SUKKOT GAINESVILLE
Americans have a deep desire to either be happy, pretend we are happy, or make everyone else happy! In Teen Academy class, during a very spirited discussion of suicide and the Jewish texts around that difficult subject, one of the students suggested that it is our job to talk someone into happiness and remove the ideations of suicide. I know where this student was coming from. But I challenged this wonderful student to explain what that means. I asked, have you ever had someone tell you, “You should be happy!”? Did it work? Were you instantaneously happier because someone commanded you to be so? Likely, your answer is, “no.” This particular student, and all the other students suddenly realized that that merely speaking speaking someone into happiness is reserved only for Hallmark movies where there is always a happy ending.
We simply can’t command emotions and when someone is unhappy, happiness can’t be commanded. And it is very possible that the commander knew that they couldn’t effectively make you feel something. Still, that is exactly what the Torah is commanding us in this week’s portion when it commands us to be happy during Sukkot. To review, we read a special portion from the book of Exodus for the holiday of Sukkot that explains, “You shall observe… the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.” (Exodus 34:22) Elsewhere, in the book of Deuteronomy, Torah expands on this injunction and tells us:
“After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths for seven days. You shall rejoice in your festival…you shall have nothing but joy.” (Deut. 16:13-15)
We know that happiness can’t be commanded but still the Torah is doing exactly that. Surely our ancestors knew that commanding happiness is fruitless. So, taking the assumption that the Torah knows firstly what it is talking about and secondly that it knows human nature, why then is there this command? I suggest that the Torah was pointing out something that underlies this text. Maybe God can’t command happiness but maybe it can command us to look around us at our blessings regardless of our current state of mind and, perhaps, spark some joyful feelings.
Why are we commanded to feel joy? What is the perspective the Torah is trying to show us?
Sukkot is a unique holiday in that it represents closure on a number of levels. It is the only one of the three festival holidays throughout the year focused purely on thanksgiving. In all three cases, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, it was customary to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to bring an offering from one’s agricultural or pastoral yield. Passover is the beginning of the planting period; Shavuot is the beginning of the wheat and barley harvest. In both cases, the sacrifices were in gratitude with the hope that the season would be plentiful.
Sukkot, however, is purely about gratitude. And therein lies the root of our happiness. The crops have been harvested and it gives us a chance to see what the blessings that surround us even if we might not see them clearly. Sukkot is a command to lift our heads up and look around at the blessings we do have.
Sukkot comes at the end of the High Holiday season. True, it is a festival that celebrates the harvest and the gratitude that accompanies it. But it is also the completion of the time of repentance, surely a time of joy. That work, too, is complete and deserves our joy. Sukkot becomes a symbol of the hard work we just passed through. The joy comes from knowing we have been forgiven and the blessing come from deeper and more meaningful relationships with each other and God. That is why I consider Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanna truly joyous holidays. Sukkot marks the celebration of that joy and the commandment is to take notice and, in taking notice, find joy in the blessings that this new year brings.
Sukkot is also significant in its placement among the High Holidays. During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, our focus has been reflection on the past and intentionality for the future. We have explored the ways we have missed the mark and resolved to do better in the new year. The focus has been on change. Hopefully, we have engaged in repentance, sought forgiveness from those whom we have harmed, and come to terms with our past actions. When we reach Sukkot, the intensity of that work is done. To dwell on it means spending our mental and emotional energy on something we can no longer change. If we are not careful, we can continue the practice of beating our chests throughout the year, regretting our misdeeds and our past. Sukkot reminds us to let go of that over which we have no power and to rejoice in that which is before us. And that key word is ‘rejoice.’ God is telling us to see the blessings of these High Holidays and that can be commanded.
A colleague of mine noted that most of the year, we are focused on what needs to be done and what we can change, either in our work, life, or within ourselves. Sukkot urges us to live in the moment. We are not to dwell on the past or concern ourselves with preparing for the future, but to see what is now and find the joy in it. Sukkot offers us the perspective to balance our focus on what we can control with our releasing of what we cannot.
So, embrace the commandment, one of the positive commandments of the Torah. Celebrate what is yours, your family and friends, your Jewish community, the joyful mess that is Jewish learning and the joyful give and take that builds the Shir Shalom community. The commandment enjoins us enjoy the moment because, as the megillah or Ecclesiastes we read on Sukkot reminds, we won’t pass this way again and won’t get another chance to be surrounded by our many blessings for it is gone too soon.
Our joy is right before our eyes. The command to open our eyes is in our ears. May our ears and eyes be open and touch our heart so that we hear the command and feel the joy that surround us.
