Parshat Sukkot - Happiness
by Rabbi Lobel

“Sukkoth shall be celebrated for seven days...for seven days you shall celebrate to God in the place of God's choosing... and you will be only joyous.” (Deuteronomy 16:13-14)

Following Rashi’s (1040-1105) commentary, “And you will be only joyous” is a guarantee for happiness. Holiday or no holiday, how can the Torah guarantee happiness?

To answer that question, we must first look at what it means to truly celebrate Sukkoth.

The Talmud lists twenty daily miracles during the period of the first Holy Temple, ten in Jerusalem and ten in the temple itself. (Aboth D’Rebbe Nathan Chapter 35). Among them, nobody was ever injured, nobody ever stumbled, everybody was able to find lodging, and there was room for everybody in the temple courtyard.

People would come to Jerusalem free of worries. They would visit the Sanhedrin (Supreme Court) and witness first hand how the greatest scholars of the generation delved into the Torah and brought forth its treasures. (Sforno 1475-1550; Deuteronomy 14:23)

As the Ralbag (1288-1344) explains (Exodus 23:17), when a person witnesses the miracles, when he sees the greatest torah scholars living Torah, delving into its deepest mysteries, when he stands in the very House of God, he will become aware of who God is and it will transform his relationship with the Almighty. Henceforth, all his mitzvoth will be materially changed because of his new understanding of whom he serves and the performance of the commandments will bring him joy.

According to the Ralbag, this is the meaning of “and you will be only joyous”, that doing mitzvoth will bring you joy because you’ll be doing mitzvoth for a God with whom you’ve become intimate.

Today, we can only become intimate with God through Torah study and observance. We no longer have the Holy Temple, the Sanhedrin, or the daily miracles. However, God has promised that he will restore us to the days of yore, that we will once again recognize God on the most personal level. May this be the year of our redemption.