Holiday Recap

A curious thing happens towards the end of the long and comprehensive list of our holidays in chapter 23 of Vayikra. In verse 37 we read: Those are the set times (festivals) of the Lord that you shall celebrate… Okay, that concluded the list! But two verses later we read: Note that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month…you shall observe the festival of the Lord… Whoa! Didn’t we just record that holiday?

Of course, we realize that the Torah is immediately repeating itself. So, the pertinent question is: Why the recap? What do we learn from this limited review, which only references the festival of Sukkot?

Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch explains that it was necessary to emphasize and even repeat the date of Sukkot because: One who contemplates the Festival of Sukkot — both according to its historical foundation and according to its eternal significance — might arrive at the conclusion that this festival could quite properly be celebrated at any time of the year. The historical fact that God caused us to dwell in SUKKOT in the wilderness lasted for forty years and is not particularly connected with any specific day or month.  

So, Rav Hirsch concludes that the Torah felt compelled to emphasize that this Festival must be celebrated in the middle of the seventh month. That’s why Sukkot requires a reiteration of its date, to dispense with any perceived confusion over the celebration’s date.

He further elucidates: The idea taught by the Festival of Sukkot is not limited to any particular time…all the generations of Israel are to learn to build their homes in the shadow of God’s wings, and thereby merit the joy of life through the earthly blessings that God bestows upon them. This idea is meant to be lived out and actualized at every moment throughout our lives.

This idea is pertinent at all times, but we can only fulfill the Mitzvah within a particular time frame. So, the Torah repeats the limited time period for this commemoration which is to be in the seventh month, because that is the time of the harvest when the year’s major produce is taken home. It’s at that very minute that God demands that we recreate the MIDBAR experience of temporary dwellings. We specifically leave the home when we finally bring the harvest to our home! This displays the power of this Mitzvah that we do it at a counterintuitive time. 

It would be great if that repetition were the only problem in this added presentation of the holiday, but it’s not. In verse 36, we are informed that the Sukkot festival is seven days, and it is followed by an eighth day which is its own ‘sacred occasion’. However, in the beginning of the review (verse 39) we are told that the first day and eighth day of the festival are days of complete rest. This makes it sound like the eight days form a single unit.

Well, which is it? Are there two holidays or one? Clearly, there are two separate festivals here, Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret. We know this because the eighth day gets its own SHEHECHYANU blessing (…Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season) at candle lighting and Kiddush, which we only recite at the beginning of a brand new celebration.

The Sfat Emet wrote about this seven versus eight issue in Parshat Bo (1871, comment 4) while discussing the connection between the Mitzvah of eating Matza and the obligation of Brit Mila. His specific question is: Why may only circumcised males eat the Pesach offering? In response, he connects the significance of the number seven (days of Pesach) to that of the number eight (days of a Brit):

We can understand this idea through the role of Shabbat, which is to bring the sanctity of Shabbat into the days of the week. Shabbat, which comes naturally on the seventh day, provides a taste of the World to Come. When we are able to bring this bit of the World to Come into the following week, we refer to that extension of the Seventh Day as the number eight, which alludes to being above the natural order of the world.

Similarly, the seven days of Sukkot are connected to the reality of nature. That Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly (SHMINI ATZERET) is connected to the concept of getting beyond nature into a totally spiritual realm. 

This idea that Sukkot is connected to this world and its natural order has been discussed by our Sages. The most famous discussion of this point concerns the 70 bulls offered during the 7 days of Sukkot. In Tractate Sukkah (55b), it is recorded: Rabbi Elazar teaches that the 70 bulls offered during the Sukkot festival are on behalf of the 70 nations of the world.

Our Sages discussion continues to explain that these offerings served as prayers and spiritual protection for the nations of the world during the time of the year when humanity is judged for water and rain (Pesikta d’Rav Kahana, Shmini 28).

So, throughout the Sukkot celebration we work through our connection to this world to try and achieve a breakthrough to a higher realm and role for our nation.   

 Rav Kook explained: It is necessary to raise our thought, will and actions toward universality, the inclusion of all humankind. The firmer our vision of universality, the greater the joy we will experience and the more we merit Divine grace…The perception that dawns on a person that our world is not finished, but is in the process of ‘becoming’ changes a person from being ‘under the sun’ to being ‘above the sun’, from the natural place where there is nothing new (Kohelet 1:9, et al, which, of course, is read on Sukkot) to the supernatural place where there is nothing old, where everything is taking on new forms.

Rav Kook is teaching us that Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret are complementary. Sukkot is about the universal concerns of this world. And when we realize that our service to God benefits all of Creation, this brings us to a higher calling on Shmini Atzeret. But we can’t reach that higher calling without first working through the worldly benefits of our Divine service during the seven days of Sukkot. Only then can we reach the exalted reality of Shmini Atzeret: We are able to rendezvous with God in a sublime, supernatural place.

They are two holidays, but one can’t exist without the other. So, we must record them as both separate and connected. Let’s enjoy Sukkot, then strive for that higher reality of Shmini Atzeret. Chag Sameach!