B"H

Wednesday, Tishrei 12, 5784 / September 27, 2023

Friday night begins the joyous festival of Sukkot, which is called "Z'man Simchateinu" -"Season of our Rejoicing."

There are two mitzvot associated with the holiday of Sukkot: 1) We eat our meals in the sukkah. Many even sleep in the sukkah.

2) We recite the blessing and shake the Lulav and Etrog every day of the seven days of Sukkot, except Shabbat. Thus, this year, being that the first day of Sukkot is on Shabbat, we do not perform this mitzvah on the first day of Sukkot.

In Leviticus (23: 33-44) the Torah tells us, "On the 15th day of the seventh month [Tishrei], when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall observe the feast of the L-rd seven days; on the first day shall be a solemn rest and on the eighth day shall be a rest.  And you shall take to you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees (Etrog), branches of palm trees (Lulav), and branches of thick trees (Hadasim) and willows of the brook (Aravot), and you shall rejoice before the L-rd your G-d seven days... In Sukkot you shall dwell seven days... So that your generations may know that in booths I made the children of Israel dwell, when I brought them out from the land of Egypt."

After the seven days of Sukkot, on the eighth day is Shmini Atzeret and on the ninth day is Simchat Torah. In Israel, where the holiday is one day less, Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are both celebrated on the eighth day.

Q.   The three holidays of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot are all festive and joyous holidays. Why is only Sukkot called, Z'man Simchateinu - Season of our rejoicing? 

A.    Although the Torah commands us to be joyful on Pesach and Shavuot, Sukkot is the only holiday that the Torah mentions three times to rejoice. This is why Sukkot is singled out as, "Z'man Simchateinu" - "Season of our Rejoicing."

Sukkot comes after Yom Kippur when we are all forgiven for our sins, thus, on Sukkot, ALL Jews are the same, this is a cause for our special rejoicing on Sukkot.  

One of the lessons of Sukkot is the importance of unity. The Torah says about Sukkot, "You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your man servant and your maid servant and the Levite and the stranger and the orphan and the widow that are within your gates..."

Here the Torah emphasizes unity - calling for everyone to rejoice together- for the wealthy to take care and include in their feast the less fortunate. The Torah teaches us that true rejoicing, even for the wealthy, can only be attained when we are all united and include in our G-d given fortunes also the less fortunate.

HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY