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Home , Bikkurim (First-fruits), Eclipse (Sebastian), Hesder, Nishmat (midrasha), Sukkot, The Jewish Home

VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 4

תשרי תשפ"א • PUBLISHED IN • DISTRIBUTED AROUND THE WORLD OCTOBER 2020

ISRAEL EDITION

WITH GRATEFUL THANKS TO THE FOUNDING SPONSORS OF HAMIZRACHI – THE LAMM OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon examines the case of benching on

PAGE 10

Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel on how to enjoy the here and now... forever

PAGE 27

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks teaches us how to live with uncertainty

PAGE 22

Rabbanit Shani Taragin offers consolation for Coronavirus

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Rabbi Dr. Twerski explains why specifically and Kohelet

PAGE 24 Simchat

Michal Horowitz INSIDE: suggests a recipe for AN ISRAELI IN DUBAI PAGE 60 special Sukkot simcha THE WORLD OF ETROGIM PAGE 28

YOUR GUIDE TO THE HOSHANOT PAGE 48 PAGE 33

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE Rabbi Doron Perez

EDUCATIONAL DIRECTORS Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

PUBLISHED BY THE MIZRACHI WORLD MOVEMENT

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2 | TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Doron Perez

Celebrating Vulnerability

here is no more intense feeling people and caused almost one million The author of the haunting Unetaneh of vulnerability than over the deaths, with over 1,000 in , partic- Tokef prayer captures this sense of Yamim Noraim – The Days of ularly affecting the elderly and infirm. human transience and vulnerability TAwe. The very name conjures up trepi- Waves of widespread sickness continue with some powerful imagery: “like a dation for the Great Days of Judgement, and the situation seems far from under broken shard, like dried grass, like a when the world in general, and our lives control. COVID has profoundly altered faded flower, like a fleeting shadow, like in particular, hang in the balance. The our religious, social, financial and com- a passing cloud, like a breath of wind, image is powerfully captured in the munal lives and an inescapable feeling like whirling dust, like a dream that slips Mishna that says every creature passes of vulnerability hangs over us almost away.” before G-d to be judged, one at a time, every day. All these images describe the tenuous and humanity’s fate is determined over fabric of the human condition. Grass, these days.1 Vulnerability is linked to a lack of con- trol. When we think we are in control of flowers, shadows, clouds, dust... all are susceptible to external elements that This sense of vulnerability is particu- our lives, we feel things are stable, pre- can dry them up, blow them away or larly acute this year, as we embark on dictable and permanent. The moment make them disappear in the blink of an 5781. Each of us continues to experience we lose control, we begin to feel the eye. Their predicament is volatile and the unthinkable reality of how a tiny uneasy sense of instability, unpredict- unstable and their similarity to our own microscopic virus has wreaked such ability and transience. We are now fragility is strikingly all too close. havoc in almost every single corner vulnerable. Things can change for the of the earth. Over the last 10 months, worse in a moment and life, G-d forbid, Because the stark truth is that the this invisible foe has infected 30 million can cease in an instant. vicissitudes of life guarantee we will Continued on page 4

| 3 TORAT MIZRACHI

Continued from page 3 profoundly encounter this existential theme, the species which degenerates unpredictability and purpose in seem- reality at different times in our lives. the quickest, the , forms the cen- ing chaos. This allows us to transform terpiece of our prayers on the final day our perspective and trust that the Somber? Most definitely. Depressing? of Sukkot, Hoshanah Rabbah. And the Almighty knows what He is doing. Not at all. megillah we read on Sukkot is Kohelet, which focuses on this very same theme Such is the transcendent power of faith The festivals of the month of and belief. It is for this very reason the offer a strong spiritual response to this of life being vulnerable and transient while celebrating its inherent joy. calls the “tzila deme- unavoidable vulnerability. Yes, we do himenuta,” the shadow (or shade) of have an inevitable fear and concern, What happened here? How did the faith. Nothing is more temporary and awe and trepidation over the Yamim very feeling which provoked such con- transient than a shadow. It has no exis- Noraim – we are being judged and our cern, anxiety and trepidation suddenly tence of its own and can disappear in a fate is being decided. morph into joyous national celebration? moment. Nevertheless, our temporary But this is only part of the story. sukkah is the shadow cast by the most The answer is two-fold: the power of permanent reality of life – G-d, the Cre- When we fully accept our vulnerability acceptance and the power of Faith. ator and Sustainer of all Life. When we and life’s fleetingness – and Regarding the former, M. Scott Peck understand we live in His shadow and them – an amazing transformation brilliantly summarized it in the opening all that happens is somehow a reflection occurs. We are able to celebrate them. of his bestselling book: “Life is difficult. of the purposeful plan of Providence – This is precisely the point of the imme- This is a great truth, one of the great- whether we understand it or not – we diate transition from the Days of Awe est truths. It is a great truth because are ready to transform. to the days of unbridled celebration on once we truly see this truth, we tran- Sukkot. So as we begin the new year, still very scend it. Once we truly know that life much in the throes of the old, we can No, our vulnerable state has not mirac- is difficult – once we truly understand change. With our belief that everything ulously vanished within the space of and accept it – then life is no longer is ultimately for the good, we can begin four days. What has changed is our difficult. Because once it is accepted, to celebrate the gift of life. We can cul- the fact that life is difficult no longer attitude. Having accepted vulnerability 2 tivate peace of mind and faith-based as an unavoidable reality, we are now matters.” serenity in our unpredictable, vulner- ready to embrace and even celebrate it. In our context, after experiencing the able world. intensity of the Days of Awe and inter- Our sense of vulnerability is certainly Wishing everyone a Chag Sameach and nalizing and accepting this reality – that no less on Sukkot than it is on Rosh a healthy, happy and joyous 5781. Hashanah and – perhaps our vulnerable state is an inescapable even more so. We leave our safe and component of life – we are now ready permanent homes and live for an entire to celebrate it. 1 , Chapter 1, Mishna 2. week in flimsy huts and temporary Acceptance and submission are the 2 The Road Less Travelled, page 1. booths – totally exposed to the ele- gateways to transformation. We are ments, both natural and manmade. For now open to the power of Faith. seven days, we shake the , all of which have to be severed from In our unpredictable and transient the ground and detached from their world, there is one immutable con- permanent source of life. As each day stant – G-d. It is our unshakeable faith of Sukkot passes, they all slowly wilt that everything is somehow ultimately Rabbi Doron Perez is Chief Executive of away in our hands. Pertinently to our for the good. There is Providence in the Mizrachi World Movement.

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Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

What We Celebrate

Zman Simchateinu special that describe it as qual- unhappy about. It is critical we use 12 lthough there is a of itatively greater than any other. Chag HaSukkot to focus upon and cel- simcha on all Yamim Tovim, Why was this ritual (not mentioned ebrate all of Hashem’s blessings (that only Sukkot is described as explicitly by the Torah) the center of we often take for granted). May this -This is because three2 of the celebration and even celebrated at celebration help strengthen our con . ְז ַמן ִש ְׂמ ָח ֵת ּנוA1 the Torah’s four Yom Tov-related men- all? At the end of the summer (with fidence and merit us continued good tionings of simcha refer to Sukkot. The the springs at their low point) we pour health, happiness and hatzlacha in the .water as a tefilla to Hashem to provide coming year ְו ָש ַׂמ ְח ָּת ְּב ַח ֶּג ָך ְו ָה ִי ָית ַא ְך ָש ֵׂמ ַח famous words 13 refer specifically to Chag HaSukkot. us with more. Why would this be the focus of or even a reason for simcha? 1 See also Rambam (Sukkah 8:12), who speaks The simplest explanation of the Sukkot of a ‘simcha yeteira’ on Sukkot as opposed to simcha is that we are celebrating a suc- A Deeper Level Of Simcha the regular level of simcha on other Yamim cessful harvest.3 This is why Sukkot is Tovim. The focus on the Simchat Beit HaShoeva 2 Vayikra 23:40, Devarim 16:14,15. the .4 , ַחג ָה ָא ִסיף also called expresses a deeper level of the simcha. 3 Vayikra 23:39. See also Sefer HaChinuch We are happy not only because of our 324. Chazal also link the celebration to our Lifnei Hashem – Before G-d having received Hashem’s forgiveness during 5 success but also because of our realiza- the first part of the month of Tishrei (See The Rambam points out that our cel- tion that Hashem cares and provides for Tehillim 102, Sukkah 53a, Vayikra ebration of a successful harvest is sim- us. Most people celebrate their success Rabbah 30). ilar to that of other cultures. However, but have no real reason to assume it 4 Shemot 23:16. 5 Moreh Nevuchim 3:43. ours differs in its focus – on the Beit will continue. Because we know that HaMikdash. The Torah mandates this 6 This verse is the basis for the fact that the our success signifies the strength of our Four Species are taken seven full days only in .(relationship with Hashem, we are confi- the Beit HaMikdash ( Sukkah 41a ּו ְש ַׂמ ְח ֶּתם ִל ְפ ֵני ה' ֱא ֵֹלק ֶיכם with the words ,Vayikra 23:40).6 This is also dent that success will continue. See Rambam, , Asei 169) ׁ ִש ְב ַעת ָי ִמים who connects the taking of the arba minim why Sukkot is described as Chag When we pour our precious water on to the simcha of Sukkot 7 Hashem. the Mikdash’s mizbeach we are like 7 Vayikra 23:39. See also Devarim 16:15. We celebrate lifnei Hashem because Eliyahu HaNavi at Har HaCarmel who 8 Note the parallel between the verses that describe the simcha of Sukkot with the we realize He is the cause of our suc- poured out four large jugs of their last arba minim (Vayikra 23:40) and those that cess. Much like the mitzvah of bringing remaining water (after years of drought) describe the bringing of (Devarim 14 26:2,11). bikkurim,8 on Sukkot we use products on Hashem’s mizbeach. 9 10 9 This is why we take the arba minim during of the harvest to praise and thank We express this confidence by not only and integrate them within . Him for our success. We recount how pouring the last of our water but by also 10 See Rashbam and Ramban on Vayikra 23:39 Hashem cared for us in the desert and celebrating when we do so. We reflect and Ritva on Sukkah 53a. realize that He continues to do so. on our success of the past year, appreci- 11 See Rashi, Sukkah 50a. ate where it emanates from, thank and 12 Sukkah 51b. Simchat Beit HaShoeva – praise Hashem for it, and celebrate the 13 Rosh Hashanah 16a. Celebrating the Water Libation 14 Melachim 1 17:34-35. See also Shmuel 2 fact we are confident moving forward. 23:16. The focus of the Beit HaMikdash Like Eliyahu HaNavi whose actions and 15 Ibid 45. simcha was the Simchat Beit HaSho- tefillot at Har HaCarmel were answered 16 Sefer HaChinuch 325. eva.11 Throughout each night we would with rain,15 our proper celebration and celebrate the water we had just drawn show of faith make us worthy of receiv- 16 (shoeva) from the Shiloach spring ing rain and Hashem’s other berachot. Rabbi Reuven Taragin is Educational before pouring it on the mizbeach This year is one in which we can easily Director of Mizrachi and Dean of the the next morning. This simcha was so focus on what we are missing and Yeshivat HaKotel Overseas Program.

6 | MIZRACHI EDUCATORS TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Reuven Taragin Rabbanit Shani Taragin

Zecharia and Sukkot: Consolation for Corona

or many months now, Covid-19 Yerushalayim (reminiscent of the Six- who depend on the Nile River for has disrupted our civilization. Day War): water, must learn that Hashem con- The whole of humanity has found trols natural and supernatural forces, Fitself contending with a common threat For I will gather all nations against and has the ability to stop the most to life as we know it, and it behooves Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall natural phenomenon of rainfall! us to re-explore universal messages of be taken, and the houses rifled, and our past in the Torah and the words of the women ravished, and half of the Zecharia concludes his vision with a the Prophets. city shall go forth into captivity, but poignant description of horses and pots – symbols of man’s efforts to As we open the Tanach, we find the residue of the people shall not control natural forces through war- numerous precedents for plagues be cut off from the city. Then shall fare and cooking, which will be trans- and pandemics that have stricken Hashem go forth, and fight against formed into sacred objects dedicated either the Jewish people and/or spe- those nations, as when He fights in to Hashem’s Mikdash. Even household cific nations, ranging from plagues in the day of battle (Zecharia 14:2-3). pots will be treated as holy as we rec- Egypt though pandemic punishments ognize Divine immanence in every in the wilderness. Both the Plishtim and people of Yehuda suffer pandem- The climax, however, aspect of our lives! ics due to improper interaction with “” will be a global Sukkot is the time to relay this the Aron Kodesh, and HaMel- plague that will message to the global community. ech faces national disease after con- not be overcome Hashem controls agricultural-natural ducting a census. However, there is forces and provides us with seasonal ַמ ֵּג ָפה only one (plague) mentioned in through natural huts. On Sukkot we are meant to rec- Tanach with parallel global ramifica- means and will elicit ognize and internalize mankind’s vul- tions and fatalities – and we read its a recognition of nerabilities and Hashem’s omniscient messages on the first day of Sukkot! powers – which extend beyond the Hashem’s powers. Sukkot is celebrated as a natural – providing us with Clouds of of nature, as we enjoy our harvest Glory and miraculously-supervised through the Four Species and dwell He continues to detail miraculous rainfall in Israel and throughout the in sukkot (Ibn Ezra, Vayikra 23:43). changes in the political and natu- world. ral realms as victory will ensue and Yet Chazal teach us to simultane- Perhaps if we do that this COVID-af- ously recognize Hashem’s miraculous Yerushalayim will be safe. The climax, however, will be a global plague that fected Sukkot, then together with the supervision, in the form of the Clouds global community, we will merit of Glory that sheltered us in the will not be overcome through natural wilderness.1 means and will elicit a recognition And the L-rd shall be King over all of Hashem’s powers. Zecharia then the earth; in that day shall the L-rd be The on the first day of notes that those nations that survive One, and His name one (ibid. v.9). Sukkot revisits these existential this cataclysmic war will be required themes as we hear Zecharia’s escha- to go to Yerushalayim every year on tological prophecy (chapter 14). He Sukkot to pay homage to G-d. 1 See the Tannaitic dispute between Rabbi sought to encourage the minority Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael, Sukkah 11b. Jewish population of Shivat Tzion The message of the pandemic is to to regain sovereignty in the Land of teach the world that rules of nature Rabbanit Shani Taragin is Educational Israel. He begins his prophecy by may change. Even “super-power” Director of Mizrachi and the Director of describing how HaKadosh Baruch Hu countries must recognize Hashem’s the Mizrachi Matan Lapidot Educators’ will fight against foreign nations in kingship. Countries such as Egypt, Program.

