18/19 October 2024, 17 Tishrei 5785

Some of us are carried kicking and screaming into the next festival of Sukkot, known as “z’man simchateinu,” or “season of our joy.” After the profundity of Yom Kippur and the balancing it offers, it’s hard, and even a little abrupt, to be told to be immediately joyful.

We are literally mandated to feel, not even just to express, joy. FirstTorah [the Deuteronomist] declares a few times “you shall rejoice” (Deut. 16:14) and then: “You shall have nothing but joy” or said another way, “You shall be exceedingly joyous“ (Deut. 16:15).

I have struggled a little with this commandment and thus insistence to feel joyous – who likes being told to cheer up or to smile when they are not joyful?

Yet this year, I am thinking of what I shared with you on Yom Kippur. If a funeral procession and a wedding procession met, the wedding would take precedence over the mourning. Indeed, the family service ark at Sha’arei Tsedek had engraved the words from Psalm 100 Ivdu et Adonai b’simcha – Worship God with joy.

So here it is – our chance to do just that. Even those of us who aren’t building a sukkah [this year] needn’t miss the physicality of this festival, eating under the stars and rain, if necessary. Waving the lulav, smelling the extra special scent of the etrog always feels so welcome. I am determined to allow the physicality of Sukkot to be something special this year, although we won’t have our own sukkah at FPS – we will share one at SPS. I intend to enjoy walking in nature and to make time to do so. Even if you don’t have a lulav at home, feel the benefit of your autumn garden and the air. That’s what it’s asking of us. Feel it and be alive.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, an unusual and brilliant Orthodox Rabbi in New York, writes in his new book, “Only those who know the fragility of life can truly appreciate the full preciousness of every moment… The release from Yom Kippur leads to the extraordinary outburst of life that is Sukkot.”

Enjoy the outburst and hold onto the balance. Chag Sukkot Sameach!

Join us for a family [but for everyone] relaxed Erev Sukkot service at SPS. I’ll be leading and then Thursday morning Rabbi Danny Rich and I will share the service and all it offers us in this take on joy. Kiddush will be important too! Then it will be Dean’s last Resouled on Friday 18th and our Chol HaMo’ed (intervening festival days) service on Shabbat morning.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rebecca