Friday, October 18, 2019

Be Joyful

Shabbat Chol Moed Sukkot

Ex. 34:6-7 “Adonai, Adonai, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…”       
            On Shabbat during Sukkot, we read passages from Exodus, just after the incident of the Golden Calf. Moses goes back up the Mountain, and returns with a second set of tablets. When he comes down, he recites the words of the verse quoted here
            It is no coincidence that the reading this week includes these words we repented often on Yom Kippur. I find this a profoundly hopeful concept: no matter how often we fall short of the mark, we can be forgiven.
                Perhaps this is why we are commanded to be joyful on Sukkot (the Hebrew phrase is “u’smach-tem”). While all holidays have commandments associated with them, this is the only one for which happiness is a requirement. Why Sukkot?
            First, this is a harvest festival. Coming so soon after Yom Kippur, a bountiful harvest was viewed as proof of God’s forgiveness and mercy. Second, when we live or eat in flimsy booths, we recognize that we can be happy with very little, and that we can rejoice with what we have.  We need not express the attitude that we wish things were better, or that problems cannot be overcome. Such an attitude ignores the blessings we experience daily.  
            I wish you and yours a Shabbat Shalom, and a happy and joyous Chag.