Even as we bid a less than nostalgic goodbye to 5785 — tichleh shanah vekileloseha — and look forward to the joy of Sukkos, the irony surely hit every one of us. It was in fact on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah — the pinnacle of Zeman Simchaseinu — that we were savagely attacked exactly two years ago. If we were to have left that tragedy completely behind us, as if that was ever possible, it might have been one thing. But everyone with a Yiddishe neshomah is still davening for and crying over the hostages who are still the captives of barbarians, while the world perversely blames us. So how indeed can we celebrate, be b’simcha and welcome the Ushpizin with cheer and delight?
Of course, some will answer that this quandary is nothing new. The Conversos sat in sukkos under the murderous eyes of the Church, sukkos were created out of Nazi roofless sheds in Bergen-Belsen, and Rav Yankele Galinsky blew shofar in the frozen Soviet Gulag of Siberia.
But this is us.
We keep thinking that we live in a civilized world, the majority of people are still decent, and this, too, shall pass. But, sadly, things seem to getting worse, not better. Countries that we once thought were our friends have turned against us. Our enemies have penetrated what we thought were our cities and may soon be our mayors and governors. It is true that we have a good friend in the White House, but that, too, may be short-lived. So how can we dance and sing?
The answer may be found in the beauty and sublime exultation of the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah. The source of all the jubilation of this euphoric annual event is actually from tears of disappointment and perceived alienation. The Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 5:4) famously reveals that when Hashem separated the lower waters from those above, the waters below shed bitter tears. They felt that they had been banished from the “source of life itself” by being distanced forever from the Creator. However, Hashem consoled them with the promise that it would be their waters that would be poured on the holy altar as soon as the Shechinah had a home in the Mishkon and, later, the Bais Hamikdosh.
The Yismach Moshe (Tefillah L’Moshe, Tehillim 93:3) explains that our cries today are even greater, since we have now been banished from all our spiritual homes — the Mishkon and both Botei Mikdosh — which is reflected in our tears as we sat by the rivers of Babylon: “We sat and also wept.” The “also” refers to the double sobbing of Klal Yisroel. This interpretation only deepens our pain at attempting happiness when we feel abandoned and rejected by our Father in heaven. However, Rav Yerachmiel Yisroel Sekula, the Sadavna Rebbe, reminds us that it is the cries of the waters and their reinstatement in the Bais Hamikdosh that give us tremendous hope. He writes (Rachamei Yisroel, Sukkos, page 287-88), “The crying waters are a sign to Klal Yisroel that even when we feel that we have been completely estranged from Hashem, it is our heartfelt outcry that will bring us back into His good graces.
To understand this concept even more deeply, we turn to the words of the Gra (Yahel Ohr, Likkutim, Parshas Pinchos 256b), especially as explicated by Rav Dovid Cohen, rosh yeshivas Chevron (Zeman Simchaseinu, Maamar 18, page 185).The Gra reveals that water always represents Hashem’s middah of chesed and especially the sweetening of waters that are initially bitter. Using Kabbalistic and various abstruse terms, the Gra demonstrates that it is water that is able to transform pain into joy and loss into a newfound closeness. This might also explain, as my rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner (see Maamorei Pachad Yitzchok 130:14), always used to ask: Why is it that only at the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah of Chazal (Sukkah 53a) is there a special song for the baalei teshuvah, in addition to those who were always religious? We have now gained another understanding of this dual song. Of course, we celebrate those who have never experienced any alienation from Hashem. But on Sukkos and especially at the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah, we also sing about those who have been reinstated into Hashem’s closest world.
As Rav Yonasan David, rosh yeshivas Pachad Yitzchok in Yerushalayim, adds (Kuntrus Sukkos, Maamar 10:7, page 50), not only do Sukkos and the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah bring back the lost souls, but they are even worthy of the incredible level of Divine revelation known as ruach hakodesh (see Yerushalmi Sukkah 5:1). In other words, sometimes it is the longing and yearning for kedusha that produces the joyous result of the highest levels of connection to Hashem.
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Dorash Moshe, Drush 23, page 345) also ties together four of the statements of or about Hillel Hazakein regarding the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah. He proves that this beautiful celebration “established that the poorest person in Klal Yisroel can ask for the greatest gifts from Hashem during this season. Even if he can’t offer expensive sacrifices, as long as he acts for the sake of heaven, he will be answered positively.”
My rebbi, Rav Hutner always used to mention that there is physical poverty and there is spiritual poverty. We can surely extrapolate from Rav Moshe that during Sukkos, we can all elevate ourselves, whatever our material or spiritual state might be, to the point where we have become close to Hashem once again.
With this approach, we can also answer a well-known question about this great simcha. One of things that Hillel (Sukkah 51-53) used to say at this event was, “If I am here, everyone is here, and if I am not here, who is here?” The problem with this statement is, first of all, its apparent arrogance, and even more importantly, the tremendous preponderance of evidence of Hillel’s humility. However, Rav Yosef Mashash (Nachalas Avos 276-77) explains that Hillel did see himself as no greater than anyone else in Klal Yisroel. He therefore meant by this statement that “If someone as lowly as me can participate in this holy event, then anyone can be here.” This should give all of us chizuk when we feel that we have communally or nationally failed, given all the terrible things that have recently happened. Hashem loves us all and just wants us to do and be the best that we can, given our own limitations and potential.
We should also extrapolate from the Simchas Bais Hashoeivah to that of the rest of Sukkos. We know that the joining of all the four species of Sukkos — the lulav, hadasim, aravos and esrog — represents the unity of Klal Yisroel. The Medrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 30b) teaches, “The esrog has both a good taste and smell, while the lulav (dates) has taste but no smell, the hadasim have good smell but no taste, and the aravos have neither, yet Hashem says, ‘Let them all be bound together and each will offer atonement for the others.’” The Gemara (Menachos 27a) makes similar comparisons between all four and concludes that Klal Yisroel benefits from each and every member.
The Chiddushei Harim (Sukkos, page 265) goes even further, asserting that “ just as the four species must each remain in its place, contributing to the achdus of Klal Yisroel, so must each one of us perform the tasks assigned to us and that we can best fulfill. We know that the Chofetz Chaim would admonish the wealthy men who sat reciting Tehillim for hours in shul when they should have been distributing tzedakah to the needy. He reminded them that if someone in the czar’s army abandoned his horse in the cavalry and joined the infantry, he would have been executed as a deserter. If each person plays the role that he does best, he, too, has earned an important role in Klal Yisroel. It is well known that the Sochatchover Rebbe, the Avnei Neizer, was scrupulous never to allow the daled minim to be separated from each other (see Bais Yosef, Orach Chaim 651) in commemoration of this idea that Knesses Yisroel can only succeed when we are all unified all of the time.
In this difficult time, let us remember to play our role happily and with respect for others who have a different role. Let us have faith that Hashem is leading us in the direction that Klal Yisroel requires at the present moment. With commitment to this achdus and to our fellow Yidden, may we have a wonderful new year with yeshuos, nechamos and the geulah sheleimah bimeheirah beyomeinu. Amein.