| 7 TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Yosef Weinstock

The Beauty of the Arava

n his book Like Dreamers, Yossi “There was a place below Jerusalem, for rain, as our water needs are a good Klein Halevi tells the stories of IDF and it was called . They would example of our dependence on G-d. paratroopers involved in reuniting go down and gather branches of aravot, ֲעָר ָבה Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. and come and put them on the sides of The word is related to the Hebrew ִעְר ּב ּוב I One of those soldiers was Yoel bin the altar, and their tops would be bent word for mixture, . Due to its own Nun. Rabbi bin Nun was a founder over the altar.” simplicity, the willow must constantly of the settlement movement in Israel, mix with others; whether with the other “As Sukkot came to a close and people including and Ofra. He led minim or with the mizbeach, to fully left the Temple, they would turn to the a generation of Religious Zionists to contribute and be fully appreciated. altar, adorned with the arava, for the study Tanach as a way of understanding ,An arava is also a geographic location ִיֹפי ְל ָך, ִמ ְז ֵּב ַח; ִיֹפי ,last time, and proclaim contemporary Israel. how beautiful the altar is, how a plateau, one difficult to access and not – ְל ָך, ִמ ְז ֵּב ַח useful in its own right, but useful as an The young Yoel was learning at Yeshi- beautiful the aravot were.” artery connecting different places. vat Merkaz HaRav, led at that time by In what way is the arava beautiful? By Kook’s son, Rav Tzvi Yehuda. One itself, there is nothing eye-catching The arava benefits others without day, Yoel was accompanying Rav Tzvi about it. Its hadar, its beauty, is dis- needing to be in the limelight. Its com- Yehuda through the streets of Geula played when put together with the lulav bination of humility and benevolence when they came across a campaign rally and hadassim. The simple green leaves – contributing to others without being for a Charedi political party. An activist create an aesthetic look in context with the focus of attention – is truly beauti- was addressing a crowd of black-hatted the other minim. The aravot help create ful. The arava is our Jewish symbol of men, whom he kept addressing as “the a pleasing and striking overall effect. the beauty of servant leadership. community of holy etrogim.” Similarly, when adorning the mizbeach, Traditional leadership often involves There is a well-known Midrash that there is no need to use objects that are the accumulation and exercise of power compares the Four Species to four types beautiful or impressive in their own by one at the “top of the pyramid.” By of . The , having both taste right. The altar itself was a work of art. comparison, the servant- shares and fragrance, is compared to righteous What are needed are some accents to power, puts the needs of others first and Jews who possess both Torah knowl- create an overall pleasing effect. The helps people develop and perform to edge and good deeds. The speaker was aravot must not draw attention away the best of their abilities. praising the assembled as “the commu- from the altar but rather add a splash of Making others look good while worry- nity of holy etrogim.” Upon hearing this, green to the picture. Flower bouquets ing less about oneself. This is servant Rav Tzvi Yehuda tightened his grip on are that much more beautiful when leadership and this is the lesson of Yoel’s arm and said emphatically, “The combined with the simplicity of some the arava. How beautiful is the arava mizbeach was not wrapped in etrogim.” green foliage – such is the beauty of indeed! the arava. Rav Yoel did not hear his at first. Rav Tzvi Yehuda began pulling Yoel The beauty of the arava is found in the away from the area as if he wanted to way it complements through its depen- get away. “The altar was not wrapped dence on and interaction with other in etrogim,” Rav Tzvi Yehuda repeated. items. The arava is the neediest of the “The altar was wrapped in aravot.” four minim. It is the most water-depen- dent. Its dependence is manifest not Rav Kook was referencing another way only in its appearance but also in its Rabbi Yosef Weinstock is Rabbi of Young aravot were used, as described in the biology. This helps to explain why the Israel of Hollywood, and member of the Sukkah 45a: arava plays a major role in our prayers RZA–Mizrachi National Board.

8 | CARMEL WINERY THE LEADING WINERY IN ERETZ YISRAEL

א ו ב ז ג ח ד ט ה י TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon Rabbanit Sharon Rimon

Sukkot on Shabbat in the Kovno Ghetto

his year, the first day of concept is perhaps not applicable when At the same time, the Gadol HaDor, Sukkot falls on Shabbat, as the is mideRabbanan. Rabbi Avraham DovBer Kahana-Sha- it did in 1943. In his Holo- pira, was also in the ghetto. He was Tcaust responsa, Rabbi Ephraim Oshri He adds: “The decree was to prevent sick and in no state to respond to such someone carrying in a public area. Usu- tells the following story: Sukkot was a question in real time. However, he ally, even if there is an , we are still approaching and no-one in the ghetto felt better during the holiday and Rav concerned someone may step outside had arba minim. Not only were they Oshri asked him what he would have the boundaries of the eruv. However, distraught but they were also afraid responded. He replied, “Chazal did not in the Kovno Ghetto, there was no they may never shake a lulav again. talk about a reality in which people are chance of that because it was hermet- imprisoned and in perpetual fear of Suddenly, a appeared with a set of ically sealed – “No-one was allowed in their lives.” arba minim! He had come from Vilna or out and it was bordered by an electric on business but the Germans would not barbed wire fence guarded by German This year, we will also be celebrating allow him to stay for the second day. soldiers.” Sukkot on Shabbat and we have the for- He had to return to Vilna immediately Perhaps in this context, when there is tune to be free people in our own Land. after Shabbat. The Jews in the ghetto no chance of carrying something in Yes, we are experiencing a pandemic but were worried they’d miss out on the a public domain, there is no rabbinic that pales in the face of everything we mitzvah so they asked Rabbi Oshri if in prohibition of taking the arba minim, have suffered throughout our history. those circumstances they could bench and if the mitzvah was not uprooted, We pray the pandemic ends soon, that lulav on Shabbat. one would be able to take them. the world will be a better and purer The (Sukkah 42b) says that Although Rav Oshri cited various argu- place, and that B’Ezrat Hashem we our- although the Torah indicates we should ments permitting taking arba minim on selves will be able to do good deeds, sit take the arba minim even when the Shabbat, he didn’t rule in favor of any in the sukkah and joyously take the arba first yom tov falls on Shabbat, Chazal particular position: minim, relishing all the good G-d has decreed not to, in case a person may given us and using that good to make a carry his arba minim four amot in the “I did not want to rule in this matter difference to the world around us. public domain, which of course is for- – neither prohibit nor allow, and since bidden on Shabbat. I did not rule it was forbidden, they understood themselves that one who 1 See more on this in my book “ – Hala- It seems the Sages’ intention was to does bench lulav will not lose out.” cha Mimkora,” p.353. make sure that when Yom Tov falls on Shabbat, we don’t entirely forget the He then relates that many Jews did Shabbat part.1 indeed make the beracha over the arba minim and even said “Shechechiyanu.” הי"ד So did Chazal completely uproot this He adds that Reb Feivel Zissman mitzvah or did they perhaps only forbid said he would observe the mitzvah it, in which case if one was to take the without asking any questions: “I am arba minim on Shabbat one would ready to accept Gehinnom for observing still be fulfilling a mitzvah? Another this mitzvah, because all my life I spent question is whether taking the lulav is a fortune on buying beautiful etrogim, forbidden because it is a mitzvah that and now – perhaps before my death – I comes from an aveira (i.e. overriding know that observing this mitzvah will Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon is Head of Miz- the words of the Sages). Rav Oshri be a merit in my favor on the Day of rachi’s Shalhevet Educational Advisory discusses this too and writes that this Judgement.” Board and Chairman of Sulamot.

10 | TORAT MIZRACHI

Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon Rabbanit Sharon Rimon

The Universality of the Festival of Sukkot

n Zecharia’s prophecy (14), he to the celebration of Sukkot, beyond defenses, definitions and stereotypes, describes a day when the Kingship commemorating the date of the war. prevent people from connecting with of Hashem is revealed to the entire one another. So too, the feelings of Iworld. As a result, there is great turmoil At the inauguration of the First Beit haughtiness and abundance obstruct HaMikdash, on Sukkot, Shlomo desig- in the world: G-d wages war against the G-d’s Kingship in the world and cause nated it as a place of prayer for all of the nations, there is a great earthquake, a divisiveness among people. nations, not just Am Yisrael (Melachim spring bursts forth from Jerusalem to I 8:41-43). It appears it is no coincidence the Dead Sea and there is a total On Sukkot, everyone goes outside, and that both Shlomo and Zecharia desig- of the celestial luminaries. The end all are equal in their humble dwelling. nated the Beit HaMikdash for a univer- result of this tremendous upheaval is, As such, everyone can feel G-d’s Provi- sal purpose, which specifically revolves dence, and a sense of equality with their “And G-d shall become King over all around the festival of Sukkot. the earth; on that day the L-rd shall be fellow. It is precisely in this reality that one, and His name one” (14:9). One of It is interesting to note that the mitzvot people are able to make room for one the expressions of G-d’s Kingship in the connected to Sukkot do possess a uni- another in their hearts, and for G-d’s world is that all the nations of the world versal element and meaning: presence among them. Humility, sim- will also acknowledge and accept Him plicity, vulnerability and the feeling of The Four Species represent the prayer and they will all come to worship Him impermanence allow people to , for rain, which is a basic, existential as well as allowing for G-d’s Kingship in Jerusalem. need for the entire world, not only for to be felt. “And it will come to pass, that everyone Am Yisrael. The festival of Sukkot is a holiday when who is left of the nations who came up The korbanot of the holiday are dif- we pray for all of the world’s existential against Jerusalem, will go up every year ferent from all the other festivals. On needs. It is a time we all unite under to prostrate themselves to the King, the Sukkot, there are a total of 70 offerings, the banner of humility and simplicity, L-rd of Hosts, and to celebrate the festi- symbolizing the 70 nations of the world. a time we realize just how small we are val of Sukkot” (14:16). Zecharia specif- As the Talmud states (Sukkah 55b): compared to the Creator of the Uni- ically focuses on the festival of Sukkot “Rabbi Elazar said: These 70 bulls to verse. Sukkot is a festival in which it as the time when the nations will come what do they correspond? They corre- becomes possible for everyone on earth to worship G-d. Why? spond to the 70 nations.” Rashi explains to unite in serving G-d. there: “There are 70 bulls correspond- The Malbim states that “The Downfall ing to the 70 nations of the world in of Gog will be on the festival of Sukkot, order to atone for them, so that rain and they shall all go up to Jerusalem to will fall in the whole world, for we are celebrate the festival, as a commemo- judged regarding rainfall on the festival ration of the miracle that occurred on of Sukkot.” that day.” Sitting in the sukkah symbolizes imper- According to this, it is precisely the manence, vulnerability, and simplicity, great downfall of the gentiles/enemies and thus can unite all human beings of Israel in war that will bring those who around one common denominator. are left to the understanding that G-d is During most of the year, one is locked King. Therefore, they must celebrate on up in one’s own home, disconnected that very day they come to this under- from others and wrapped up in one’s Rabbanit Sharon Rimon teaches Tanach standing and revelation. However, it own definitions, impressions and and is Content Editor for the HaTanakh would seem there is a deeper meaning sense of security. The walls, partitions, website.

| 11 בס"ד TORAT MIZRACHI KEEP YOUR FAMILY'S Rabbi Hillel Van-Leeuwen CONNECTION TO ISRAEL STRONG Survival of the Weakest

used to get frustrated each year source, is the most fitting tree through to celebrate Pesach when, on the last few days of Sukkot, which to show our absolute dependence together. Since Sukkot is followed by the I noticed how quickly the arava on rain, our primordial fear of famine year’s longest break between holidays, Ileaves lost their vitality, shriveled up and our inherent thirst for water – all it is imperative to raise awareness of and died. In my attempts to keep them of which are strongly felt in a desert our need for G-d’s loving, caring, pro- fresh like the beautiful hadas branches, land like Israel. tecting and providing hand in our daily I kept them rolled up in a wet towel lives while we are far from the Place He in the fridge, standing in a bucket of The Murbiyot branches of the arava, chose. The arava was selected, due to fresh water, even tucked away inside which naturally grow on the riverbanks its evident weakness, as the medium the freezer – but to no avail. Nothing and need lots of water to survive [the through which to convey this important Starting at seemed to really work. Recently, how- one growing in my own back yard con- value in Jewish life. In that sense, I’m ever, I have changed the way I look at sumes three times as much water as the happy to see my aravot begin to dry. only $5000 those pale-green dried leaves. Here’s rest of my fruit trees], are placed at the why. corners of the altar, not far from the I once saw a rationalist bumper sticker large fire burning on top of it. Within that read “Prayer is for Wimps.” True At first glance, the arava is indeed the a matter of minutes the fresh, beauti- enough. Prayer can be such a power- least impressive of the Four Species. fully-shaped leaves darken, twist and ful tool and connect us to G-d only FULFILL 30 Mitzvot that are dependent upon According to our Sages, the arava is dry, hanging there lifeless and misera- after we admit our own powerlessness the least worthy when compared to the ble in front of the massive celebrating and stand before Him with a genuine the etrog, lulav and hadas. It has some value crowds. Apart from being a catalyst for feeling of constant need. This is what only if bound together with the other the upcoming Prayer for Rain recited on we learn from the arava. Indeed, the species, which are of higher impor- the last day of Sukkot, this sight serves secret of tefillah rests in the awe-inspir- tance and can therefore atone for it. as a symbolic reminder of our complete ing knowledge that we are absolutely OWN A PIECE OF PRIVATE LAND How surprising it is, therefore, to find dependence on G-d, and of our thirst dependent on G-d, every minute of IN THE CENTER OF ISRAEL two Sukkot practices focusing on the for Torah. every day. ENJOY your fruits, give to arava alone: the poor, share with relatives The same applies to the Chavata, the This is powerful. For truly attaching RECEIVE a fenced in field with a) the Murbiyot, the long arava branches beating of the arava on the floor. When ourselves to the Absolute Power rests – 5.5 meters tall – picked by a river out- seeing how easily even the fresh leaves on our understanding that we are abso- signage, irrigation systems, side Jerusalem and erected at the four fall off the arava branches, we are lutely powerless without Him. wheat, , grapes, etrog & USE your field and corners of the altar in the courtyard of reminded of our eternal state of mortal fruit trees Adama 613 welcome the Temple throughout the seven days helplessness. I personally try to apply center for your Bar Bat of Sukkot, with their ends bent onto the this idea to various aspects of Jewish Mitzvas and simchas top of the altar (Mishnah Sukkah 4:5), practice, which include humbling expe- VISIT with your kids and grandkids and b) the Chavata, the five aravot we riences such as dipping in a or at your field and perform the tie together and beat on the floor in shul the horrible weakness I feel at the end at the end of the Hoshanot on Hosha- of fast days. mitzvot with our farmers APPROVED by leading nah Rabbah, a custom originated by the halachik authorities Rav early Prophets (Rambam, Lulav 7:24). The need for such visual effects and physical actions to reinforce and ENJOY your own oil for Asher Weiss and Machon So here is a fresh look at the arava: impress spiritual messages into our Chanukah and for Hatorah V' Sukkot is known as the “Judgement Day psyche is obvious. But it makes even & pick your own 4 minim for Rain” (Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:2), more sense if we remember that there and the arava, whose leaves are the fast- are six long months after Sukkot until Rav Hillel Van-Leeuwen is Head of Leader- est to dry once removed from a water all Jewish pilgrims gather again at the ship Development at World Mizrachi.

