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Be Happy Now

I always found it difficult to respond to the command of Sukkot \"to be happy\" on the heels of Yom Kippur.
[additional-authors]
October 19, 2000

Be happy now! Quick, you only have today, tomorrow and Sunday left. Hurry up! This is Z’man Simchataynu, the time of our happiness and rejoicing!

No. You’re not happy? Why not?

I always found it difficult to respond to the command of Sukkot “to be happy” on the heels of Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, we fast, don’t drink and wear white as if to act out the death of our old selves as we enter the new year. And then quickly, quickly we are told to rebuild our lives. After break fast it is a mitzvah to pick up a hammer and begin to rebuild the flimsy structure of our lives. To change our attitude from mourning to rejoicing as we throw the schach (palm leaves) on top of our sukkahs, decorate them ornately and invite guests in for celebratory meals. The sudden shift from inner contemplation to outward revelry is almost jarring. Or is it?

This Shabbat marks the end of seven days of Sukkot and the start of Shemini Atzeret, a separate eighth day holiday. Shemini Atzeret literally means the “eighth day of gathering” which is a “mikrah kodesh” (a holy occasion) (Leviticus 23:36), that was especially attached to Sukkot for Israel and God. A midrash in Pesikta Rabbati asks why it was necessary for Sukkot to be elongated into eight days. Two answers are offered. The first is that baby boys are circumcised on the eighth day. The second is that it was always God’s intention to give Israel one holiday every month of the year, but because of the golden calf incident, God took away the holidays during the three months after the holiday of Shavuot, leaving the months of Tammuz, Av and Elul without holidays. Therefore God put three holidays in the month of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot) to make up for the lost months. Because of this, God needed to add a holiday in Tishre for the Israelites, and this became Shemini Atzeret. Based on this midrash, the purpose of Shemini Atzeret appears to be twofold: first, like that of circumcision, to recommit ourselves to our covenant with God; second, to set aside some private time alone with God, unencumbered by our past history.

With this understanding it becomes clearer as to the purpose of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret: it is to rebuild our lives slowly and delicately with the goal of happiness. Yes, Sukkot is a time of our joy, but in order for us to celebrate, we need time to reevaluate what we assume brings us joy in the first place. Which is why Sukkot is seven days. For some of us finding what makes us happy in life is easy, but that is not the case for us all. The long holiday of Sukkot is a metaphor for understanding that the process of being happy can not just take place in a snap of a finger. Therefore Shemini Atzeret arrives at the end of Sukkot as a pause, a time for us to regroup ourselves and reflect on whether the things we own, the people with whom we spend our time, our choice of profession, or the way we experience the world does actually make us happy. It is our time of “circumcision” so to speak, when like a baby we renew our covenant with God, knowing that we are still children, searching for our own unique paths to follow in the world.

Be happy? Yes, if to be happy means we must first explore what makes us happy in the first place. Only then will we be able to truly dance and sing on Simchat Torah.

Michelle Missaghieh is rabbi of Temple Israel of Hollywood.

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