Published October 2024
YOU SHALL BE BUT HAPPY
Of all the holidays in the Jewish year, only Sukkot is described as “zeman simchatenu,” the Season of Our Joy.” According to the Rabbi of Kotsk, joyfulness is the consequence of holiness. Hence, coming after the trials of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when the Jew has purged, purified and sanctified himself, and can approach the future with a clean slate, Sukkot is the occasion par excellence when one can truly rejoice with a full and happy heart.
From a strictly naturalistic perspective the joy of Sukkot is amplified because the harvest is completely gathered in at that time of the year. Unlike Pesach and Shavuot, the Jew on Sukkot no longer has to worry about such disasters as drought, hurricanes, and floods. What’s more, according to our history, no untoward event took place on Sukkot such as the death of the Egyptian first-born sons which accompanied the observance of Passover.
The joy of Sukkot is expressed by Jewish tradition in many ways. First of all, we are called upon to dwell in a beautiful and fragrant sukkah. We also march around the synagogue holding the four species in our hands. In addition, all kinds of tasty delicacies are served at the holiday table.
The celebration of Sukkot says a great deal about the Jewish philosophy of life: the Jewish outlook on the world is not at all gloomy. To be sure, as a people we have experienced more than our share of tragedies in the course of history; and the pantheon of Jewish observances includes an ample supply of melancholy events. But we also have our happy times. The Sabbath certainly provided the Jew with a weekly respite. As Isaiah wrote, “You shall call the Sabbath ‘delight’ ” (Is. 58:13). The Jew may have been as poor as a church mouse all week long; nevertheless, on the Sabbath he managed to live like a king. Even Yom Kippur, the most solemn day of the year, featured bright lights and festive attire.
Indeed, it is hard to imagine how the Jewish people could have survived at all unless they had been optimists. To be sure, our collective happiness is not of the hilarious, reckless sort. It is a sober, rational type of joyousness. The Jew is happy after he has cleansed his conscience. The Jew is happy when he fulfills Jewish law, not when he evades his obligations.
Even on Sukkot, when the Jew is happier than at any other time of the year, his joy is not boundless. As the Bible put it: “You shall be but happy,” “the “but” implying less than total joy. In this world there is no joy which is not also tinged with sorrow. There is always some crisis that restrains our pleasure. That is why a chasan is asked to break a glass underneath the chuppuh at the very moment of supreme happiness in the life of a bride and groom. That is why even at the moment of ecstasy over a rich harvest, the Jew was commanded to live for a week in a frail, windblown hut.
There was nothing cruel or egotistical in the Jewish concept of joy. Hence, the celebration of Passover was muted because independence came at the price of many Egyptian lives. The Jew’s greatest elation flowed, not from fulfilling personal ambition, but carrying out God’s law. Sukkot is such a happy holiday because it has so many beautiful religious duties associated with it. The decisive category for the Jew was simcha shel mitzvah, the joy of doing God’s commandments.
The traditional observance of Sukkot has a great deal to say to our power-hungry and pleasure-mad society. It reminds us that joy comes, not from escaping into a world of fantasy, alcohol and drugs, but rather from setting our own affairs in order. Furthermore, since all the pleasures of life are transient and ephemeral, we ought to be modest in our requirements and satisfied with little. We should seek happiness, not in the mishaps of others, but in the actualization of our human potential. If your conscience is clear and you live by God’s commandments, then you are in a position to benefit from the Divine promise: “And you shall be BUT happy.”
Chag Sameach! A Happy and Healthy Sukkot to you!
Rabbi Alvin Kass
Chief Chaplain of the NYPD