Sukkos: Zman Simchaseinu — The Joy of Being Close to Hashem

Topics

• Why Is Sukkos Called Zman Simchaseinu?
• “Nagilah V'Nismechah Bach” — Rejoicing in Hashem Himself
• The Daled Minim as the Sign of the Relationship
• Simchah Is Part of the Avodah
• The Seudah of Erev Yom Kippur
• Why Does Closeness Produce Simchah?
• The Sukkah: Leaving the World to Be With Hashem
• Why the Chassidim and Anshei Maaseh Danced
• “Misham Sho'avin Ruach HaKodesh”
• “Ani Kan — HaKol Kan”

Transcript

## Why Is Sukkos Called Zman Simchaseinu?

Every Yom Tov has a mitzvah of simchah. We say *mo'adim l'simchah, chagim u'zmanim l'sasson*. The Torah says, **“V'samachta b'chagecha”** (Devarim 16:14).

So why is Sukkos singled out in our tefillah as **Zman Simchaseinu**?

The Rambam asks us to notice this distinction. He writes that although all Yamim Tovim require simchah, on Sukkos there was in the Beis HaMikdash a **simchah yeseirah**, an extra dimension of joy, based on the pasuk **“U'smachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem shivas yamim”** (Vayikra 23:40; Rambam, *Hilchos Lulav* 8:12).

That itself raises two questions.

What is this extra simchah?

And why is it especially associated with the Mikdash?

I believe the answer begins not on Sukkos, but immediately after Yom Kippur.

The Tur brings the idea that after Yom Kippur we go and eat and drink with simchah, connected to the pasuk, **“Lech echol b'simchah lachmecha, u'sheseh b'lev tov yeinecha”**—“Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a good heart” (Koheles 9:7).

Why should the simchah after Yom Kippur be so immediate?

Because Yom Kippur gave us something that naturally produces simchah.

Last week we explained that the taharah of Yom Kippur is not merely the erasing of a record. Chet creates distance. Taharah means that HaKadosh Baruch Hu brings us back close.

The simchah of Sukkos begins with that restored **kesher**.

After Yom Kippur, the Ribbono Shel Olam says, so to speak: now that you are back with Me, **lech echol b'simchah lachmecha**.

The joy of Sukkos is the joy of being close again.

## “Nagilah V'Nismechah Bach” — Rejoicing in Hashem Himself

The Midrash on Shir HaShirim asks a beautiful question about the words:

**“Nagilah v'nismechah bach”**—“We will rejoice and be glad in You” (Shir HaShirim 1:4).

In what are we rejoicing?

Is the joy in the day? In the celebration? In the gifts?

The Midrash answers: **bach—baKadosh Baruch Hu.**

Our joy is in Hashem Himself.

That is the yesod.

A Yid's deepest simchah is not merely that something pleasant happened to him. It is the feeling: **I am connected to the Ribbono Shel Olam.**

That is why Yom Kippur leads directly into Sukkos.

On Yom Kippur the distance was removed. The relationship was restored. And now the natural expression of that relationship is:

**Nagilah v'nismechah bach.**

Now we can also understand why the Rambam emphasizes that the *simchah yeseirah* of Sukkos was specifically in the Beis HaMikdash.

Where was *lifnei Hashem* felt most strongly?

In the Mikdash.

Where was the relationship with Hashem most tangible?

In the Mikdash.

So if the special simchah of Sukkos is the simchah of **bach**, the simchah of connection to Hashem, then the greatest expression of that joy had to be in the place of the greatest closeness.

The Mikdash was not merely the location where the celebration happened.

The Mikdash was the reason the celebration could reach its highest form.

But now we have to understand another piece.

The Torah places this simchah right next to the mitzvah of the **daled minim**:

**“U'lekachtem lachem bayom harishon... u'smachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem”** (Vayikra 23:40).

If the source of the joy is Yom Kippur's restored closeness, why does the Torah express it through lulav and esrog?