Rabbi David Ziering 011972-544379365 . [email protected] 12 | YOUR LAND OF MITZVOT WWW.ADAMA613.COM בס"ד KEEP YOUR FAMILY'S CONNECTION TO ISRAEL STRONG

Starting at only $5000

FULFILL 30 Mitzvot that are dependent upon the land of Israel

OWN A PIECE OF PRIVATE LAND IN THE CENTER OF ISRAEL ENJOY your fruits, give to the poor, share with relatives RECEIVE a fenced in field with signage, irrigation systems, wheat, barley, grapes, etrog & USE your field and fruit trees Adama 613 welcome center for your Bar Bat Mitzvas and simchas VISIT with your kids and grandkids at your field and perform the mitzvot with our farmers APPROVED by leading halachik authorities Rav ENJOY your own for Asher Weiss and Machon Chanukah and Wine for kiddush Hatorah V'haaretz & pick your own 4 minim

Rabbi David Ziering 011972-544379365 . [email protected] YOUR LAND OF MITZVOT WWW.ADAMA613.COM TORAT MIZRACHI MIZRACHI SCHOLARS-IN-RESIDENCE

Sivan Rahav Meir and Yedidya Meir

Eight Thoughts Under the S’chach

1. Freedom the market to buy arba minim, and mouthful of chutzpah. Outside you ukkot is the chag of Faith. We yes, there are family meals that need receive feedback and praise, inside leave our homes, we don’t know to address everyone’s preferences everyone is not always happy. Your what the weather will be, and and dislikes, and yes, sometimes the work is sacred but not appreciated: Swe feel just like Bnei Yisrael in the noise from the neighbor’s sukkah is why keep the house in order if it’s just desert, under G-d’s wing. This year we annoying, and yes, you need to juggle going to be chaos again tomorrow? understand this more than ever. Since all the kids, etc. But when you take what you’ve gleaned from , Rosh “Eim BeYisrael” – mothers need to Purim we have been participating value themselves and what they do. in a “Sukkot Workshop” – relax, let Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and apply them to all these seemingly mundane They’re full of self-criticism, taking go, understand you’re not in charge. on more and more assignments and Lockdown and quarantine, no shul, assignments… that’s the ideal. Life itself. constantly frustrated and unhappy. none of our regular frameworks, I urge them to connect inwards, give schools, shows… our beloved routine. 3. Family themselves a pat on the back for being This year it’s easier for us to relate who they are and doing what’s right to the chag, and fulfil the wonder- These are very much family-oriented for them. Do that from the inside ַהְר ּפ ּו ּו ְד ּעו ִּכ ָי־א ִנֹכי ful pasuk in Tehillim: days. Here’s one idea, from the well- and everything outside will change as אֹלקים ”.chill out’ and know that I am known Israeli parenting counselor, well‘ – ֱ ִ G-d. Ziva Meir (who also happens to be my mother-in-law): “Notice that many of 4. Know to Differentiate 2. Between Yom Kippur the most moving songs in the world On Shabbat during Sukkot we read and Sukkot are about “Mother.” In all styles. In all languages. “Umi” in Arabic, “Mama” in Megillat Kohelet. In our crazy times, We tend to think the highlight of the , everyone worships Mommy. the profound words of Shlomo chagim is Yom Kippur, Neilah, and How did the Prophetess say HaMelech carry a lot of significance: then we come back down to earth. it? “Until I, Deborah, arose, I arose as “Everything has its season and there is But no, the peak is now. To fast all :a mother time for everything under the Heaven , ֵאם ְ ּב ִי ְשׂ ָר ֵ ֽאל ”.mother in Israel day like angels is not the ideal. There’s in Israel, is a concept. A Jewish mother a time to give birth and a time to die, something even higher, and it’s called should be proud of who she is. She does a time to plant and a time to uproot… Sukkot. not need to put herself down. Mom has a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to eulogize and a time to dance… Yom Kippur is only one day, when often become a focus of guilt. We blame a time to hug and a time to avoid everything stops. The aim is to draw her for anything that’s not okay or we h u g s …” strength from it for the other 364 just blame her for the sake of blaming… days of the year. To take the mes- Mothers! At this time of year, find In our confusing reality, we try to sages and energy of this special out who you really are. Don’t follow do everything at once. Career and day into our lives, into nature, into the external needs of others but con- family and marriage and relation- the world. Thus writes Rav Kook: nect to yourselves. After all, the world ships and studies and hundreds of “Those days between Yom Kippur is lying to us all the time: at work, WhatsApp messages in between all and Sukkot were given to educate us it’s easy to glean compliments and that. Kohelet reminds us of a simple about returning to the matters of this at home, you can work hard all day truth: one needs time for everything. world.” In other words, one needs to every day and after all your effort, Stop creating chaos in your reality. build a sukkah. One needs to go to your child can give you a generous There are times for that, and there are

14 | MIZRACHI SCHOLARS-IN-RESIDENCE TORAT MIZRACHI

other times. There’s permitted and then to Egypt, and back. Yitzchak anew (s’chach, lulav, etrog, etc.), and forbidden, right and wrong, and it’s went to the land of the Philistines renew our bonds with our families important to discern the difference during the famine, and then to the and community during this week of and be cognizant of what you’re doing western Negev, to Beer Sheva and celebration. We learn to appreciate and when. For each area of our lives Chevron. Ya’akov fled to Charan, everything we have around us all year to blossom and flourish we need to returned to Cana’an, and emigrated long… and be happy. learn to differentiate and distinguish to Egypt. Yosef was sold as a slave, between what’s important and what’s Moshe and Aharon wandered for 40 8. Starting Over years in the desert and Moshe had more important. Meals, dancing, candy bags, laun- already been in Egypt as a child. David dry, and suddenly, we’re starting 5. Arba Minim too fled from Shaul and Avshalom. over again. The Shabbat after Sim- Rav Erez expands on the famous sym- Their lives were lives of sukkah, not of chat Torah is Shabbat Bereishit, on bolism of each of the species repre- permanent homes. They well under- which we read the first parasha of senting a different type of Jew: stood how much the permanent real- the Torah again. Yet we notice some- thing intriguing: the Torah does not “As we know, the arba minim symbol- ity is transient, and how much flexi- spend too much time on the Creation izes unity, but it’s not only the unity bility, faith and creativity one needs of the World. Rather than describing of different parts of the people, but in life. And, despite all the incon- the details of the cosmos and the stars unity within us – unity between all veniences and troubles mentioned and the oceans at length, it stops and the parts and all the situations Jewish here, each one of our ancestors built details the first sin of the first human souls can possibly encounter. Each himself up and led and educated. We being. As it continues, the Torah does one of us could be a rasha or a tzad- too can take our circumstances and not report on all the peoples and dik. And what is our call as we shake become better people. kingdoms that rose and fell during the arba minim? First, connect to Am 7. Simcha those times, but it does stop to record Yisrael. It doesn’t matter who you are how Avraham Avinu welcomes guests or what you’ve done or do, you have a You can’t miss it. Simcha is supposed into his tent, or how Rivka quenches connection too; you can come closer to be the central element of Sukkot – ָ ְ .and you shall the camels’ thirst near the well – ְו ָ ׂ ש ַמ ְח ָּת ְּב ַח ֶּגך ְו ָה ִי ָית ַאך ָ ׂ ש ֵמ ַח ,to being a tzaddik as well. Second it’s not only “connect” but also “wake rejoice in your holiday… and you shall Why? Because that’s what important. up!”: we are shaking the arba minim just be happy. The Rambam tells us The Torah is not a book of science or comes from תורה to the four corners of the earth and up that in Jerusalem on Sukkot there was history. The word to teach, to guide, to – הוראה and down, and the message is: who- “excess simcha” and writes that simcha the word ever, whatever, wherever you’ve been on Sukkot is a “great service [of G-d],” educate. These “small deeds” are the thrown or fallen, do not despair. You while in our siddurim Sukkot is referred most significant and influential. .the time of our joy , ְז ַמן ִש ְׂמ ָח ֵת ּנו can come back and come closer from to as absolutely anywhere in the world.” So what’s the connection between The effort and the running around joy and Sukkot? The big test in our – the sukkah, the house, the meals, 6. times – generally – is not one of pov- the little conversations, The Ushpizin, the guests we invite erty but of wealth. Not of lack but of moments – all of these are the foun- into our sukkot, are seven fathers plenty. Nevertheless, most of us are dation stones of simcha, solidity and of the nation – Avraham, Yitzchak, not content. Chag HaSukkot offers an stability. Ya’akov, Yosef, Moshe, Aharon and alternative: we leave our comfortable David. There are many profound homes for a shaky hut, which reminds and kabbalistic explanations for this us of the wanderings in the desert. custom, but in “Be’er ,” I found That’s how our ancestors lived. And an historic reason I’ve never thought it is precisely out of this minimalism of before: our national fathers were and simplicity we remember the great Rahav Meir and Yedidya Meir are largely nomads. Avraham left his historical story and everything we’ve popular Israeli media personalities and birthplace and came to Israel, and been through. We look at nature World Mizrachi’s Scholars-in-Residence.

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זצ”ל Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu

TheSHORT Ethics ETROG of STORIES Etrogim

The $1,000 Etrog pride come to me). “This etrog did not I’d barely closed the door when some- (Heard from the etrog dealer who match its mnemonic.” one came out and said,” Excuse me, the Rav asks you to come back inside.’ used to bring etrogim to Rav Eliahu.) The Rav’s Own Etrog The Rav smiled at me and said, ‘Let’s Eliahu was famous for being When the dealer brought Rav Eliahu do an exchange deal. You give me able to assess an etrog in sec- etrogim for himself and his family, he your etrog, the kosher one, and I’ll onds. He would check hun- would bring him the very best he had. give you mine, the mehudar one.’ Rdreds of etrogim yet despite the huge The Rav would select a few, lay them quantity, he never once said “pasul”) all out in a line and say, “This one’s I blushed and couldn’t stop the tears. I invalid), but only “take another one.” the most beautiful, but I won’t take it. gratefully accepted the Rav’s offer and Only once did I hear him say “pasul.” I’ll take this one or that one.” I was the happiest boy in town. A man came in and proudly told the When the dealer asked him why he The next day, I went to daven in Rav Rav: “I paid $1,000 for this beautiful didn’t take the most beautiful one for Eliahu’s shul. I wanted to see what etrog!” The Rav looked at it and asked himself he replied, “So as not to make etrog he would make the beracha on. the man: “If this etrog is pasul, will Jews feel bad. When they see the Lo and behold… mine! you get your money back?” “Yes,” said Rabbi has an etrog with a slight dent Suddenly, I understood. the man, “I bought it on condition the – that he too is not perfect – they Zionist Etrogim Rav says it’s kosher.” “Tell me,” replied will value their own etrog more. They Rav Eliahu. “Have you bought your won’t think it’s sub-standard. And “Once I visited Rav Eliahu and we wife some jewelry for the chag? That’s they won’t think that take the were talking about Rabbi Yisrael Abu- best for themselves and leave whatev- The hatzeira, the Baba Sali zt”l. ‘Come, I’ll ”!ושמחת בחגך – also a mitzvah er’s left for everyone else. “ man mumbled something and the Rav show you something,’ said the Rav, decreed: “Pasul!” Fair Swap and took out what looked like some very thin sticks. ‘What are they?’ I “Pasul?! How can it be pasul?” “When I was eight, my father was asked. ‘Dry etrogim originally grown The Rav turned the etrog over and tragically killed in an accident. When in Morocco. The Baba Sali used to showed the man a very small hole I reached bar mitzvah, I really wanted send me some every year.’ near the stipe, partially covered by the my own etrog but my mother couldn’t afford it. I saved up, little by little, Then he added: ‘I never made a stipe itself. And when the Rav moved beracha on them though. I only say the leaf, he revealed signs of a cater- until I had enough to go to Machane Yehuda and buy my very own etrog in a beracha on etrogim from our holy pillar burrowing into the fruit. a sealed box which said “mehudar” on Land. I told that to the Baba Sali and “You don’t need to splash out $1,000 the lid! I was overjoyed. he still sent me his Moroccan ones. on an etrog. It’s fine to buy a mehu- But there’s nothing like the sanctity But when I opened the box, the etrog dar (halachically beautiful) etrog like of Eretz Yisrael and the etrogim of our really wasn’t that beautiful. I didn’t holy Land.” everybody else for 100 shekels and go know whether I’d been deceived or make your wife happy with the rest that I just didn’t know the halachot, so of the money. That’s a positive Torah I decided to knock on Rav Mordechai mitzvah!” Eliahu’s door (he lived very close to Translated and adapted from www. After the man left, we asked the Rav us). .org.il. how he had managed to spot that The Rav studied my etrog from all was the זצ”ל tiny hidden hole. He told us that in angles… ‘Kasher (kosher).’ ‘Only Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu stands for kasher?’ I said. ‘Not mehudar?’ Rishon LeTzion and Sephardi Chief Rabbi אתרוג ,Chassidic tradition .let not the foot of ‘Kasher.’ I kissed his hand and left. of Israel) אל תבואני רגל גאווה

