We search for things to make us happy, but sometimes it’s elusive. These are the true sources of joy and how to really find that happiness this Yom Tov.
On Wings of Joy
Attaining True Joy on the Zeman Simchaseinu
Sukkos is a holiday dedicated to mastering joy. We are commanded in the Torah explicitly, “V’samachta b’chagecha v’hayisa ach sameach,” and while this applies to all of the regalim, Sukkos alone is designated as “Zeman Simchaseinu.”
Joy is a beautiful thing and it is the catalyst to accessing everything good in our lives, both in ruchniyus and in gashmiyus. But it is not so simple to attain. Some people were blessed with vast inner reserves of this precious commodity and some need to work every day to attain the pure internal joy necessary for our avodas Hashem. But the good news is that the yom tov of Sukkos not only bears the mandate to be joyous, it also contains the manual for how to get there. Virtually every aspect of Sukkos contains another ingredient necessary for a lifetime of joy. Celebrating Sukkos the way it is meant to be celebrated not only helps us fulfill the words of the passuk above, it helps us find the path to lasting joy all year long.
So take a moment in your sukkah to reflect on these points, to find the joy that is waiting for you. In the frenzy of cooking and serving, hosting and guesting, find yourself five quiet moments to slip into the sukkah when no one is there and feel the joy surrounding you, the love, the warmth, the holiness.
It’s all there within those four (or two and a half) humble walls, just waiting for you to access it and hold it close to your heart.
Here are some of those ways:
True Joy Comes from Bitachon
Virtually every impediment to joy is rooted in the lack of faith. When we believe that Hashem is holding us in His arms, Kaviyachol, as we navigate this life He has granted us, with all of its challenges and tribulations, we don’t need to resort to worry, to fear, to anxiety and misery.
We can follow Him into the desert with a song on our lips because we know He is leading us through life just as we are meant to live it.
We don’t have to second-guess; we don’t have to lose sleep. The purely faithful are the purely joyous too.
Sukkos is all about bitachon. We leave our homes to dwell outside, showing Hashem that we trust Him to take care of us wherever we are. It’s not the solid roof and triple lock and Ring doorbell camera and complex security system that keeps us safe from harm; it is Hashem watching over us that does so. And while we normally have to do our regular hishtadlus to stay safe, on Sukkos we remind ourselves that it’s not about our hishtadlus. It’s not the alarm that stops the thief, it is Hashem who enables the alarm to work.
We enter a flimsy sukkah, which no matter how fancy and elegant and sturdy it might stand in our luxurious 2020s, it is not even allowed to have a solid roof. We are vulnerable to the elements and yet we are happy, we are not worried, we are not frightened, because we are in the safest place possible: ensconced in the Arms of Hashem.
Our sukkah is a symbol of the protection we enjoyed thousands of years ago, as we wandered the desert as a nation. We were surrounded then by Hashem’s protection, the clouds that surrounded us and shielded us from the harsh realities outside. For a week, we will remember those clouds as we sit in a cloud of our own, our precious sukkah. And we will feel the joy that we felt back then, the joy that comes from throwing every worry that we have on His broad Shoulders and trusting that His cloud and His love will continue to carry us through life.
True Joy Comes from Closeness to Hashem
Every mitzvah that we do brings us closer to Hashem and Sukkos is replete with them. Sukkos is the mitzvah that we do with our entire body, that we do all day every day of the yom tov.
Sitting, eating and sleeping in the sukkah affords us a mitzvah for every moment that we do it. And then, of course, there is shaking the arba minim every day, minim that took us hours to find as we dedicated ourselves to ensuring that we do this mitzvah with every possible hiddur we can.
When we go out into our sukkah, leaving our own home and entering Hashem’s, we are spending our yom tov enveloped by Hashem’s hug. That is our sukkah, the hug of Hashem.
You can’t get much closer than that.
Sukkos comes after an intense yemei ratzon; we will expound on that within another category, but for now, we have spent the last month and a half taking steps closer to Hashem through our regimen of self-improvement. They may have been baby steps, but baby steps are giant in the eyes of our loving Father, and those steps have brought us to where we are right now, closer than ever, ensconced in His embrace.
This is the only yom tov that comes with its extra day, a day so designated because Hashem said to His beloved children, “Your parting is too painful for Me to bear; please stay with Me for just one more day.”
No other yom tov has this because no other yom tov affords the closeness and connection that Sukkos does, a connection so deep and so enduring that Hashem reaches out to draw us closer when it’s time to leave.
True Joy Comes from Unity
While closeness and faith are the bedrocks of joy, sometimes it takes more to feel it. As humans, we need human connection to be able to access the joy that comes from G-dly connection. Someone who has been cast aside, who has been bullied and disenfranchised, mocked and ignored, will generally feel a sense of deep sadness and shame, a loneliness that cuts so profoundly that it erases any vestige of joy.
On Sukkos, we bring everyone underneath our canopy. It is a yom tov of togetherness, where, coming off of a season of repentance, we’ve learned to notice the beauty in our brethren, even those not like us.