## The Daled Minim as the Sign of the Relationship

There is a Midrash that gives a remarkable meaning to the daled minim after Yom Kippur.

The nations and Klal Yisrael enter judgment, and afterward there is a question: who emerged with the favorable judgment?

The sign is that Klal Yisrael goes out holding the **lulav and esrog**.

The daled minim become, as it were, the visible sign that Hashem has accepted us.

That fits perfectly with what we have been saying.

What happened on Yom Kippur?

The relationship was restored.

What do we do on Sukkos?

We come out holding a mitzvah that declares that restored relationship.

This also gives depth to the famous teaching on **“U'lekachtem lachem bayom harishon”**—the “first day” as a new beginning in the reckoning of aveiros. The exact Midrashic location should be checked before publication, but the idea is central: after the cleansing of Yom Kippur, Sukkos begins from renewed closeness.

Now look at the Rambam's next formulation.

He writes:

**“Ha-simchah sheyismach adam ba'asiyas ha-mitzvah u've'ahavas haKel shetzivah bahen, avodah gedolah hi.”**

“The joy a person experiences in performing a mitzvah and in the love of the God Who commanded it is a great avodah” (Rambam, *Hilchos Lulav* 8:15).

Notice what the Rambam did.

He began with Sukkos.

He began with the simchah of the Mikdash.

But then he taught us a rule for **every mitzvah**.

Why?

Because the special joy of Sukkos reveals what the inner joy of every mitzvah really is.

The mitzvah is not only an act I am required to perform.

The mitzvah is a point of connection with the One Who commanded me.

And the simchah is the emotional expression of that connection.

## Simchah Is Part of the Avodah

The Maggid Mishneh, explaining the Rambam, makes an important point.

A mitzvah should not be done as though I am carrying a burden that I would rather avoid. I should not serve Hashem merely because I am forced to.

A mitzvah should be done with simchah.

At first glance, that sounds as though simchah is only a **way of performing** the mitzvah: do the mitzvah, but do it happily.

I believe the Rambam is teaching us something deeper.

In *Hilchos Yom Tov*, when the Rambam describes the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov, he warns that a person should not imagine that the more wine, laughter, and lightheadedness he has, the more he has fulfilled simchah. The Rambam says that such behavior is not simchah but **hollelus v'sichlus**. True simchah must contain **avodas Yotzer hakol**—service of the Creator (Rambam, *Hilchos Yom Tov* 6:20).

That means simchah itself can be an avodah.

It is not merely decoration around the mitzvah.

Rabbeinu Yonah says something astonishing in *Shaarei Teshuvah* (4:9). In one girsa, the reward for the simchah in a mitzvah is described as exceedingly great—even beyond the reward of the act itself.

Whether one adopts that precise girsa or another, the point is unmistakable:

**simchah belongs inside the mitzvah.**

Why?

Because a mitzvah is meant to create relationship.

If I do the act but experience it only as an unwanted obligation, I have performed something—but I have missed part of what the mitzvah is supposed to create within me.

The mitzvah should say:

I am serving Hashem.

I am connected to Hashem.

And I am happy that I have that connection.

## The Seudah of Erev Yom Kippur

Rabbeinu Yonah uses this yesod to explain the mitzvah of eating on Erev Yom Kippur.

The Gemara says that one who eats and drinks on the ninth of Tishrei is considered as though he fasted on both the ninth and the tenth (Yoma 81b).

There are different explanations for this.

One approach is practical: I eat in order to prepare myself physically for the fast.

Another approach points out that eating beforehand can actually make the transition into fasting more noticeable. Physically I am strengthened, but emotionally I may feel the deprivation more sharply.

Rabbeinu Yonah gives us a different dimension.

Every Yom Tov has a seudah of **simchah shel mitzvah**.

But on Yom Kippur I cannot make a seudah.

So where does the simchah shel mitzvah go?

To **Erev Yom Kippur**.

I eat on the ninth not merely because my body needs calories for the tenth. The meal itself becomes the simchah shel mitzvah of Yom Kippur.