18 | GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel

Our Sukkot Lesson from Ya’akov Avinu

a’akov Avinu’s greatness lay in Am Yisrael has been through its fair world outside and the winds of that the fact that he managed to share of ups and downs. Yet whenever world blow strongly in all corners of maintain his spiritual stabil- we were in trouble, wherever we were, our homes and communities. Yity even in the midst of constant life our eternal values remained firm and crises. His brother was out to kill him, unshaken. This remarkable ability – So much so that is no he fled to the wily Lavan and despite his to be stable while everything around longer as stable as it once was. Its foun- uncle’s trickery and deceit, Ya’akov still you is unstable – is the hidden power dations are wobbling and for many, it is no longer a safe fortress. Nevertheless, remained faithful to the mitzvot and of Ya’akov Avinu. And indeed, in this if the home is still identified as a Jewish upright and pure in his ways. sense, he has never died. As we con- tinue to live our lives based on Jewish one, it is likely to remain that way for- Even Ya’akov’s two names say some- principles and values, he lives on too. ever, whatever the challenges. In such thing of his mental strength in the face a home, the spirit of the individuals, -is related to “Esav returned along the way to Seir on the family, and the nation must be rein יעקב .of his difficult life that day. Ya’akov went to Sukkot” (Bere- .heel – the curved area at the base forced, nurtured and developed ,עקב ishit 33). The Zohar expounds upon can also mean a cause עקב .of the leg the juxtaposition of these two jour- Our nation possesses such inner -con ,ישראל ,of. Ya’akov’s other name neys, likening them to the relationship strength to combat and overcome life’s .straight ,ישר tains the Hebrew word between Yom Kippur, when the scape- challenges because we inherited this Despite his many struggles with forces goat is sent to Azazel, and the Jewish trait from Ya’akov Avinu. He taught more numerous or powerful than he, people moving into their sukkot. After us that we can overcome temptations, Ya’akov’s integrity, sense of right, and Ya’akov, the idealist, freed himself from avoid danger and stay strong, whatever loyalty to G-d remained intact. the influence of Esav, the materialist, he the circumstances. was able to relax in the shade of truth Israel, the aspiration to uprightness, and faith in his sukkah. The sukkah is Am Yisrael, the ideal people, has the purity, and truth – is the ideal name. the antithesis of aggressiveness, domi- power to filter things and to absorb only Ya’akov, the necessity to face evil and nance and evil. Its physicality is purely the good, the true and the beautiful, cruel reality in our world – is the actual functional – a vessel for holding Jewish while discarding falsity, ugliness and name. The tension between the real and law, faith and deep spiritual joy. evil. Even if our sukkah appears to be the ideal accompanies Am Yisrael’s long unstable on the outside, there is nothing and complicated history, yet we are Sukkot actually contains a double mes- more stable than the spirit within. known by our ideal name. sage. On the one hand, our temporary, often flimsy sukkah symbolizes tran- This teaches us that despite everything sience and impermanence – the exile. we have been through – the persecu- Yet it is also a holy sanctuary within the tions, the pogroms and the murders, ups and downs of regular life, a little the battle for good and truth has not Israel among the other nations. been lost. On the contrary. Our core values became stronger and more There is no contradiction between the two. Even in exile, in unimaginable con- prominent. The wandering Jew, even ditions, we continued to develop our when walking through the valley of the culture and strengthen our spirit. shadow of death, did not fear the evil Rabbi Ya’akov Ariel was the Chief Rabbi forces attempting to forcibly convert This double message carries far-reach- of Ramat Gan, Israel, and one of the and confuse him. The more they tor- ing implications. In our times, mass leading rabbis of the Religious Zionist tured us, the more we grew. media has exposed our homes to the movement.

| 19 GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Hershel Schachter

True Simcha

av Soloveitchik was fond of Thus, the mitzvah of simchat Yom chatan during his seven days of Sheva discussing a comment of the Tov includes more than the offering Berachot. The Rama (Orach Chaim Ramban in his Hasagot to of a Shelamim and the 135:1) records the that a RSefer HaMitzvot (shoresh rishon, s.v. partaking of its meat and of wine. chatan should be given an aliyah vehapli’ah). The Ramban believes that According to the Ramban, one of the since it is like a Yom Tov for him. the recitation of Hallel is a d’oraita manifestations of this mitzvah is the What is the halachic basis for this obligation. This is in contrast to the singing of praises to Hashem in the minhag? Rambam, who did not count the rec- form of Hallel. Simcha also includes the obligation to provide colored or The Rav explained that a chatan itation of Hallel on Yom Tov in the has a mitzvah of simcha. Since count of taryag mitzvot because he pressed linen garments for one’s wife and to distribute nuts and almonds Talmud Torah is a form of simcha, held it is only a mitzvah deRabba- as evidenced by the restrictions to to one’s children (Pesachim 109a; nan. The Ramban cites the pasuk in learning that apply to an avel and on Yerushalmi Pesachim 10:1). reference to the shira of the Levi’im: Tisha B’Av, it follows that teaching “On a day of your gladness, and on The Rambam (Hilchot Yom Tov 6:18; Torah is a further fulfillment of the your Festivals, and on your New Hilchot Chagigah 2:14) writes that mitzvah of simcha. Through teaching Moons, you shall sound the trumpets simcha on Yom Tov requires not only others, one causes them to experience over your olah-offerings and over that we ourselves eat, drink, and be in simcha. For this reason as well, the your shelamim-offerings” (Bamidbar a joyous mood. The Rambam terms minhag is for the chatan to deliver 10:10). such enjoyment as simchat kreiso (joy divrei Torah at the chatan’s tish. The of one’s stomach), instead of simchat chatan receives an aliyah in which This pasuk describes that during mitzvah. Rather, on Yom Tov, there he is melameid Torah to the tzibbur the nisuch haYayin (wine libation) is also a mitzvah to provide for the that listens to the kriya, essentially of korbanot tzibbur (communal poor and those who are less fortunate, the function of every oleh laTorah, offerings), the Levi’im engaged in to enable them to have food and in order to enhance his mitzvah of shira through singing and musical drink for Yom Tov. In other words, simcha by being mesameach others. accompaniment (on weekdays), which an important part of the mitzvah of According to this explanation, it included the use of chatzotzrot. The simcha is to be mesameach others. would seem one should endeavor to Ramban suggests that Hallel is a be called up for an aliyah on every similar obligation to the shira sung That is why there is a minhag to make a tzedaka appeal every Yom Tov, as Yom Tov, not only on the Yamim during the avodah – both of them an expression of simchat Yom Tov. In Noraim (as mentioned by the Mateh are manifestations of the mitzvah of fact, it is because we pledge tzedaka Efrayim 584:17). This way, one adds simcha. on Yom Tov that the Yizkor prayer to the joy of others by teaching them Torah, and by so doing, he fulfills the Indeed, one of the sources in the was introduced (Levush, Orach mitzvah of simchat Yom Tov.2 Gemara (Arachin 11a) for the shira Chaim 490:9). The pledge of tzedaka of the Levi’im is the pasuk found in should be considered as a zechut for one’s parent(s) who raised a child with ַּתַחת ֲ ׁ ארֶש ֹלא ָעַבְדָּת ֶאת ,the tochecha See TorahWeb.org, Pesach, 2006, “True proper attitudes and values regarding 1 ָ ”.Because Simcha“ – ה' ֱא ֶֹלקיך ְּב ִש ְׂמ ָחה ּו ְב ּטוב ֵל ָבב sharing their assets with others. you did not serve Hashem, your G-d 2 See B’Ikvei HaTzon, pp. 94-95. Thus, the recitation of Yizkor is not [a reference to avodah in the Beit at all a form of aveilut, but rather a HaMikdash] with joy and goodness fulfillment of the mitzvah of simcha.1 Rabbi Hershel Schachter is Rosh of heart” (Devarim 28:47). Rashi adds, Yeshiva and Rosh at Rabbi “One sings shira only out of a feeling The notion of sharing one’s simcha Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva of joy and goodness of heart.” with others may be relevant to a University.

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ABRAHAM PAGE 14 PAGE 18 FRAENKEL life lessons from History PAGES 50-51 J. TWERSKI PAGE 14 Avraham and Sarah Rabbanit Yemima Dr. Yael Ziegler tells two jokes to make with the antidote to PAGE 22 PAGE 18 DR. YAEL Mizrachi with some fascinating one serious point resentment in Mizrachi’s Journey PAGE 18 RABBANIT RACHELLE reveals the significance insights into the Book of relationships ZIEGLER FRAENKEL ofALSO: Israel’s 72nd birthday PAGE 14 shares the significance of PAGE 38 Hebron Timeline Your HaMizrachi to barley in the Book of Ruth with the difference between TOVAPAGE 30 RABBI ZEV LEFF Seder Companion GANZEL on a surprising way to memoryPAGE and 30 history PAGE 8 PAGE 14 RABBI YOSEF ZVI reveals the secrets of PAGE 23 add meaning to life PAGES 34-43 RIMON the wondrous willow discusses feet and PAGE 16 marketplaces nowadays 12 Facts Rabbi Shalom Rabbi Hershel PAGE 54 RABBI DR. ABRAHAM PAGE 12 EVE HAROW Rosner Schachter about Hebron with a wonderful explains how we TWERSKI explores modern Hebron RABBI MENACHEM explanation of the Israeli PAGE 8 reveals important insights PAGE 32 determine the date of SIVAN RAHAV MEIR RABBI BEREL as it merges with the past about low self-esteem LEIBTAG flag Shavuotושמחת בחגך! AND YEDIDYA MEIR Mizrachi WEIN Insights into happiness from Rabbi Doron Perez, asks where we should with eight light and on why Israel is the place to be on Sukkot PAGE 13 PAGE 8 bright insights PAGE 44 PAGE 44 Uncovering the start Maggid Australia Rabbi Chaim Navon, Mrs.SIVAN Shira RAHAV Smiles, MEIR Sivan Rahav Meir Sivan Rahav Meir Mystery of Machpela and Yedidya Meir and Yedidya Meir PAGE 32 PAGE 15 Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Dr.AND YEDIDYAAaron MEIRAdler, PAGE 28 dedicated in loving memory of Conference touch our hearts with offer some inspiring proposes five reasons DedicatedGUIDE in honor of our Parents and Grandparents, b’zechut our AvotSIVAN andPAGE RAHAV Imahot, 34 MEIR words from the soul thoughts for these INSIDE! 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Who Really Initiated Daf Yomi? dedicated in loving memory of hamilton, ontario OF ISRAEL modiin, israel PAGE 30 pinchas kurnedz From your Children and Grandchildren, PAGE 21 sponsored anonymously ז"לPAGE 40 by his children and family To dedicate an edition of HaMizrachi, please email [email protected] shoshana & benji mehler,shayna michal& brad &somer shmuel ∙ somer, akiva, ezra and sponsored anonymously לעילוי נשמות a survivor, a fighter, and a passionate zionist loved and missed by all memphis, tn l’tiferet medinat yisrael our fallen heroes GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

Radical Uncertainty here is something very strange made sense to call Shavuot – the day what it says it is: a hut, a booth, a tem- about the festival of Sukkot. of revelation at – the festival of porary dwelling. What, according to On the one hand, it is the fes- joy. But why give that title to a festival Rabbi Akiva, was the miracle? There Ttival supremely associated with joy. In that commemorates 40 years of expo- is no way of knowing the answer. But the whole Torah, joy is not mentioned sure to the heat, cold, wind and rain. we can guess. at all in relation to Rosh Hashanah, Remembering that, why should we Yom Kippur or Pesach, once in con- feel joy? If a sukkah represents the Clouds of nection with Shavuot and three times Glory – the view of Rabbi Eliezer – Besides which, what was the miracle? in connection with Sukkot. Hence its then it celebrates G-d’s miracle. If Pesach and Shavuot recall miracles. name: zman simchateinu, the festival it represents nothing other than a But traveling through the wilderness of our joy. sukkah itself – Rabbi Akiva’s view – with only temporary homes was nei- then it celebrates the human miracle Yet what it recalls is one of the more ther miraculous nor unique. That is of which Yirmiyahu spoke when he negative elements of the wilderness what people who travel through the said: “Thus said the L-rd, ‘I remember years: “You shall live in booths seven wilderness do. They must. They are the devotion of your youth, how as a days; all citizens in Israel shall live in on a journey. They can only have a bride you loved Me and followed Me booths, so that future generations temporary dwelling. In this respect, in the wilderness, through a land not may know that I made the there was nothing special about the sown’” (Yirmiyahu 2:2). live in booths when I brought them Israelites’ experience. out of the land of Egypt, I the L-rd The Israelites may have complained It was this consideration that led and rebelled. But they followed G-d. your G-d” (Vayikra 23:42-43). 1 Rabbi Eliezer to suggest that the They kept going. Like Avraham and For 40 years, the Israelites lived with- sukkah represents the Clouds of Sarah, they were prepared to journey out permanent homes, often on the Glory, ananei kavod, that accompa- into the unknown. move. They were in the wilderness, nied the Israelites during those years, in no man’s land, where it is hard to sheltering them from heat and cold, If we understand this to be the mir- protecting them from their enemies, know what to expect and what dan- acle, we can infer a deep truth about and guiding them on the way. This is gers lie in wait along the way. The faith itself. Faith is not certainty. Faith a beautiful and imaginative solution people certainly lived under Divine is the courage to live with uncertainty. to the problem. It identifies a miracle protection. But they could never be Almost every phase of was and explains why a festival should be sure in advance whether it would be fraught with difficulties, real or imag- dedicated to remembering it. That is forthcoming and what form this pro- ined. That is what makes the Torah why Rashi and Ramban take it as the tection might take. It was a prolonged so powerful. It does not pretend that plain sense of the verse. period of insecurity. life is any easier than it is. The road is not straight and the journey is long. But it is difficult, nonetheless. A How then are we to understand the sukkah looks nothing like the Clouds Unexpected things happen. Crises fact that of all festivals, Sukkot is of Glory. It would be hard to imagine suddenly appear. It becomes import- called zman simchateinu, the festival anything less like the Clouds of Glory. ant to embed in a people’s memory of our joy? It would have made sense the knowledge that we can handle the to call Pesach – freedom’s birthday Rabbi Akiva dissents from Rabbi unknown. G-d is with us, giving us – the festival of joy. It would have Eliezer’s view and says that a sukkah is the courage we need.

