Jewish Life #15 Sukkot 5785 (2024); zeman simhatenu

At the time of writing of this blog we are in the middle of Sukkot and actually sitting in our sukka. The special holiday liturgy calls it ‘zeman simchatenu’, the time of joy (simcha[1]). The Torah mentions the instruction to be joyful four times, in Vayikra 23:34 and 23:40-43 and Devarim 16:14 and 16:15. We read: ‘[the month of Tishrei] is the Festival of Sukkot a seven-day period [devoted] to Hashem’ (verse 34)…. You must rejoice before Hashem, your God (40)…. You must celebrate [the holiday of Sukkot] as a festival to Hashem for seven days in the year… you celebrate it in the seventh month. You must live in boots….’
 
The sukka is a physical manifestation of the Divine energy that the sukkah embodies: Hashem’s transcendence. On Sukkot (and on day 8: Shemini Atzeret) and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are meant to renew and revitalize our relationship with Hashem as our King. This existential companionship can redeem ‘the man of faith’ from the torment of his existential loneliness.[2] In the terminology of Rav Soloveitchik: a partnership with Hashem creates a shared faith, a living relationship between the Creator and man. Partnership redeems lonely man of faith and during Sukkot he has the opportunity to communicate, to commune with, to enjoy a genuine relationship with Hashem. 
 
What we accomplished on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, through ‘the hard work’ of earnest prayer and introspection, is accomplished on Sukkot through joy.  
 
However, for Sukkot to be a joyful festival there is an essential condition. Joy [simcha] is a social emotion. Simcha is an emotion shared with others.[3] So in addition to being able to experience His closeness and energy, we are instructed to strengthen the social bonds with family, friends and the community. Celebrating Sukkot is celebrating intimacy, social bonding and harmony. This is the joy of grace (simchat chesed), an essential feature of harmony. ‘And I praised simcha’ (Kohelet 8:15)[4].
 
In Judaism, faith is not a private matter, an inner light relevant only to himself. The Jewish way of life is diametrically opposed to an attitude in which a person withdraws into his personal inner room. The Jew is instructed to come out: to Hashem and the other. Victor Frankl described this attitude, which is related to health and meaning, as ‘dereflection’. This is the attitude to life of an adult who is focused on contributing to a better world. The quality of intimate lasting relationships, so essential during Sukkot and so closely linked to the ultimate emotion of joy, is therefore closely related to the ability to de-reflect, to ‘gaze at the other, the third party’, to practice chesed [loving kindness]. In contrast, hyper-reflection, is a childish and egocentric attitude. Hyper-reflection is closely related to intrapsychic problems, such as depression and anxiety disorders. 
 
Sukkot is therefore also an annual learning experience to recognize the value of intimacy: -[precisely in a fragile booth, a dirat arai[5], with a number of shaky walls], a living relationship with Hashem, our Creator, and -intimate social relationships with family, friends and others in general. If a person recognizes (and acknowledges) the value, he will also be able to practice this in his attitude to life. 
 
 
[1] See also: Jewish Life #1, #4, #8 and #12. 
[2] The uniqueness and individuality of each individual implies existential loneliness. There is no escape from this essential characteristic of man.
[3] See Blog #1.
[4] A question pops up: ‘What remains, other than fear, in a state of radical insecurity’ (living in a booth, not a solid home with strong walls). The answer is simcha, joy. Dr. Erica Brown rightly refers to the work of Rabbi Sacks in her commentary on the book of Kohelet: ‘Joy does not involve, as does happiness, a judgement about life as a whole. Joy lives in the moment. It asks no questions about tomorrow. It celebrates the power of now.  (Brown, E. Ecclesiastes and the Search for Meaning. Maggid). The book of Kohelet is read in Sukkot. Simcha is an essential emotion in this book. Kohelet is about the fact that the human body is a temporary dwelling. So, in a sense, life is a sukka.   
[5] A temporary dwelling. 

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