Whether referring to one's own self or mentioning someone else's name in a letter, one should always include the name and mother's name (e.g. Isaac the son of Sarah) of both the one(s) who are in need of blessing and the signer.
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