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Each Sukkot it is as if G-d were a roof and yet feel surrounded by We do not know what our health will reminding us: don’t think you need clouds of glory. It is the only people be, what our career or livelihood will solid walls to make you feel safe. I led who can live in a temporary dwelling be, or what will happen to society and your ancestors through the desert so and yet rejoice. to the world. We cannot escape expo- sure to risk. That is what life is. they would never forget the journey 2 they had to make and the obstacles In Radical Uncertainty, the book they had to overcome to get to this recently published by John Kay (econ- The sukkah symbolizes living with Land. He said, “I made the Israelites omist) and Mervyn King (former unpredictability. Sukkot is the festival live in booths when I brought them Governor of the Bank of England), of radical uncertainty. But it places out of the land of Egypt” (Vayikra a distinction is made between risk, it within the framework of a narra- 23:43). In those booths, fragile and which is calculable, and uncertainty, tive, exactly as Kay and King suggest. open to the elements, the Israel- which is not. They argue that people It tells us that though we journey ites learned the courage to live with have relied too much on calculations through a wilderness, we as a people uncertainty. of probability while neglecting the will reach our destination. If we see fact that danger may appear from a life through the eyes of faith, we will Other nations told stories that cel- completely unexpected source. The know we are surrounded by clouds of ebrated their strength. They built sudden appearance of the Coronavi- glory. Amid uncertainty, we will find palaces and castles as expressions of rus proved their point. People knew ourselves able to rejoice. We need no invincibility. The Jewish people were there was a possibility of a pandemic. castles for protection or palaces for different. They carried with them But no one knew what it would be glory. A humble sukkah will do, for a story about the uncertainties and like, where it would come from, how when we sit within it, we sit beneath hazards of history. They spoke of rapidly it would spread, and what toll what the Zohar calls “the shade of their ancestors’ journey through the it would take. faith.” wilderness without homes, houses, protection against the elements. It is More important than the calculation I believe the experience of leaving the a story of spiritual strength, not mili- of probabilities, they say, is under- protection of a house and entering tary strength. standing the situation, answering the the exposure of the sukkah is a way question, “What is going on?”3 This, of taming our fear of the unknown. Sukkot is a testament to the Jewish they say, is never answered by statis- It says: we have been here before. people’s survival. Even if it loses its tics or predictions but rather by nar- We are all travelers on a journey. The Land and is cast again into the wil- rative, by telling a story. Divine Presence is with us. We need derness, it will lose neither heart not be afraid. That is a source of the nor hope. It will remember it spent That is exactly what Sukkot is about. resilience we need in our intercon- its early years as a nation living in a It is a story about uncertainty. It tells nected, hazardous, radically uncertain sukkah, a temporary dwelling exposed us that we can know everything else, world. to the elements. It will know that in but we will never know what tomor- the wilderness, no encampment is row will bring. Time is a journey permanent. It will keep traveling until across a wilderness. 1 Sukkah 11b. once again it reaches the promised 2 John Kay and Mervyn King, Radical Uncer- land: Israel. Home. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, tainty, Street Press, 2020. we pray to be written into the Book of 3 The authors derive this idea from Richard It is no accident that the Jewish Life. On Sukkot, we rejoice because Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, Crown, people is the only one to have sur- we believe we have received a positive 2011. vived 2,000 years of exile and disper- answer to our prayer. But as we turn sion, its identity intact and energy to face the coming year, we acknowl- Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks is Emeritus unabated. It is the only people who edge at the outset that life is fragile, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congre- can live in a shack with leaves as vulnerable in a dozen different ways. gations of the Commonwealth.

| 23 GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski

Why Kohelet on Sukkot?

s a psychiatrist, I was once admirable desires but they do not own skin, when you do chesed, when asked to explain why we read produce happiness. The Talmud says, you have a goal in life of serving G-d Kohelet on Sukkot, the season “No one leaves this world having instead of expecting that G-d should of joy. After all, Kohelet is so terribly A achieved even half of his desires.” fulfill all of your desires. depressing, negating everything as In Kohelet, Shlomo states this clearly. futile and worthless. Shlomo ends Kohelet by saying, “As a king, I was the richest of all. I Sukkot is indeed the season of simcha. did not deny myself any human plea- “In summary, fear G-d and do His However, our concept of simcha is sure. But I found that this too was a mitzvot, because then you will be a flawed. vexation.” mentsch.” Only when one is a mentsch can one be happy. So, reading Kohelet I have heard people say, “If only I It is wonderful to enjoy good things, on Sukkot is most important. We live could get out of debt, I would be but don’t deceive yourself that these happy,” or “If only I had a better job, enjoyments will bring you happiness. in a culture that places self-gratifica- I’d be happy,” or “If only I could get Happiness is achieved when you work tion as a goal in life. Kohelet tells us relief from my arthritis, I’d be happy,” toward becoming what G-d wants you this can never result in simcha. or “If only my daughter would do a to be, a mentsch! , I’d be happy.” The “If onlys” are countless. I’ve been around long What separates a mentsch from ani- enough to see people get what they mals is not his greater intellect. Ani- thought would make them happy, but mals are totally self-absorbed, seeking remain unhappy. their physical pleasures. One cannot be happy if one lives a life of self-ab- Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski is a psychi- Happiness does not depend on com- sorption, seeking pleasure. You are atrist and rabbi, and founder of the Gate- fort or pleasure. They are indeed a mentsch when you get out of your way Rehabilitation Center in Pennsylvania.

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GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Mrs. Shira Smiles

Exalted Entourage here is a well-known custom of bond between the physical and the Sukkot is called z’man simchateinu, inviting seven special guests, spiritual. The clouds, like the sukkah, the season of our joy, for it is the seven shepherds of our nation, are a temporary manifestation of only holiday the Torah commands us Tinto our sukkot, one on each night of G-d’s presence, and we can achieve multiple times to be joyous. Otzrot Sukkot. According to the Zohar, each that state through our service to HaTorah cites the Zohar who picks of these precious shepherds – Avra- Him. The ultimate bond, however, is up on this nomenclature. Every time ham, Yitzchak, Ya’akov, Yosef, Moshe, achieved in the World to Come, from we celebrate a simcha, we are joined Aharon and David – is considered a where our guests have come to visit by our parents, and G-d brings the day to which the holiday is dedicated, us on this holiday. When we sit in the departed souls of the previous gen- and all of Israel then joins them. sukkah, we are basking in the joy of erations to celebrate with us. How can we acknowledge their presence Do these shepherds actually come to being in G-d’s presence. Therefore, if as our guests? By inviting the poor to grace our sukkot as guests? How do one experiences discomfort while in our sukkah or giving them financial, we incorporate that concept to impact the sukkah, one is exempt from sit- spiritual or emotional support we are our celebration? And why do we invite ting there, while one should attempt taking what we would otherwise offer these special guests on Sukkot rather to “live” in the sukkah, catching up on these guests and giving it to others. than on Pesach, the other seven-day one’s reading and in this If you keep your celebration focused holiday? holy environment. only on yourselves, the ushpizin want The Otzrot HaTorah, citing the According to the Netivot Shalom, no part of it and leave. After all, the Shelah HaKadosh, writes that with while the covenant between Hashem whole concept of ushpizin is inviting such exalted guests, we must practice and Bnei Yisrael was originally forged guests. Your spiritual high must be decorum in the sukkah, and keep our at Sinai and the Clouds of Glory sur- grounded in reality and must include speech Torah-based so our guests rounded us at that time, that covenant those less fortunate. It is, after all, will feel comfortable. The Belzer is renewed every year when the world Chag HaAsif, the holiday of gathering Rebbe adds that the great wives of is recreated on Rosh Hashanah. Then the wheat, but the gathering should also include gathering people together these leaders accompany them too. we can again draw His presence down in joy. The Netivot Shalom notes they have to us as we try to repair the world come from Gan Eden, a place of total anew. spirituality, to visit us on this phys- Let us make our special guests feel welcome. Make each one the center ical earth. That is one of the reasons Each of these leaders renewed some- of the conversation of the night ded- why they can only come to a tempo- thing in the world. Each year, as the icated to him. The point of Sukkot is rary abode like the sukkah. While world is being recreated, we draw to give hope to people, for just as the the walls of our permanent homes upon these characteristics to help absorb all the improper speech and Clouds of Glory surrounded us in the us repair the world, and we ask that desert, so does G-d’s presence sur- untoward behavior of the entire year these seven come down and impart (says the Minchat Michael), the walls round us throughout our lives, and their energies to us as individuals so He sends down some majestic men- of the sukkah are inherently holy, we can work on our mission as G-d’s and the s’chach is the shade of G-d’s tors and role models to help us on our nation. We do not need their help on protection. journey. Pesach, but on Sukkot, when we’ve The walls of the sukkah represent the just started rebuilding the world, we Clouds of Glory that surrounded us can use their help with chesed and Mrs. Shira Smiles is a sought-after interna- at Sinai and then descended on the gevura and all the other traits they tional lecturer, a popular seminary teacher, Mishkan. As such, they represent the embody. and an experienced curriculum developer.

26 | GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel

Eternity Within the Moment1

ransience is at the heart of Our parents said, “Before you blink, stuff it into our pocket. Because just the sukkah experience. The you already have grandchildren,” as it is sublime, it is also fleeting, need to feel it’s not a perma- and before we know it, we’ll find temporary, ungraspable. Every brief Tnent home influenced a multitude of ourselves saying similar things to blossom, every autumn leaf, every halachic discussions: its maximum our children. When we raised our sunset… arouses yearning, longing, and minimum height, the materials first son, every stage seemed like almost distress. For it lives forever it can be made from, the obligation an eternity. We couldn’t imagine his in the passing moment (if we plant it of a mezuzah, and many others. teeth would ever come through. We within us), and then… it’s gone! When you live in an impromptu hut, bought baby clothes very carefully Are “fleeting days” empty days, with you remember the trials of the wil- without understanding that at those no hope or expectation? No! Don’t derness and the wondrous Divine sizes they’d last a day and a half. as futile! We were not ֲה ֵבל interpret Providence that protected us along From child to child we internalize given days of futility to waste away the way. that babyhood just whooshes by. That we need to take in the smell on this earth, for what was the because in another moment it won’t reason to invest in love if our days ּ ֵ ת שׁ ְ ב ּו A major principle of Sukkot is :dwell in the sukkah as be the same… are nonsensical? Kohelet tells us – ְּכ ֵעין ָּת ּדו ּרו you would in your own home. This treasure the days we have together, is why we drag our beloved sofa out When Rabbi Yochanan finds Rabbi because life is temporary, and hence into the yard, eat our meals outside Elazar crying on his deathbed so valuable. Fill your days with love and sleep in the sukkah as well. (Berachot 5b), he asks him why he and good… “enjoy life”! is so distraught. For the Torah, you We make a huge effort to feel didn’t learn? For your livelihood? We are permanent tenants in our permanent within the temporary. For losing children? And Rabbi temporary sukkah. Through that, To dwell in the truth, within the Elazar answers, “I’ll manage without we understand nothing is really passing moment. everything you asked about. But permanent. your incredible beauty, Rabbi Yet even when we return into our – ֲה ֵבל ֲה ָב ִלים ָא ַמר ֶקֹה ֶלת... ַה ּכֹל ָֽה ֶבל ֵּתשׁ ְ ּבו ְּכ ֵעין Yochanan, that like us all will “Futility of futilities said Kohelet… homes we can still observe ָּת ּדו ּרו decompose and turn to dust, for everything is futile (Kohelet 1:2). . We can experience the total that I cry!” And Rabbi Yochanan beauty of the moment… of every variously translated) ָֽהֶבל The word shocks us with his reply: “For moment, while it lasts. We can as futility, emptiness, vapor) appears that indeed you should cry!” And appreciate and value all the good in no fewer than 38 times in Megillat they both wept, over the fleeting our personal, family and communal Kohelet. However, none of those nature of beauty and the death that lives. And we can remember the translations are accurate for the overcomes us all. sukkot in the desert and realize meaning of the word here. When we stand before a stunning the abundance and goodness we Transience. Everything is transient. sunrise or sunset, we are awestruck. are enjoying here and now in Eretz Everything will pass. Everything Something about that beauty strokes Yisrael. ends and moves on. It’s neither good eternity, stems from eternity. Such nor bad. Neither judgmental nor an abundance of beauty is beyond negative. It’s a fundamental truth us. So we do our best to bathe in 1 Adapted from Rabbanit Fraenkel’s “The Pre- ciousness of Transience” (HaMizrachi 5779). Shlomo HaMelech lays down at the the pleasure because it’s going to outset of his book: our lives on earth disappear any second. We snap a are finite. Short-lived. Nothing lasts photo but sense how pathetic that is. Rabbanit Rachelle Fraenkel teaches Torah forever, and certainly not us. We can’t just fold this splendor and at midrashot in Israel.

| 27 Etrogim The Magic and Mystery

trogim were extensively cultivated in the Holy Land Greek Etrog at the time of the , and images of etrogim are found at many archaeological sites of that The Greek citron was also called pitima, or E the cedro col pigolo (“citron with a pitom”), era, including mosaics at the Maon , Beth Alpha Synagogue, and Hamat Tiberias Synagogue. The etrog is also because of its usually persisting pitom (carpel). found on numerous Bar Kochba coins. The following description is from the After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, exiled Jews planted citron Nurenbergische Hesperides (2nd Volume; 8th Chap.) by orchards wherever the climate allowed: in Southern Europe Johann Christoph Volkamer, titled “About the Cedro col (Spain, Greece, and Italy) as well as in North Africa and Asia Pigolo.” He was growing that kind in his botanical garden in Minor. Jews who settled north of the warmer citron-growing Nuremberg, and writes that it can also be called the “Jewish areas depended on imported etrogim, which caused much Citron,” since it is mostly used for the Four Species. anxiety given the dangers and uncertainties of sea travel. By “This tree does not become particularly big. The leaves are the 17th century, some of the most popular sources for etrogim smaller than those of other citrons, and serrated, oblong, were the islands of Corsica and Corfu. pointed towards the front, mixed with many thorns. The bloom is small and reddish from outside. The fruit blossoms Since the late 1850s, the Fruit of the Goodly Tree Association in are not less oblong from the beginning, appearing as reddish Palestine represented etrog farmers who marketed their crops and dark-green; thereafter they turn entirely green, and when to Jews in Europe. Some Jewish communities still preferred they ripen, straw-yellow, remaining, however, rather small all citrons from Italy, Greece, Morocco, or Yemen, but many Jews the time and never growing to a proper size, like other kinds seeking citrons turned back to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. of citron.”

