Shake it till you make it! Sukkot the Festival of Joy

The Gemura calls Sukkot Zman Simchatanu (the time of our joy) – noting that in the Torah when referring to Sukkot it mentions simcha more times then in any other holiday. Therefore on Sukkot we are commanded to be joyful. 

But how can one be commanded to be joyful? What if we don’t feel like being happy? 

There are two concepts that can help us understand why we are commanded to be happy.

First, in Hebrew there are two different words for joy or happiness. One is Simcha and the other is Ashrei. Simcha is an imposed joy. Just as the Torah states in Leviticus 23:40…”And you shall rejoice before Hashem your G?D seven days.” 

The happiness comes from an external source.  For example, it’s your birthday and we are having a party, so be happy!  I just got a raise at work, so I am happy. The happiness is dependent on something outside of one’s self. Ashrei is an internal happiness that comes from the state of being happy. It does not depend on outside influences. It is a serene consciousness. 

Second, there are several Midrashim that expound on the symbolism of the four species – Lulav, Etrog, Willow, and the myrtle branch.

For example the Four Species represent the different types of Jews. The Etrog has taste as well as fragrance, and is compared to Jews who learn and do good deeds. The Lulav has taste but no fragrance, corresponding to Jews who possess learning but not good deeds. The Myrtle branch has fragrance but not taste, like the Jews who possess good deeds but not learning. And the Willow has neither fragrance nor taste, for the Jews who possess neither good deeds nor learning. 

Hashem says “Let them all be tied together in one band and they will atone one for another.” The Rabbis also compare the four species with the parts of the human body to which they are similar in shape. The Lulav represents the spine, the Etrog the heart, The Myrtle the eyes, and the Willow the lips. By bringing together these species, representing these four organs, man symbolically unites all of his organs. These seemingly unrelated parts work together in unity to serve God. For more examples see Midrash Rabbah (Vayikra, Parshat Emor).  

It is difficult to perceive Hashem in our daily lives. How are the seemingly unrelated phenomena in daily life part of a Divine plan? We see suffering and evil and we wonder how there can be a God with such cruelty in the world. Sometimes, there is a flash of insight that makes people realize how all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. At such times we can understand how every note, instrument and participant in God’s symphony of Creation plays its role. The result is an inner joy. 

This is the great wisdom of the four species. Through the joy of doing the mitzvah of the four species we begin to achieve the recognition of Hashem’s mastery of the world. We see that the seemingly separate parts of the four species when brought together fulfill the mitzvah, but if we are missing but one of them the mitzvah cannot be fulfilled. This is true metaphorically also. The Jewish people who are compared to the species are an inseparable unit made of many different parts, yet we are dependent and bound by one another. 

This is the joy of Sukkot. We begin with an external imposed commandment that creates within us a consciousness in which we realize that all the apparently unrelated and contradictory phenomena do indeed meld into a coherent, merciful and comprehensible whole.  

We begin with simcha and through it achieve ashrei. As it says in the Psalms. Ashrei Yoshvei Batecha “Happy is the one that dwells in your house (booths). May we all merit the joy of the mitzvoth of Sukkot and through them attain and be transformed to an even higher form of consciousness an internal joy, an internal peace. Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.

Rav Baruch Plotkin