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THE WEEKLY PARSHA

CHOL HAMOED SUKKOT

[ Dvar Torah ] [ Passages on Prayer ]
[ Stories of the Sages ] [ Education ]

(Taken from a weekly publication of Hammaayan Institutes.
Translated by Rabbi Shabtai Teicher)

THE WEEKLY PARSHA
There is a unique obligation to be joyous during the holiday of Sukkot, in general, and especially during the "water-pouring" ceremony -- simchat bet hasho'eva -- which took place in the Temple during these days. Part of the expression of this joy was dancing and prancing before G-d. The Hebrew word for "dancing" is merakaid, a term which also describes one of the 39 melachot which the Torah prohibits to do them on the Sabbath. The melachah of merakaid consisted of shaking the grain through a sifter, and thus the grain was separated from its impurities. (Although the purpose of merakaid is similar to the melachot of brairah and zoreh, it is a separate process in the preparation of grains, done after grinding, and hence it is also a separate melachah.)

The Chidushei Harim said that the merakaid of dancing and the merakaid of sifting were the same thing. We will try to understand some of his intention.

With the coming of Sukkot the great preparations which we made for repentance during the month of Elul, and the services of Rosh Hashannah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur are behind us. We have merited to the wonderful gifts of forgiveness and atonement. In addition, we have also merited to clarification. Through our efforts to repent, and by virtue of standing before the Highest Tribunal during the Days of Awe, all our actions during the last year have come to be seen in a new light. We have had to judge which of our actions were correct, which paths that we followed were correct...; and many of the things that we thought correct now appear in an entirely different light.

In the preparation of grains any act of separating the good food from the imurities first requires breaking the bond between the good and the bad. This was done by grinding. Only after that was done can a person do the act of merakaid, to finally cast away the impurity and to be left with the food alone.

The Days of Awe, like their name implies, are days of fear and trembling. During those days we feel like servants before the King. During the days of fear a person sees himself relative to his Creator as something small and the imprudence of his deeds appears as something unfortunate and embarassing before the greatness of G-d. When this happens, then we become detached from the evil. During the Holiday we can finally discard and throw it away.

The holidays are days of love when we draw close to G-d. During those days we feel bound to G-d, like children to their father. Love and joy imply closeness and joining together. For example, prophecy is the highest level of connection between man and G-d, and Chazal have said that prophecy can only inspire a person when he is in a state of joy. Similarly, the Divine Presence rests between a husband and wife when they are joined together in a state of joy.

However, they cannot be bound together if something interposes between their union.

It is written that all the retributions described in parshat haklalot come "because you did not serve the L-rd your G-d with joy and a good heart..." (Duet. 28:47). However, it must be asked how this lack of joy could be the cause for so much suffering and punishment? Certainly, only sin itself can be considered the cause. Therefore, it must be said that the lack of joy is not a cause, but only an indication that all this suffering and pain will arrive. It implies that something is wrong, something is interfering; and if a person were truly joined to G-d and His service with joy, then he would not be burdened with all these sins whose retribution is described in the parsha.

Consequently, we see that the concept of merakaid has a double meaning. After many preparations we have become detached from our own evil. Then we dance (merakaid) with joy and a good heart because we are coming close to G-d. Simultaneously, this positive act of merakaid finally discards the broken husks of evil, and there is nothing left that can interpose between us and a joyful union with G-d.

THE PRAYERS OF OUR MOUTH

"Man of Israel, if you are poor and downtrodden to the point of despair, if your life has withered to nothing, and there is no help for you in your trouble, then go sit in a skimpy sukkah, feel that you are without a roof over your head to protect you from the wind and cold, from rain and sleet, to hide you from danger. Subjugate yourself willingly to become even poorer, and then remember that G-d made your forefathers dwell in skimpy booths in the desert, and there He stregthened them, and provided for them, and took them and raised them. Know that the same G-d who provided for your fathers in sukkot three thousand years ago, still exists, and He is even now the A-lmighty G-d. Then a ray of light will break forth from the shining stars to penetrate the skimpy covering of your sukkah. You will be amazed to realize that the hashgachah of G-d's eye does not miss anything, even the hosts of heaven which are numberless like the stars. Each one is accounted under His Providence; so G-d watches over you always, He sees and knows your poverty and misery, He sees your tears, He knows that your heart is broken within you, He hears your sighing, He is aware of your worries, your poverty and needs are not hidden from Him, He will not abandon you in your trouble just as He did not abandon your fathers in the desert.

"Go, and learn to be strong and courageous, happy with a good heart even in your poverty and trouble. Put your hope in G-d, and He will save you, He will shine His Face unto you and deliver you from your sorrow. Trust in G-d who did provide even for those who dwelled in skimpy sukkot, whom He led through the desert to springs of water."