Diamante Etrog Balady Etrog The Cedro diamante is a cultivar of citron that grows in the citron coast, located in the The balady citron is a variety of etrog, grown province of Cosenza, Calabria, on the south- in Israel, mostly for Jewish ritual purposes. western coast of Italy, which is its most known Not native to the region, it was imported around 500 or 300 BCE by either Jewish or Greek cultivation point. settlers. Many religious Jews call it Yanova Esrog (Genoa citron), During the 1800s, the Balady was grown on the outskirts of because of its long association with the trading port of Genoa in Nablus, Nazareth, Tiberias, and Alma al-Shaib, in Umm northern Italy, from where it was exported to other countries. al-Fahm and in Lifta village near Jerusalem. In the 1870s, Genoa was known to supply citron for the Jews since the Rabbi Chaim Elozor Wax devoted himself to its cultivation times of the Tosafists, along with surrounding municipalities and organized shipments to Europe. Sanremo, Bordighera, and the rest of Liguria. Most adherent to the diamante variety of Calabria are still the sect, He felt the Balady citron had the strongest traditional lineage whose late Rabbis were always in support of this traditional of pureness of species, and claimed it was to be found in the variety, even claiming by virtue of a legend that Moshe himself wild when Ramban arrived in the county. He wrote many obtained his etrog from this location. Among the other Hasidic letters to the rabbis hoping to influence the diaspora to use sects, it is most used by the Satmars. the Balady citron.

28 | Balady citron varieties are still grown and sold today in the Yemenite Etrog Diaspora as well as in Israel and are favored by the followers of the Brisker and the Chazon Ish. The Yemenite citron is a distinct variety of citron, usually containing no juice vesicles in its fruit segments. The bearing tree and the mature fruit’s size are somewhat larger than the Moroccan Etrog trees and fruit of other varieties of citron.

The Moroccan citron is a true citron variety Etrog haCushi is mentioned in the Mishnah as well as in both the Babylonian (Sukkah 36a) and the native to Assads, Morocco, which is still today (Sukkah 3:6). The most common interpretation is that the its main center of cultivation. It was described Biblical Cush refers to Ethiopia and therefore Etrog haCushi by the Moroccan professor, Henri Chapot, as being a sweet should also refer to something which could be called the citron, meaning its pulp is low in acid. Ethiopian citron. The Ethiopian Jews did not observe the mitzvah of the Four Species, even though they did anticipate The exact date when the variety came into use for the etrog the Sukkot festival. This may have been due to their lack of is unknown. According to local Jewry, it has been with them ability to procure the species. Some believe this is due to some since they were exiled to Morocco after the destruction of Karaite influence, whose biblical interpretation indicates the the Second Temple. From then on it was highly revered by Four Species are only used as roofing for a sukkah (s’chach), all the rabbis and communities of North Africa, without any and not for a separate waving ritual. However, the Yemenite interruption or controversy. citron is available in Ethiopia and its markets, where it is sold for consumption. According to Erich Isaac, the late researcher of citrus distribution, the Yemenite citron is synonymous with the Ethiopian citron, as a result of Ethiopian rule in Yemen in the past.

Did You Know?

• Eating the etrog or etrog jam is considered a segula • In Panama, citron leaves are ground up and (efficacious remedy) for a woman to have an easy combined with other ingredients and given as an childbirth. antidote for poison. • The etrog is also called “Adam’s apple,” or “paradise • The heaviest etrog recorded weighed 7.5 kilo (16.5 lbs). apple,” and is one of the suggested candidates for • Known botanically as citrus medica, the etrog has the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. been used as a remedy for seasickness, muscular pain and skin disease. • Today Israel is the world’s leading supplier of etrogim for Sukkot, and most Jewish communities worldwide • In India, the etrog peel is eaten to overcome bad pride themselves in using the holy fruit from the breath. Holy Land.

| 29 HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Ronen Neuwirth

“If I’m Here, Everything is Here” REFLECTIONS ON Z’MAN SIMCHATEINU

ukkot is defined as Z’man Sim- Megillat Kohelet (), which happiness and our sense of security chateinu, the season of our we read on Sukkot: “For to a man comes from within us and not from rejoicing. Nevertheless, it is who is good in His sight, He has given any external factor. That is why “being Shard to imagine true and authentic wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to here” was everything for Hillel. rejoicing while many of us are living the sinner He has given an occupation under lockdown, in quarantine, or to gather and to accumulate” (2:26). We tend to think of our brick homes apart from our families. I wish to King Solomon’s frustration relates as providing us with a sense of safety highlight a special aspect of Sukkot to his inability to find happiness in and belonging. But in truth, as long that might help us experience Z’man all his endless assets, possessions as our safety depends on external Simchateinu on a more profound level and properties. He was the richest of factors, we will remain inherently this year. kings, but it did not give him a sense insecure and unhappy. Our careers, of security and joy. He says: “I built expertise, accomplishments and The pinnacle of the festivities during myself houses, and I planted myself assets do not define who we are. It is the era of the Beit HaMikdash was vineyards. I made myself gardens our deeper purpose in the world that Simchat Beit HaShoeva, the Rejoic- and orchards, and I planted in them brings meaning to our lives and gives ing of the Water-Drawing House. The all sorts of fruit trees. I made myself us the sense we belong here. Rabbis tell us: “One who has not seen pools of water to irrigate a forest the Simchat Beit HaShoeva has never sprouting with trees… I had posses- Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook writes: seen rejoicing in their life.” (Mishnah, sions of cattle and flocks, more than “I must find my happiness within Sukkah 5:1) The Rabbis asked and all who were before me in Jerusalem. I myself, not from social acceptance, answered: “Why is it referred to as accumulated for myself also silver and not from my career nor anything ‘Beit HaShoeva’? Because from there gold, and the treasures of the kings else. The more I will know myself, they draw the Holy Spirit, as it states and the provinces” (2:4–8). After the more I allow myself to be original (Yeshayahu 12:3), ‘You will draw water years of accumulating and gathering, and stand on my own – with an inner in joy from the springs of salvation’” he realizes it is all in vain because awareness combined with wisdom, (Talmud Yerushalmi, Sukkah 22b). nothing external can make him happy emotion, poetry – the more the light in this world: “Then I turned [to look] of G-d will enlighten me and the more Among the stories in the Talmud at all my deeds that my hands had my strengths will evolve to become a about this event is this puzzling state- wrought and upon the toil that I had blessing to me and the world” (Arpilei ment: “When Hillel the Elder was toiled to do, and behold everything is Tohar, p31). rejoicing at the Simchat Beit HaSho- vanity and frustration, and there is no True happiness is not defined by eva, he said this: If I’m here, every- profit under the sun” (2:11). thing is here, and if I’m not here, our social strata. It is not achieved who is here?” (Sukkah 53a). How can According to Kohelet, the “sinner” through the acquisition of wealth, nor Hillel, our role model for humility, is the person who misses out on life. is it a result of any pleasurable experi- have said something that sounds so He is the one who is obsessively occu- ence. True happiness is based on the arrogant? pied with gathering and accumulat- courage to present who we truly are. ing wealth. The person who finds joy That is why there is no more appro- The explanation can be found in and happiness is the one who has the priate timing to learn the message one of the most profound lessons of wisdom and the courage to realize our of Kohelet than on Sukkot. This was

30 | HOLIDAY READING

our historical harvest festival – Chag resilience from within. The Midrash perhaps Sukkot can give us an oppor- HaAsif – when the farmers, having in Bereshit Rabbah (1:14) explains the tunity to recalibrate our lives accord- gathered all the produce of their meaning of this verse: “For it is not an ing to Hillel’s teaching. While most fields, estimated the annual revenue empty thing for you, for it is your life” external factors are beyond our con- if trol, we still have the ability to work – אם ריק, מכם הוא :(of their business. It is specifically at (Devarim 32:47 this time of ingathering and assess- your life feels empty, it is because of on our personal growth, practicing ment we were told to move out of our your inner emptiness!” authenticity and self-compassion, and comfort zone and into the sukkah. Sit- developing the muscles of resilience The Holy Spirit drawn from the ting in the most fragile possible dwell- and belonging. ing under the shade of the s’chach, waters of the Beit HaShoeva was our which symbolizes the Shechina own spirit, empowered and inspired Especially this year, Sukkot is our (Divine Presence), teaches us to lend by G-d. Only when we dare to believe opportunity to recognize our most meaning and purpose to all we have in ourselves, and in the spark of holi- authentic place in the world. When accumulated. ness within our souls, can we attain we pick up the Arba Minim, we say: the level of authentic, internal and “Let it be recognized that I am called In her book, Gifts of Imperfection, everlasting happiness. These waters of by the Name of Hashem.” The Sfat Brené Brown writes: “Often people the Beit HaShoeva served as a mirror Emet explained this verse by saying: attempt to live their lives backward: to help us reflect on our inner spiri- “The wisdom (’at) that descends they try to have more things, or more tual strength, which is the root of our on us on Sukkot lies within our ability money, in order to do more of what security and resilience, and for that to recognize our unique place in the they want so that they will be hap- reason, Hillel exclaimed: “If I’m here, world” (Sukkot 5657). pier. The way it actually works is the everything is here, and if I’m not here, reverse. You must first be who you who is here?” Do we have the courage to leverage really are, then do what you really the challenges of COVID-19 to find Our challenge this year is to develop a need to do, in order to have what you our inner resilience and happiness? want.” On Sukkot, we stop living our true inner joy based not on our exter- lives backward. We realize that in nal assets but rather on our faith and “[Hillel] used to say: If I am not for order to find true joy, we need to be inner resilience. During the past few me, who will be for me? And when I our most authentic selves, and define months, many of us have experienced am for myself alone, what am I? And ourselves without any external factors a feeling that our world is collaps- if not now, then when?” (Avot 1:14) or conditions. ing. We have experienced enormous uncertainty, financial challenges, Sometimes, when we feel empty or lockdown, illness, and the loss of dear depressed, we tend to attribute it to relatives and friends. The pandemic the many challenges and hardships has shut down everything that usu- we believe are unresolved in our lives. ally provides us with a sense of secu- Rav Ronen Neuwirth, formerly Rav of the In truth, the core reason for our feel- rity and happiness. The loneliness Ohel Ari Congregation in Ra’anana, is author ings of worthlessness emanates from of social distancing has affected our of “The Narrow Halakhic Bridge: A Vision our inability to love ourselves, to have sense of belonging, which is an acute of Jewish Law in the Post-Modern Age,” self-compassion and to find the true and primal emotional need. This year, published in May by Urim Publications.

| 31 HOLIDAY READING

Rabbanit Sally Mayer

Why the Eighth Day?

