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.

A Scary Verse?

Ha’azinu

Deut. 32:1-52

Précis: The parasha, the shortest in the Five Books, containing only 52 verses, begins with the “Song of Moses,” a hymn sung by Moses within sight of the Promised Land. The song contrasts God’s fidelity with the faithlessness of the People, and the need of the People to learn from their history under God’s care. Moses predicts that Israel’s enemies will be overcome. He is told to climb a mountain to see the Promised Land he will not to enter, as he prepares for his death. This is the last parasha read on Shabbat in the annual cycle: the final parasha (V’zot Habracha) is read traditionally on Simchat Torah.

Deut. 32:52 “You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it, the land that I am giving to the Israelite people.”

            Rabbi Arie Hasit, writing in Torah Sparks (9/22/17), connects this verse with the current season, when we are concerned about our fate and the “Book of Life.” He calls this verse “a scary one.” Moses’ great dream is denied, and his death foretold, despite his outstanding life of leadership, his face-to-face conversations with God, and his pleas for the welfare of the Jewish People. But because of a single act made in an instance of anger and frustration, he is denied t’shuvah and his fate is sealed.

            On the other hand, we can view this in a different light: Moses’ dream will be inherited by the People. He lives to see that his dreams will be fulfilled, albeit by others. This brings to mind the saying of Pirke Avot: “It is not your obligation to complete the task, but you are nevertheless not free to desist from it.” In other words, while we may not be able to perfect our families, our communities, or the world, we are not at liberty to stop trying.

            When chanting “U’ntaneh Tokef” during the Yamim Noraim, we were asking who will live and who will die. How do we make sense of the knowledge that good people will leave us in the coming year?  Hasit suggests that Ha’azinu gives us a clue. Death is not a punishment, because it makes us human. Even Moses cannot live forever. Our prayer should remind us of the unexpededness of life, and challenge us to think about how we will make the most of every minute we have with the people we love.