(Chorev, Rabbi Shimshom Refael Hisrch)

STORIES OF OUR SAGES - SIMCHAT TORAH

It happened on Simchat Torah that when all the congregants were singing during the hakafot and dancing enthusiastically with the sifrai Torah, one of the sages of Yerushalayim espied a group of workers from the simple people of Yerushalayim who were not participating in the joy of the Torah, but were standing shamedly on the side. He approached them with a smiling face and politely invited them to join with the other congregants in the dancing in honor of the Torah.

However, they excused themselves saying, "You, Rebbe, have learned Torah. You certainly have a reason to be happy. But we have not learned the entire year. We did not open a book. What connection do we have to this joy?"

"Know," he answered them, "that we have two bridegrooms on this day. The first is the "chatan Torah," and the second is the "chatan beraisheet. Do you know why we have two grooms? The first, the groom of the Torah, is reserved for one who has learned Torah the entire year and now he is joyous because he is about to complete it. It is a joy over the past. The second groom, however, is joyous because we are about to start a new cycle of learning Torah from the beginning. His place is reserved for those who have not learned the entire year, but who have taken upon themselves the obligation that from now onward they will learn.

"Therefore, come now and let us be happy together, and this joy will be a celebration of the future."

"You have revived us, Rebbe," they said. "You have inspired us with a new spirit. We are ready to accept the obligation to learn every day, but who will teach us?"

The tzadik promised to study with them everyday. Then they immediately went and joined in the dancing and simcha.

EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN

"In Sukkot you shall dwell seven days..."

"In Sukkot you shall dwell seven days...," and the Torah explains the reason why we were commanded this thing: "In order that your generations will know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in Sukkot when I took them out of Egypt..." (Lev. 28:42-3).

In other words, it is not enough that we dwell in Sukkot for seven days according to all the halachot of the mitzvah. The main thing is to teach the generations after us that they should know.

However, it is not possible to teach the commandments of the Torah to children if the parents themselves do not fulfill the commandments properly. Therefore, first of all, the parents must sit in the sukkah in order that the following generations will also know that they are obligated to dwell in sukkot, because G-d "made the children of Israel to dwell in Sukkot when I took them out of Egypt..." (Lev. 28:42-3).

...See how important are those who fulfill this mitzvah. They are inheriting redemption and freedom, and they are transmitting it to their children to be a possession of their family throughout the generations of the world.

Therefore, the glory of G-d covers them all day when they are sitting in the shade of the sukkah. Therefore, the supernal, holy patriarchs come to reside with them in the shade of the sukkah.

All are happy together when they share their meals with kosher Jews less fortunate than they and poor Torah scholars. Every person should bring people like these to his home, and they assume the role of the supernal patriarchs who are invited to everyone's sukkah. And their blessings bless the master of the house with seven supernal blessings because he fears the L-rd....

(Yesod Veshoresh Ha'avodah)

AS IN THE DAYS OF OUR EXODUS FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT
"Every citizen of Israel shall dwell in booths, in order that your generations may know, that in booths did I set the children of Israel, when I brought them forth from the land of Egypt."

When the Israelites departed from Egypt they came out with many possessions; with the spoils of Egypt and the spoils of the sea. They came to the wilderness in which they found neither planting nor harvest, neither water nor a dwelling place. What pleasure could they derive from all their wealth? G-d then said to them: Take all your silver and gold, and all your other precious objects and store them in receptacles. You shall eat bread from the heavens and drink water from the rock. Your clothes will not decay on you, your shoes will not decay from your feet. Your sustenance is upon Me. And if you will say: What will our great wealth avail us? Give it to the work of the mishkan... and I will account it unto you, as if you had sustained Me with your wealth.

Even after Israel reached their place of rest and inheritance and the land yielded its produce after they had toiled all year in the field and vineyard -- on gathering their blessings they immediately emerge from their houses and enter temporary dwellings: "In order that your generations might know..." that their blessings do not come from the ground, but that "the blessing of the L-rd makes wealthy." And just as I have blessed you, likewise shall you, My children, bless Me with what I have given you -- "and you shall celebrate it as a festival to the L-rd seven days in the year."

In the case of the festival of Pesach it was not said, "seven days in the year," but only "seven days," whereas in the case of the festival of Sukot it was said, "Seven days in the year." We learn thereby that the rejoicing of these seven days before G-d, through the performance of His mitzvot and through dwelling in the sukah, are regarded as if we had rejoiced all year before G-d; and as if all our toil during the year had been only for the sake of His glory.

THE BOOK OF OUR HERITAGE, Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov, vol.1, pp.143-4 Translated by Nathan Bulman, `A' Publishers, 1968

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