ow many days is Sukkot? The beloved nation for just a small meal a holiday purely for the Jewish people, Torah describes it as a seven– to enjoy. The Midrash in Bamidbar after the universal holiday of Sukkot, day holiday (Vayikra 23, Bam- Rabbah slightly modifies this: G-d is we can understand why it warrants its Hidbar 29, Devarim 16), and yet the like a king who invites all his subjects own . However, as Rashi to a seven-day feast, and afterward writes, if Shemini Atzeret is an added , ֲע ֶצֶרת pesukim add an eighth day as an literally “stopping” or “gathering.” says to his most beloved servant, “Let day to Sukkot, just to stay a bit longer, What is the nature of this eighth day? us enjoy whatever you can find, a bit why is that considered a new holiday? Why is Sukkot described as lasting of meat, fish, or vegetables.” Accord- Isn’t it just a continuation of the pre- seven days, if it actually lasts eight? ing to this idea, Sukkot is a universal vious seven days? holiday while Shemini Atzeret is only Indeed, Talmudic Sages debate for the Jewish people. A modest holi- Perhaps the nature of Shemini Atzeret whether we say the beracha of she- day just to celebrate G-d’s special rela- is exactly that. It’s a day that celebrates hecheyanu on Shemini Atzeret tionship with His beloved people. our unique, emotional relationship with (Sukkah 47b). The Gemara concludes G-d, in that He loves us and does not we do say it because Shemini Atzeret Rashi (Vayikra 23:36) cites the follow- want to see us go. It actually is a sepa- is considered its own holiday in sev- ing: “I have stopped you with Me, like rate day – a day that celebrates our close eral different respects. a king who invited his sons to a meal bond with G-d as His chosen, beloved -highlights a dif ָקשׁ ֶ ה ָע ַלי ְּפֵר ַד ְת ֶכם .for a certain number of days. When the people In Pesikta deRav Kahana (28), Rav Alex- time came to part, he asked his chil- andri says that by using extra letters in ferent quality to our relationship with dren, ‘Please stay with me one more day, G-d, one not previously emphasized. -your departure is dif – ָקשׁ ֶ ה ָע ַלי ְּפֵר ַד ְת ֶכם the pesukim regarding the sacrifices of 1 each day of Sukkot, G-d hints to Am ficult for me.’” All of Sukkot is a holiday Hence it does not simply add a day to Yisrael to pray for rain. After Sukkot for G-d to enjoy with His children, the Sukkot, but creates a unique day, one passes and we still have not taken the Jewish people. But as we find when we that deserves its own shehecheyanu, hint, G-d gives us a whole day just to say goodbye to our own children, it’s so we can focus on feeling that close- pray for rain. The special prayer for hard to see them go – so Hashem adds ness to G-d, which will keep us going ּ ְ ת ִ פ ַ ּ ל ת ַה ֶ ּ ג שׁ ֶ ם rain, , is in fact recited on Shemini Atzeret because it’s so difficult in the winter months ahead. Shemini Atzeret. According to this for Him to see us go after Sukkot. view, Shemini Atzeret amplifies a theme latent during Sukkot, and that theme Let us now return to our original 1 In Bamidbar 29:29, 33, there are three words moves to center stage on the eighth day. question as debated by the : the Midrash identifies as having extra letters: Those extra letters .ונסכיהם, ונסכיה, כמשפטם Should we recite shehecheyanu on מ-י-מ What are the Sukkot sacrifices? On Shemini Atzeret or not? If its main spell , water. each day, we offer bulls on the miz- theme is to pray for rain – which we beach — 13 on the first day, 12 on theoretically should have done on the second, 11 on the third, and so Sukkot – it is debatable whether it on. But then the breaks – we warrants its own shehecheyanu. One offer seven bulls on the seventh day could argue that no new blessing is of Sukkot, but just one on Shemini necessary, since rain is a theme that Atzeret. Why? Rabbi Elazar explains exists on Sukkot through the pour- that the 70 bulls offered over Sukkot ing of the water on the altar and the correspond to the 70 nations of the hints to pray for rain throughout world, one offered on behalf of each those days. On the other hand, rain Rabbanit Sally Mayer serves as Rosh nation. Shemini Atzeret’s sacrifice, of is emphasized more prominently on at Ohr Torah Stone’s Midreshet one bull, symbolizes G-d’s asking His Shemini Atzeret. If Shemini Atzeret is Lindenbaum.

32 | HOLIDAY READING

Mrs. Michal Horowitz

The Special Joy of Sukkot

e are uniquely commanded (Devarim 33:27). The only home Hence, we deduce from here that the to be beSimcha, to rejoice where man can find security is in the mitzvah of simchat yomtov on Sukkot and to be happy on Chag Ribono Shel Olam, the Master of the is greater than the mitzvah of taking WHaSukkot. When the sukkah goes up, World.”1 the Arba Minim! the decorations adorn its walls, and we eagerly move from our permanent It is this visceral feeling of dwelling As the world around us today is residence to our temporary one, we with G-d that leads to the simcha of storming, and life for our nation and are enveloped by a natural feeling of Sukkot. our Land is not easy during turbu- excitement and joy. The feelings of lent times, it is an avodah we must warmth that permeate our homes and “You shall make the festival of Sukkot all engage in: imbuing the midda of hearts are specific to this festival. for a seven day period, when you simcha, and the ability to rejoice, into gather in from your threshing floor our very selves. Sukkot reminds us of the Clouds of and from your wine pit, And you shall Glory in which G-d ensconced us rejoice on your festival… A seven day Rabbi Avraham Pam taught that, when we left Egypt (Vayikra 23:43), period shall you celebrate to Hashem, “Helping others is the formula for a and the protection He provides to us your G-d... and you shall be only life of simcha. The theme of Sukkot in each and every generation. This is that one must leave his permanent joyous” (Devarim 16:13-15). protection reminds us that our true dwelling – his own mind – and settle security lies not in the walls of our Only in regard to Sukkot are we com- in a temporary dwelling – thinking homes of bricks and stone, but in the manded to not only rejoice but to of the needs of others. In doing so, embrace of G-d’s love for us. doubly rejoice! Elsewhere, in regard he will find contentment in his own to Sukkot, the Torah commands us life and will enjoy a year-round zman 2 Sukkot reminds regarding the mitzvah objects of the simchateinu.” “” us of the Clouds of chag: When we live with the knowledge Glory in which G-d “And you shall take for yourselves that G-d is of our simcha, and we care for others as we have ensconced us when on the first day the fruit of a tree of splendor, fronds of date palms, and been commanded (Devarim 16:14, we left Egypt, and branches of a cordlike tree, and brook as quoted above), we will truly merit a Sukkot of unbridled, pure and holy the protection He ; and you shall rejoice before joy! provides to us in each Hashem, your G-d, for a seven-day and every generation. period” (Vayikra 23:40). From this pasuk, Rav Elimelech Bie- 1 Chumash Masoret HaRav Shemot p.224-225. derman learns an important and 2 Rav Pam on the Festivals, , p.55. Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik teaches that “Man is basically a homeless being. beautiful insight. The mitzvah deO- No matter how large and opulent his raita (Biblically ordained command- home, he is exposed. He is subject ment) to take the Four Species on to the vicissitudes of life, subject to Sukkot is a mitzvah only for the first nature – which at best is indifferent day of the chag: “and you shall take for to man, at worst is hostile – and sub- yourselves on the first day…” However, ject to an inscrutable future. There the mitzvah deOraita to be beSimcha, is only one home where man gains to rejoice and be only happy, is a mitz- Mrs. Michal Horowitz teaches Judaic .an abode vah for all seven days of the chag! Studies classes to adults of all ages ,מעונה security: G-d is called

| 33 HOLIDAY READING

Dr. Deena Zimmerman

Hiding in the Sukkah

or the last month, since the The Ibn Ezra states it is Jerusalem, Hiding and concealing are also beginning of Elul, we have been based on the verse “and His sukkah concepts with dual meaning. will be in Shalem (one of the names Both sins such as idol worship ְלָדִוד ה' ִאוֹרי – reciting Psalm 27 on a daily basis. We will con- of Jerusalem) and His dwelling in (see Devarim 13:7 and 27:15) and – ְוִיְשִׁעיF tinue to do so until Shemini Atzeret Zion” (Psalms 76:3). Rashi narrows actions of which one is ashamed are the very end of the Sukkot holiday. the area down specifically to the Beit associated with hiding (see Devarim The practice first appeared in the HaMikdash. He ties it to a historical 27:24). On the other hand, a hidden prayer book of Rabbi Marskov, a disci- event, where Yoash, the son of place is described as the dwelling ple of the Ba’al Shem Tov and in hala- Achaziah, was in fact hidden in the place of Hashem (Psalms 91:1). chic works such as the Mateh Ephraim Temple for six years to save him from by Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Margulies the wrath of Atalia, the queen who Such double meaning is appropriate (1762-1828). succeeded in killing the remaining for such confusing times. Perhaps we can learn from them that all things Elements of this psalm are reminis- royal children. Other commentaries cent of the themes of this time of the look at the phrase as a more general that seem bad may, perhaps, have year. For example, the Midrash (Tehil- one referring to G-d’s protection, a good side to them. Alongside the lim 27:4) writes: “Our Sages have similar to the opinion of Rabbi damage of this pandemic to lives and explained the verse as related to Rosh Eliezer (Sukkah 11b and codified in livelihoods, there have been areas my the ) as to why we sit of growth as well. And even if the) א וֹ ִר י .Hashanah and Yom Kippur light) – on Rosh Hashanah which is in sukkot, i.e. to remind us of G-d’s situation is truly bad, G-d is there the Day of Judgement as it states “and protection via the “clouds of glory” to protect us from it being even let your justice and judgment shine (ananei haKavod). worse. Therefore, the image of G-d forth like the midday sun” (Psalms protecting us during such troubling 37:6), that He will save us and forgive When does G-d conceal us in His times is one worth repeating twice A simple translation daily as we approach the holiday . ְ ּב י וֹ ם ָר ָע ה ?my salvation) on Yom sukkah) ִיְשִׁעי us, and Kippur, that He will save us and for- would be “on a bad day,” but it can of Sukkot. If this Sukkot we will be give all our sins. also mean a day of bad as in a “day of “hiding” in our sukkah with just our trouble.” I feel it is likely that over the immediate family, may we hope that Yet another hint is found in the last six months, people have felt it is mention of “sukkah” in verse five: “For next year we can all celebrate in G-d’s after another in light of the י וֹ ם ָר ָע ה one on the day of trouble He will conceal Sukkah of Jerusalem and the Beit ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. How- me in His sukkah; He will hide me in HaMikdash. ever, in Yirmiyahu (17:17–18, 51:2), the shelter of His tent and set me high the phrase has a positive connotation. upon a rock.” It is when punishment will be brought Dr. Deena Zimmerman is a pediatrician Let us look at this verse in greater down on evildoers and thus it is actu- and Director of yoatzot.org, a website for detail. First of all, what is this sukkah? ally a good day if you are righteous. women’s health and halacha.

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Rabbi Zev Leff

The Blessing of Self-Knowledge

he Sages tell us that Ya’akov Talmud (Megillah) as to whether the so for having been informed he was cre- wished to reveal the keitz, the provinces of Hodu and Kush were at ated in G-d’s image.” Self-knowledge time of the final redemption, to opposite ends of the world, or right next of one’s abilities and talents, as well as This sons, but it was concealed from him. to each other. The Vilna explains one’s shortcomings and limitations, is So he blessed them instead. that both are true, for any two points on the greatest blessing. It enables us to a globe that are next to each other when realize our Divine mission in this world. The Midrash gives the following anal- traveling eastward are at opposite ends Ya’akov realized the ultimate redemp- ogy. A confidant of the king was dying of the world when traveling westward. tion depended on the development of and called his children to his bedside Hence if a point on the globe is only his sons’ potential. Rather than reveal to reveal the royal secrets the king had seen as a point, it is insignificant, but the deadline for redemption, he opted confided to him. As he was about to if it is seen as the beginning of a far-off to bless them with self-knowledge that begin, he saw that the king too was end, it encompasses an entire world. standing at his bedside. Instead of his could help them bring the redemption intended message, he immediately sub- Talents, abilities and capabilities are at a much earlier date. In this vein, stituted an exhortation to his children points of potential. But if they remain knowledge of the capabilities they pos- to be careful to honor the king prop- an end in themselves, they are insig- sessed was itself a blessing. erly. Similarly, Ya’akov wished to reveal nificant points. The soul cries for the The Midrash relates that every person the secrets of Mashiach, but saw the failure of these points to grow and tra- has various names: the one G-d gives Shechina at his bedside and substituted verse entire worlds. him, that which his parents give him, the blessings out of embarrassment. The development and perfection of this the name he is called by his friends, and This Midrash seems to imply that world depend on the realization of each above all the one he earns for himself. Everyone is endowed with a variety of Ya’akov did not forget the keitz but Jew’s individual potential. It is in this talents and skills. Some are directly simply suppressed it due to embarrass- perspective that the world was created endowed by Heaven. Some are the ment. Further, how do Ya’akov’s bless- for the names of the Jewish people. result of heredity and environment. But ings compare to an exhortation to obey the most significant are those that come the king and honor him? The confidant reflected that if he told his children the king’s mysteries, they by virtue of developing and actualizing The Talmud (Yoma 20b) says that prior would know this information only sec- one’s potential. to death, the soul gives a scream that ondhand. But if he could inspire them As we end the Torah, may we strengthen is heard from one end of the world to to be careful in honoring the king, they ourselves to develop the unique poten- the other. Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin would merit to become confidants of tial inherent in our names for the fur- explains that before one passes from the king themselves and hear his secrets therance and enhancement of Torah this world, G-d shows him a picture of firsthand. Similarly, Ya’akov wished to and the Jewish people, and thereby what he could have been had he devel- reveal the keitz to his children. But bring the Final Redemption speedily oped all his potential and contrasts it after realizing their inherent potential, in our days. to what he actually achieved. When the he chose to impart to them that which soul sees the chasm between these two would obviate the keitz and bring the images, it screams. redemption closer.

Why is that scream described as going The greatest blessing one can bestow is “from one end of the world to the other to enlighten another and acquaint him end,” and not “from the beginning of with himself. The Mishnah (Avot 3:18) the world to the end”? There is a dis- says: “Man is precious, having been Rabbi Zev Leff serves as the Rav of Moshav pute between Rav and Shmuel in the created in G-d’s image, and even more Matityahu.