We hold the arba minim in our hands, each kind symbolizing a different type of Yid, and we hold them close together. We’ve learned since we were small that the esrog symbolizes those who possess both Torah and maasim tovim, the lulav symbolizes those who learn Torah but are not characterized by their maasim tovim; the hadassim symbolize those with maasim tovim who did not invest in learning Torah; while the aravos represent those people who have neither maasim tovim nor Torah learning.
The unity we provide these minim is a microcosm of our unity as a nation, where we bind all kinds together without discrimination. But as we look at the aravos, it makes us pause. We understand including those with one trait even if they don’t have another, but why do those with no positive traits get a place of honor among us? This is food for thought. If there are people with no positive traits, why give them a place of honor? It’s easy to talk about unity, but we have to admit that this question is bothersome and begs an answer.
It seems that the simple aravah, devoid of smell or taste, manages to express the unity and solidarity better than the others. When there is a reason for love, when a person has noticeable skills, we tend to love the skills and not focus on the person. The beautiful esrog has a taste and smell, the tall lulav comes from a tree with delicious fruit, the hadas has a pleasant smell. But the aravah has no outstanding quality at all. Unity with the aravah and the person it symbolizes stems from one reason only: We unite with anyone who is our brother or sister, even if they don’t offer us anything special and even if we don’t consider their personalities special.
On Sukkos we send out the message: Everyone is welcome in our sukkah; everyone is welcome in our arms.
True Joy Comes from Pivoting from Our Focus on Materialism
It’s simple, really. The more we focus on the glittery trappings of Olam Hazeh, the more miserable we are. This is because there is no end. Whatever we have will not be enough as we keep chasing that elusive goal. Luxury after luxury will not fill the bottomless pit of our desire and the fruitless chase ends in emptiness and deep, pervasive exhaustion.
When we are looking over our shoulders for the next big thing, the new style, the latest accessory, we are never truly satisfied. This is the nature of gashmiyus. It is so designed to always leave us wanting more.
On Sukkos, we leave all that behind. We physically leave it behind, stepping out of our beautiful homes with their fancy furniture and stylish moldings, their fixtures we spent hours deliberating over, the exclusive wardrobe we went into debt over.
We trade all that for tight quarters constructed of wood or canvas or fiberglass. The walls are shaky and the roof is threatening to collapse, but it fills us with such deep joy because it might not be much, but it is where Hashem is. Joy is only complete when it originates in the soul and material joy can never be that.
Sukkos is the season of the harvest. Just as we assess our bounty and gloat over all that we have in our storehouses, we remind ourselves that bounty is a blessing, but it will only bring us joy if it is the means to the end, not the end in itself. The end is always and only shelter in the home of Hashem.
True Joy Comes from Gratitude
Speaking of the harvest season, we need Sukkos as a reminder of where all that we have comes from. We gather in our crops, counting our blessings, and go into our sukkah to remind ourselves that all that we have and all that we are comes from Hashem. And we spend the week singing Hallel, thanking and praising Him for all of the blessings that permeate our lives.
It is no secret that gratitude is a conduit to joy. Experts always advise those seeking to increase the joy in their lives to keep a gratitude journal. Reflecting on all that we are grateful for leads us to a more mindfully joyous life. It takes our gashmiyus and transforms it to runchiyus too, so that our joy is a true joy and not a fleeting one.
When we take what we have for granted and don’t remember where it comes from, don’t feel the love and kindness inherent in the gift, we will be left wanting. Gratitude ensures that we are happy with what we have and don’t feel entitled to more. On Sukkos, we remember that gratitude as we count our grains and our crops. We turn to Hashem and thank Him for all that He has granted us.
True Joy Comes from Being Our Best Selves
Disconnect between the person we are and the person we want to be often leads to depression or, at the very least, discontent. When we behave in manners that we know are wrong, when we lash out or give in or just ignore what we are supposed to be focusing on, we don’t feel good. We go to sleep at night feeling worthless and deeply critical of ourselves and the person we’ve become.
We’ve spent the entire Elul and Tishrei improving ourselves, taking steps toward our best selves after deep introspection. We’ve spent Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in shul, crying for our sins, for the heights we haven’t reached, the wrongs we’ve committed. And at the end of it all, we have been given the greatest gift of all, the Divine assurance of Salachti. We are good. We are pure. We are cleansed. We are at the pinnacle of our avodas Hashem because our slate is fresh and we have accessed the purity of our neshamah. Yes, we will sin again and again, but that is human nature. We are coming into Sukkos as a celebration of what we have achieved in the teshuvah process, in the discovery of who we truly are.
We have earned our joy in the arms of Hashem through the journey of introspection and perfection that have brought us here.
True Joy Comes from Torah
Finally, we have to remember the chazal that tells us “Ein simchah k’simchas haTorah. There is no joy like the joy of Torah. It is no coincidence that the yom tov of simchah culminates in Simchas Torah. As we dance, or watch as the case may be, our entire being is suffused with the joy of being one with the precious Torah. It is a celebration of our connection to Hashem, to His Torah, the source of all joy.
We end Sukkos on the highest note of all, the Torah clasped to our chests either literally or figuratively.
And there is no greater joy in the entire world than that.
Wishing you a beautiful, heartfully joyous Sukkos!
Originally appeared in The Lakewood Shopper
Leave a Reply