Now listen to how powerful that is.

The Gemara treats the eating as though it were fasting.

Why?

Because when the eating is attached to the avodah of Yom Kippur, it takes on the character of that avodah.

This is what I am trying to explain about simchah.

Simchah is not outside the mitzvah.

When the joy is truly the joy of serving Hashem, it becomes part of the spiritual act itself.

And that is why Rabbeinu Yonah can speak so strongly about the schar of simchah.

The joy reveals what the mitzvah has accomplished inside me.

## Why Does Closeness Produce Simchah?

Let us go back to the beginning.

Why do mitzvos create simchah?

Because what is the purpose of a mitzvah?

To come close to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

The mitzvah creates a kesher.

And the simchah is the inner expression of that kesher.

That is why all the pieces fit together.

On Yom Kippur, Hashem removes the distance created by chet.

After Yom Kippur comes:

**“Lech echol b'simchah lachmecha.”**

How do I express the renewed relationship?

Through mitzvos.

And when I perform the mitzvah with genuine simchah, I am showing what the mitzvah has done:

**Nagilah v'nismechah bach.**

I am happy because I am with Hashem.

There is a famous expression attributed to the Chazon Ish: **there is no true sadness for one who recognizes the light of emes**. The exact source and wording should be checked before publication, but the idea is very powerful.

The Chazon Ish himself knew suffering. In another letter he describes a life filled with illness, weakness, and very little physical pleasure—yet his joy was in one thing: **la'asos retzoncha**, to do the will of Hashem.

How can a person with difficulty speak about joy?

Because simchah is not the same thing as comfort.

Comfort depends on what is happening around me.

Simchah can come from knowing where I am standing and with Whom I am standing.

When life becomes clear—when I know that I am connected to Hashem—there is a kind of inner joy that the difficulties of this world cannot define.

That, I believe, is the simchah of mitzvah.

## The Sukkah: Leaving the World to Be With Hashem

There is another way to understand the simchah of closeness.

A person lives inside the complications of this world. Problems, pressures, uncertainties, and distractions surround him.

And then Sukkos comes and tells him:

**Tzei midiras keva v'shev b'diras arai.**

Leave the permanent house and enter the temporary dwelling.

The sukkah is called in the language of the Zohar **tzila d'mehemnusa**—the shade of emunah.

What does that mean to me?

For seven days I step out of the illusion that the walls of this world are what truly protect me. I go under the wing of the Ribbono Shel Olam.

I say:

**Ani v'Hu.**

I am with Hashem.

The entire outside world becomes secondary.

That itself is simchah.

My father once expressed to me a similar feeling about learning. A person can be surrounded by the noise and complications of life, but when he enters Torah, he enters another world. He is with the Ribbono Shel Olam.

Sukkah is that same movement written into physical space.

I leave *diras keva* and enter *diras arai*.

I leave the world's claim of permanence and live consciously with Hashem.

Now we can return to the extraordinary Simchas Beis HaShoeva.

The Rambam says that not everyone led the dancing. It was the **gedolei chachmei Yisrael, roshei yeshivos, members of the Sanhedrin, chassidim, zekeinim, and anshei maaseh** who danced before the people (Rambam, *Hilchos Lulav* 8:14).

Why?

If this was simply a celebration, why should a good dancer from the ordinary crowd not participate equally?

Because this dancing was not entertainment.

It was an expression of a spiritual reality.

## Why the Chassidim and Anshei Maaseh Danced

I heard a beautiful Chassidishe explanation of the word **rikud**.

*Rikud* means dancing, but *merakeid* also means to sift—to separate one thing from another.

A person dances and, in a certain sense, throws off what clings to him.

There is an idea attributed to a Gerer Rebbe that if everyone came merely to “shake off his klipos,” without people of real madreigah leading the avodah, the entire celebration could become overwhelmed by what was supposed to be removed. I would want the exact source checked, but the imagery is powerful.

The Ritva gives us the deeper and more direct explanation.

