Our Season of Joy

 

Dear JCCP/CBT family

This evening, we begin the holiday of Sukkot. It’s one of the three major pilgrimage festivals of the Jewish people, along with Passover and Shavuot. 

Each of these three holidays have unique names. Passover is also known as the holiday of spring, or the feast of matzah. Shavuot is known as the holiday of first fruits, and the time of the giving of the Torah. But Sukkot’s other name in Hebrew is simply “The holiday.”  If Passover symbolizes freedom, and Shavuot, the spring harvest, Sukkot is about joy. In fact, the liturgy for Sukkot reminds us that it is “Z’man Simchatenu” literally, the season of our happiness.
 
These are difficult times.  The pandemic continues with renewed vigor.  Tuesday night’s debate confirmed the ugliness in American political life today. President Trump once again failed to forcefully repudiate and condemn white supremacy in general, and a particularly anti-Semitic organization in particular. Our beloved State of Israel has the world’s highest rate of COVID-19 infection per capita. We are rightly concerned about the economy, racial tensions, and a myriad of other issues. Nonetheless, we are bidden to be happy at this time of the year. 
 
Like many people, I don’t like being told how to feel. Could it be that previous generations felt any different? I do not think so.  They may have been less technologically advanced but they were no less aware of the world around them.  Yet there is something about the commandment to be happy on Sukkot that makes the idea of transcending oneself and our current challenges possible.  Despite the issues that surround us, we gather in the Sukkah and remember the hope and possibilities that our ancestor experienced on their journey to the land of Israel.  By gathering the Lulav and Etrog together, we are reminded that God can be experienced as easily in nature as in the grandest of edifices. Sukkot reminds us of generations of Jews who experienced all of life’s ups and downs yet celebrated the holidays with enthusiasm and purpose.  We can too!
 
Shabbat Shalom, and Chag Sameach.

Rabbi Arthur Weiner

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