O Joy!?
After our period of judgment and spiritual trepidation, we embark on the ‘Season of Joy’, aka Sukkot. Joy seems to be a questionable enterprise given our MATZAV, situation or status. So, I’m going to try to figure out our present relationship to SIMCHA or ‘joy’.
Let’s begin with, perhaps, the world’s greatest declaration of joy, called the Ode to Joy, written by? Friedrich Schiller and the lyrics to Beethoven’s fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony:
Joy! A spark of fire from heaven,
If you’ve mastered that great challenge:
Giving friendship to a friend,
If you’ve earned a steadfast woman,
Celebrate your joy with us!
All creation drinks with pleasure,
Drinks at Mother Nature’s breast;
Way above the stars, brothers,
There must live the loving Father.
Cool! The elements of joy are friends, a spouse, nature, and a Father in heaven. As we’ll see, this is not so distant from our traditional Jewish aspects of joy. Since Sukkot is clearly identified in both Torah and the Sages as the Season of Joy, it is worthwhile to see how our traditional sources define joy.
First, let me be clear, our traditional Halachik sources are unequivocal that there is an obligation of SIMCHA on Sukkot. As the Rambam points out, anyone who refrains from Simcha on Sukkot is worthy of chastisement and denigration (Hilchot Lulav, 8:15). But what is this joy?
Most commentaries point out that the joy on Sukkot (and Shavuot, but not Pesach) is predicated on the season’s natural bounty. Please, remember that the Torah is written with Eretz Yisrael and the Northern Hemisphere in mind. This is the harvest season! So, we ‘drink at Mother Nature’s breast’.
Now that we have this natural bounty what do we do with it? We share it. Again, many sources conclude: Then he can feed the poor and make the poor rejoice. So, a large measure of our joy is based upon, ‘Giving friendship to a friend.’
The Talmud adds that SIMCHA includes buying nice things for one’s spouse. In Kabbala, the SUKKAH is related to the Midrashic name of Avraham’s wife, Sarah, YISKA, which is considered a play on the word SUKKAH. This reflects another aspect of Simcha in Schiller’s poem: If you’ve earned a steadfast woman.
Finally, many commentaries discuss the joy of sensing the proximity of a private rendezvous with God. As the Chasidic commentary the Yismach Moshe (Reb Moshe Teitelbaum, 1759-1841) wrote: One who desires to bring joy to their soul should seclude themselves for part of the day and contemplate the greatness of the letters of the four-lettered Name of God…this is as its says regarding Sukkot “You shall rejoice in your festival…” We find joy in contemplating the reality that, ‘Way above the stars, brothers, There must live the loving Father.
So, Schiller (and by extension, Beethoven) was onto something great. We also have four aspects of the joy which we are obligated to fulfill on the festival of Sukkot. But is it all that easy? Can we conjure up joy when so many have perished in this war which still has many of our offspring on enemy soil and much of the nation in the crosshairs of fanatics with long range weapons? Is there really comfort in the fact that we’re better at defending against these cruel engines of war than the bad guys are?
In case you might have thought that we should just turn off our brains and rejoice mechanically, I must remind you, o gentle reader, that we read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes or the Book of Depressing) on Sukkot. But why? I saw an article from a normal Jewish website which suggested that: Far from being a depressing book, Kohelet is there to add to the simcha. It’s infused with a spirit of joy and optimism, and gives Sukkot a special flavor.
I’ll grant that Kohelet does indeed give Sukkot a special ‘flavor’, but that flavor is closer to wormwood and gall than milk and honey. If you think Kohelet is joyous, you’re not reading closely enough. So, why do we read it on Sukkot?
As Rav Ya’akov Medan points out:
One major reason mentioned for reading Kohelet on Sukkot is the fact that the festival of Sukkot is “the time of our rejoicing,” and Kohelet asks: “And of happiness: What does it accomplish?” (Kohelet 2:3). This implies that despite the fact that the festival of Sukkot is a time of rejoicing, one must avoid boundless rejoicing. Mentioning the verse in Kohelet is intended to limit the joy of the festival…
Okay, Kohelet, according to many, is read to limit our joy; keep it level headed and spiritual. Rav Medan goes on to quote others who believe that in this season of wealth, we should still not view wealth as an end, but as a means to greater happiness and spirituality. The Da’at Mikra glumly suggests that the end of the harvest also signals the death of much vegetation, reminding us of our own mortality.
But maybe we read Kohelet for years such as this. Maybe we need a reminder that in spite of death and sadness we must still celebrate the joyous realities around us. The obligation of SIMCHA must come in spite of certain realities.
Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopez Cardozo dealt with this issue in a previous cycle of violence (2016), and wrote:
Since the frail sukkah teaches us about life’s handicaps, we would expect Jewish law to require that its interior reflect a similar message…Surprisingly, we find the contrary view in Jewish law, which stipulates that the sukkah’s interior must reflect an optimistic lifestyle. Its frail walls should be adorned with beautiful decorations. The leaking roof, made from leaves or reeds, should look attractive by having colorful fruits hanging from it…True, Iran’s threats, global anti-Semitism and the de-legitimization of Israel; all these prove how vulnerable we really are and how shaken are the outer walls of our “sukkah”! But none of this should hold us back from enjoying life…To be happy when all is well is fairly easy. But to be fully aware of the dangers surrounding us, while simultaneously continuing our lives ‘with song and harp’ — that is what makes humans great and proud…Indeed, the walls of our worldly sukkah may be shaking, but let us not forget that we have an obligation to decorate its interior.
I think Rav Cardozo powerfully updates Shlomo HaMelech’s message: Rejoice, in spite of the nasty world outside! The walls and roof, which represent the world around me, may be flimsy and unreliable, but my people, faith and heart are strong! Our Medina is strong! Those positive realities are worth taking a time out from the headlines to thank God and rejoice. Chag Sameach!!