An essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent

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Part of the silent prayer we say on the Sukkos holiday includes the words, "the time of our happiness." Why is the holiday of Sukkos specifically referred to as "the time of our happiness?"

While the Jewish people are supposed to be happy all of the time, holidays are an especially happy time when we are thankful because of all the miracles that G-d has done and is doing for us.

Still, there are some very special reasons to be even more happy during the Sukkos holiday that starts this evening. We are celebrating G-d judging us favorably after the High Holidays and sealing us in the heavenly Book of Life. We are celebrating receiving the second set of Tablets of the Covenant that were given on Yom Kippur, that show our unique connection to G-d.

We are also celebrating all the very special commandments the Torah blessed us with on Sukkos-the lulav, the esrog, the myrtle branches, the willows, the water libations and the sukka. The idea of living in the sukka for a whole week is to reinforce our trust and faith in G-d. When fall arrives the way of the world is to pack up their sleeping bags and tents and move inside. The Jewish people take their meals and study books (some even their beds!) and move outside to their sukkas to demonstrate their complete trust that the Almighty will take care of us.

The sukka is akin to the clouds of glory that protected our forefathers during their forty years in the desert, flattening the mountains and killing off the snakes and scorpions to ease their journey.

The commandment of the sukka might be hinting at another reason to be happy. One basic idea of conventional wisdom is that happiness cannot be achieved without material success, having possessions, being the owner of a lot of physical things. The owner of the most toys, wins! The world is constantly telling us that only with physical wealth can we be transformed into fulfilled and happy individuals. This is why on the holiday of Succos, the Torah specifically commands us to live in a temporary dwelling under the shade of palm fronds representing the temporality and fragility of the world we live in, reminding us that we should be happy with what we have. Happiness actually comes from being satisfied with the minimum, by escaping from the need for worldly pleasures, from realizing the truth of the Talmudic saying that the more you own the more worries you have. Chassidim would say, what is forbidden is forbidden, and what is permissible you probably do not need anyway…

There is a story about a king of one of the western countries who felt unfulfilled. He went to a advisor who told him to search for a happy person and wear his shirt, and this would solve all his problems. The king journeyed from place to place looking for such a person. He wore the shirts of kings, princes and ministers but this did not make him feel any better. Then he tried on the shirts of artists, craftsmen and businessmen and this also did him no good. Giving up, he decided to return home. On his way, he met a poor farmer who was plowing his field. The whole time he was happily singing, his face radiating joy.. The king asked him "Are you happy?" The farmer answered, "Yes." "You are not lacking anything?" "No." "Would you be willing to sell me your shirt?" And the farmer answered him, "I don't have a shirt, the shirt I am wearing is borrowed!"
(from Otzros Chaim, reprinted in Likutim v'Sipurim Nifloyim.)

Yitzchak Rabin, the late Prime Minister of Israel, was in an audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe. "How are you?" the Rebbe asked him warmly. "I can't complain," Prime Minister Rabin responded. "Life is good."
The Rebbe replied, "It's true that our sages teach, "Who is rich? One who is satisfied with what he has." But this applies only to material wealth. When it comes to spiritual matters however, one must never be content with one's current state. No matter how much one has achieved, he must strive for more tomorrow. (from Seeds of Wisdom by Mendel Kalmenson).

Chag someach, Shaul

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For last year's essay by Rabbi Leiter on this week's Reading, see the archive.

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FROM THE SAGES OF KABBALAH ON KabbalaOnline.org

Specifically, for an overview of the recommended articles in the columns:
Holy Zohar, Holy Ari, Mystic Classics, Chasidic Masters, Contemporary Kabbalists, and more,
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one sample:
The Holy Ari

Ceilings of Consciousness

By Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (from the Writings of the Ari as recorded by Rabbi Chaim Vital); translated and edited by Baruch Emanuel Erdstein

While the explicit reason for dwelling in a sukkah during the holiday of Sukkot is to commemorate the miraculous exodus from Egypt and G-d's shelter as we traveled through the desert, the Ari explains that the sukkah serves as a model of the spiritual worlds and conduit for expanded consciousness, channeling divine benevolence into the Lower Realms.

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