The extraordinary simchah of the Simchas Beis HaShoeva was praise and hodaah to Hashem for **hashra'as haShechinah**—that Hashem caused His Shechinah to dwell among Klal Yisrael. It also reflected the joy of Olam Haba, where tzaddikim enjoy the ziv haShechinah.

Now everything fits.

Why specifically the chassidim and anshei maaseh?

Because this simchah was the expression of **how much a person felt Hashem's presence**.

The more deeply a person lived with the Shechinah, the more fully he could express that joy.

The Tur writes in a similar spirit that the way of the chassidim is to have **Hashem l'negdam tamid**, Hashem constantly before them, and in their times of joy to increase their praise and thanks to HaKadosh Baruch Hu Who gave them that joy (see Tur, Orach Chaim 529).

That is not a side detail of Yom Tov.

That is what simchas Yom Tov is.

The more **Hashem l'negdi tamid** becomes real, the more simchah becomes possible.

So the great dancers in the Mikdash were not chosen because they had the best choreography.

They were chosen because their dance could reveal **hashra'as haShechinah**.

## “Misham Sho'avin Ruach HaKodesh”

Why is it called **Simchas Beis HaShoeva**?

The simple meaning is connected to the drawing of the water.

But Tosafos in Sukkah quotes the Yerushalmi:

**“Misham sho'avin ruach hakodesh, shehaShechinah shorah mitoch simchah.”**

From there they would “draw” ruach hakodesh, because the Shechinah rests through simchah.

A tradition is brought regarding Yonah ben Amitai receiving ruach hakodesh through the Simchas Beis HaShoeva.

What does *ruach hakodesh* mean here?

We often imagine something spectacular—a vision descending from another world.

But I believe we have to understand it more simply and more deeply.

Ruach hakodesh means that a person is living with **Hashem imach**.

Hashem is with him.

His mind, his direction, his avodah are guided by that closeness.

There is a famous account involving Rashi struggling to understand the form of one of the bigdei kehunah until Hashgachah caused him to see an image that clarified it for him. The exact source should be checked, but the lesson is what interests me: Divine guidance can work through the ordinary world because Hashem is accompanying the person.

That is hashra'as haShechinah.

When the Torah says, **“V'shachanti b'socham”** (Shemos 25:8), it does not mean that every person entering the Mikdash saw a supernatural vision.

It means Hashem was present within Klal Yisrael.

They lived with Him.

This was the power of the Simchas Beis HaShoeva.

The simchah opened the person to a stronger awareness of Hashem's presence.

And once again we return to the same yesod:

Sukkos is the joy of being connected.

Yom Kippur restored the connection.

The daled minim express the connection.

Every mitzvah expresses the connection.

The sukkah surrounds me with the connection.

And the Simchas Beis HaShoeva turns that connection into song and dance.

## “Ani Kan — HaKol Kan”

This brings us to the final point.

In the sugya of Simchas Beis HaShoeva, Chazal record the expression:

**“Im ani kan, hakol kan.”**
“If I am here, everything is here” (Sukkah 53a).

The exact interpretation of the statement requires care, but I want to focus on the yesod it expresses in our sugya.

What is the ultimate simchah?

**HaKel kan.**

Hashem is here.

If there is chet, there is distance.

If I live through mitzvos, if I remain connected, the Shechinah rests among Klal Yisrael.

That is why Sukkos follows Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur removes the barrier.

Sukkos teaches me to live inside the relationship that remains.

I take the lulav and esrog.

I enter the sukkah.

I do mitzvos with simchah.

I rejoice *lifnei Hashem*.

And in the Mikdash this reached its highest expression, because there the reality of **V'shachanti b'socham** was most powerful.

So what is **Zman Simchaseinu**?

It is not simply a week when I am commanded to feel cheerful.

It is the time when I am meant to recognize:

I am with the Ribbono Shel Olam.

The Ribbono Shel Olam is with me.

And when that is real—

**Nagilah v'nismechah bach.**

There is no greater simchah than that.