36 | HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Zev Leff Rabbi Berel Wein

Starting Over

he completion of any signifi- with all siyum ceremonies, in which the as Moshe’s words and ideals still live cant portion of Torah learning completion of one tractate immediately amongst the Jewish people there is great is always an occasion for cele- leads to the beginning of the study of reason to rejoice. It means we have not Tbration. Any siyum (completion of a another one. lost our way and the eternity of Moshe tractate of Talmud or Mishna) is usually and Israel is guaranteed. The nations of accompanied by a festive meal to com- the world resent the fact we still have memorate the happy event. There is a a chance to rejoice or attempt to live great sense of satisfaction and accom- normal productive lives under terrible plishment at having seen a difficult duress and distress. intellectual and time-consuming task to its successful conclusion. Simchat Torah comes to teach us that Therefore, it is naturally understand- we should rejoice when we are able to able that the occasion of our completing do so and celebrate our existence and the annual cycle of Torah readings with accomplishments even if things are the reading of Vezot HaBracha on the not exactly as we would wish them final day of Sukkot makes it the most to be. Completing the joyful day of the entire magnificent is a matter of perseverance, as is all of holiday season. Simchat Torah affirms Jewish life. our faith in Jewish continuity and our unshakable belief in the Divinity of the The Torah’s description of Moshe’s Torah Moshe brought down to Israel death is meant to impress us with the from Mount Sinai. fact that is not the cult of the personality. Even when Moshe, the It is the holiday basically created by the greatest ever Jew ever, dies and leaves Jewish people itself, replete with cus- us bereft and alone, we are not to overly toms and nuances developed over the mourn and certainly not to despair. ages that have hardened into accepted However, despite the elation, the Torah practice and ritual. Here in Israel, ends on an apparently sad note, poi- We may yet continue to rejoice because where Simchat Torah and Shemini gnantly describing the death of our the eternal Torah is still present within Atzeret occur on the same day, Sim- great teacher Moshe. He will never us with great vigor and vitality. As far chat Torah, the folk holiday, has almost enter the Land of Israel but will only as we are concerned, the game is never pushed Shemini Atzeret, the Biblical be able to glimpse it from afar. The gen- over. We suffer and fall but we are never and halachic holiday, aside in thought eration he shepherded for 40 years has defeated. That is the power the Torah and practice. passed away, his sons will not inherit grants us. It is the source of our great his position or power, and with his joy in celebrating the completion and This is a practical example of how great gift of prophecy, he is aware of the simultaneous beginning of the reading sometimes Jewish custom based upon terrible problems his beloved people intense love of and attachment to Torah of Israel must yet face and overcome of the Torah this year. So be it for all of overwhelms the Torah ritual itself. through their long journey of history the years yet to come. What makes Simchat Torah so special and destiny. is the fact we begin to read immediately from the beginning of the Torah again, Nevertheless, the joy of the presence of Rabbi Berel Wein is Senior Rabbi of Beit symbolizing no gaps in our study or our the Torah within our nation overcomes HaNassi in Jerusalem and Director devotion to it. This is usually the case these feelings of melancholy. As long of the Destiny Foundation.

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Rabbi Ari Kahn

Liminality

ne of the qualities of our post- cross the threshold into a completely Perhaps the sukkah is the antithesis of modern world is the constant new reality as a nation in its own land. the postmodern state of liminality: We state of flux. Things move Moshe’s speech begins with what we are commanded to create boundaries, Orapidly. People and ideas change. Old may call spiritual geopolitics: G-d cre- to mark off both physical and philo- accepted concepts are challenged, ated clearly defined borders for the sophical borders. There are absolutes, rejected, transformed and reinter- nations of the world, affording each its and we are commanded to acknowledge preted. It is a world in which boundar- own space – but this overarching divi- and respect them. Common wisdom ies have disappeared. Social scientists sion reflects something particular to understands that children need rules in might describe our postmodern exis- the descendants of Ya’akov. In Bereishit order to thrive and to make sense of the tence as a state of constant liminality: (Chapter 46), the Torah tells us the sum world around them; this is no less true we are consciously, constantly, on the total of Ya’akov’s family that migrated to of adults. We need borders and bound- threshold of a new reality.1 Egypt during the great famine was 70. aries. Not everything is negotiable, Corresponding to this number, Jewish What does all this have to do with our subject to subjective reinterpretation. tradition refers to the totality of human- religious experience or the experience Things need firmness. The postmodern kind as “the 70 nations of the world,” all of the holidays? In ”Transforming rejection of historical fact in favor of descended from Noah after the flood. Worship,” author Timothy L. Carson subjective narrative flies in the face of The peoples of the world were divided – describes Ya’akov’s vision of the ladder truth, and of Torah. ascending to Heaven (p. 61): “’s linguistically, culturally and geograph- dream floats somewhere in the sacred ically – when they misused their unity As Jews, we live in a world of abso- axis between heaven and earth.” While to rebel against G-d in the aftermath of lutes, yet we are commanded by the much of Carson’s analysis would be for- the great deluge. same Torah that creates the boundar- eign to the traditional Jew, his obser- In contrast, Moshe refers to the Jewish ies never to forget that we are part of vation of the liminality of the scene in people as Ya’akov and the foundational a larger world. We have Torah-man- which Ya’akov, in a dream state, observes experience of Jewish nationhood is dated responsibility for those within the a passage from earth to heaven and back depicted in a desolate wilderness, a camp, as well as for those who remain again, is an important insight. What place without borders, in which they are beyond the philosophical and physical Carson fails to observe is the decidedly surrounded by G-d alone. The Torah borders we construct. non-liminal conclusion of the scene. describes the Jews being “encompassed,” We as readers, and Ya’akov himself, take which the commentaries understand as away a decidedly different sort of mes- 1 Liminality is a term used to describe the the Divine protection afforded by the sage from the vision, recasting the psychological process of transitioning across Clouds of Glory. vision into what can only be described boundaries and borders. as a preliminal state of consciousness. The sukkah is a modest structure, with no real boundaries. The walls Indeed, Ya’akov lives in a prelimi- may be made of wood, fabric, or even nal state. The Land promised to him bits of string. The sukkah is a halachic never quite becomes his; only in the construct, a philosophical construct if future will his descendants inherit and you will. Therefore, the walls need not inhabit it. He understands that his task is to lay the groundwork, but he person- be real barriers of brick and mortar. A ally will not cross the threshold. set of strings tied three handbreadths Rabbi Ari Kahn is Director of the Overseas apart is enough to create a theoretical Student Program at Bar-Ilan University, As Moshe prepares to take his leave wall according to halacha, and that is where he is a senior lecturer in Jewish from the nation, they stand poised to enough to make a sukkah “kosher.” Studies.

38 | Rabbi Ari Kahn Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky

The “Flimsy” Davidic Dynasty?

n Sukkot, an enigmatic line is not that people were not familiar with but owing to its inherently flimsy added near the end of Birkat the verse from Amos. It was used, and nature, it is considered the same continues to be used, poetically in sukkah when rebuilt. Such is the way ַהָר ֲח ָמן ּהוא ָי ִקים ָל ּנו :HaMazon may the Merci- .2 with the Jewish people and with the – ֶאת ֻסַּכת ָּדִוד ַהּנ ֶוֹפֶלתO ful One restore the fallen sukkah of Davidic dynasty – they have been The phrase from Amos did enter the David. While this short prayer has blown around and knocked down by liturgy in about the 12th century in become a popular song, its meaning the vicissitudes of history, but they are a context not connected to Sukkot and place in the Sukkot liturgy is far rebuilt. from clear. – and seemingly later falling into disuse – in an Ashkenazi Motzei The rebuilt country of Israel in the The origin of the phrase is Amos Shabbat piyut recently printed from Land of Israel is not a new entity, but 9:11, part of Amos’ glorious epilogue manuscript (by Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael rather a continuation of the previous of hope depicting the golden End of Stal in a Torah journal called Segula “sukkah” that stood here. So too, Days. The prophecy speaks of G-d vol. 14, 5780). when the Gemara ( 96b) raising up Sukkat David, closing says the verse in Amos is referencing The earliest mention of reciting up its breaches, raising up its ruins, the Mashiach, it will not be a new and building it like in the good old this HaRachaman on Sukkot seems th dynasty, but a restoration of the same to be the 17 century, when it was days. The prophecy continues (v. Davidic dynasty. 13) with the famous image of the mentioned by Rav Jousep Schammes plowman overtaking and (1604-1678) in his book of customs The inclusion of this request based the treader of grapes meeting the one of the Worms community and by on the verse from Amos specifically who plants seeds, and the mountains Rav Eliyahu Spira (1660–1712) in his on Sukkot may be related to its dripping with sweet wine. Truly a Eliyahu Rabbah. Neither of these early immediately following Yom Kippur. beautiful vision, but it is not clear sources provides an explanation as to The Davidic dynasty endures because 1 what the hapax legomenon “Sukkat the connection between the Sukkat King David – unlike King Shaul – David” refers to. Most traditional David and the holiday of Sukkot. The was able to admit he sinned and commentators assume it refers to the parsimonious explanation is simply repented. Having just come through Davidic dynasty’s rule over a united the appearance of the word “sukkah” Yom Kippur, we as a nation are saying in the eschatological verse and hence kingdom, as Amos was prophesying to G-d that we can emulate King its easy integration and acceptance in when there was a divided kingdom David in that regard, and therefore the Sukkot liturgy. while the Temple still stood in are deserving to have his dynasty, Jerusalem and the Ten Tribes had Rav , in explaining the Sukkat David, and the Temple, not yet been exiled. Nonetheless, restored in our renewed country. others interpret the phrase as the Maharal, says that in general a referring variously to the Mikdash, monarchy is termed bayit, as in beit David, owing to its strength. But a Yerushalayim, or the Shechina. 1 A term of which only one instance of use is house has an additional characteristic. recorded. Irrespective of its original intent If it falls down and is rebuilt it is no 2 For example, the 11th-century is the question of how and why it longer the same entity. If one makes Vitry, when mentioning Tisha B’Av, invokes entered the Sukkot liturgy. The list a vow to not benefit from a house, if this optimistic verse from Amos. Similarly, of “HaRachamans” that we say at that house falls down and is rebuilt the 15th century Leket Yosher concludes his introduction with this verse of optimism. the conclusion of Birkat HaMazon the person may benefit, as it is now are post-Talmudic, first appearing in a new house (Ran, Nedarim 7a). the period. Yet the Sukkot Conceptually, a sukkah is different. Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky is a Professor of addition was still not included. It is A sukkah is easily knocked down, Neuroscience and a tour guide in Ir David.

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Rabbi Dov Lipman

Jericho, Circles and Remembering the Goal

nd G-d said to Yehoshua, ‘See The Mishna (Tamid 3:8) lists nine doing so, we combat all impurities in I have given you Yericho… sounds that emanated from the Beit the physical land and elevate it to high and you shall go around the HaMikdash – including the shofar spiritual levels. “Acity…encircle the city once. Thus you blasts and the songs of the Levi’im – shall do for six days…On the seventh and were heard in Yericho. Similarly, Sukkot is the holiday during which day you shall go around the city seven the fragrance of the incense burnt in we ask G-d for rain and success with times’…So they did for six days… on the the Beit HaMikdash could be smelled the coming year’s crops. This focus seventh day… they went around the city in Yericho. The Raavad explains that on physical hopes and aspirations in this manner seven times” (Yehoshua the sounds were not heard and the always runs the risk of pulling us 6). fragrance could not be smelled by away from G-d and spirituality. Thus, any of the cities between Yerusha- while asking G-d for rain during the Can one read these words and not layim and Yericho. They miraculously Hoshanot ceremony, we reenact what immediately picture the Hoshanot reached Yericho, and Yericho alone. our ancestors did before conquering we recite throughout Sukkot? Why is Yericho, elevating it from the lowest Sukkot the time we reenact the Jewish The Raavad teaches that just like people’s conquest of Yericho? before eating the crops of Israel levels of contamination to the high- one must separate teruma for the est levels of spirituality akin to Jeru- Rabbeinu Bachya explains that cir- Kohanim, Yericho was the first city salem and the Beit HaMikdash. This cling Yericho demonstrated we were captured upon entering Israel and it is reminds us that as we pray for physi- not going to be influenced by the sanctified as teruma for G-d. This can cal blessings in the Land of Israel, the spiritual contamination of the inhab- explain why Yehoshua forbade anyone ultimate goal of this physical success itants of the city, and by extension to take the spoils of Yericho for their is to enable us to focus on reaping the those who lived in the Land of Israel. personal use. Just like the holiness spiritual blessings this Land has to The Yericho-like imagery of the cir- of the Beit HaMikdash meant items offer the Jewish people. cling of the bima on Sukkot comes belonging to it could not be taken and to remind us that one of the goals of used by individuals, the same applied As we circle the bima with our lulav the holiday is to combat the negative to Yericho. and etrog and beg G-d to bless the spiritual impact of the “70 nations of Land of Israel with a successful rainy the world,” as symbolized by the 70 But didn’t Rabbeinu Bachya teach season, let us remember that the goal special Sukkot sacrifices offered in that Yericho represented the spiri- of physical blessings in the Land of decreasing order. tual contamination of the inhabitants Israel is to help us focus on Torah, of the Land of Israel? How can it be When Israel was divided among the mitzvot, and to become a holy people, holy like Yerushalayim and the Beit experiencing a close relationship with tribes, 500 square amot of Yericho, HaMikdash? the precise size of the , G-d. was designated for the tribe that When walking around the city seven would host the Beit HaMikdash (Sifri times, the people were led by the Beha’alotcha 81). The Gemara (Taanit Aron, which carried the luchot, as 27a) teaches that when each of the they encircled the city. The act of 24 groups of Kohanim had their two- simply following the Aron, while week rotation to serve, half went to walking in circles as our first act upon Yerushalayim to work in the Beit entering the Land of Israel, demon- HaMikdash and half went to Yericho strated our recognition that we enter Rabbi Dov Lipman is a former MK and the to secure food and water for the half the Land to follow the Torah and gain author of seven books about Judaism and working in the Mikdash. the spiritual benefits of the Land. In Israel.

40 | HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Dov Lipman Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel

From a Place of Purity to a Place of Peace

nyone who has ever been to mentioned twice. Once for those who Divine Presence. This is why Sukkot is Jerusalem in the days between begin at night, and once for those celebrated at this time of year, imme- Yom Kippur and Sukkot will who begin the next day. However, that diately following Yom Kippur. Atestify to a unique energy in the air. answer is difficult to accept because The city is abuzz. The excitement is the Maharil (Minhagim, Hil. Sukkot) Once Sukkot begins, we are sur- palpable, as people fill the streets and writes that immediately following rounded by mitzvot – an expression flood the markets, buying the Arba Yom Kippur “every individual” should of our closeness to G-d. We carry the Minim, supplies for their sukkot, and be involved in building the sukkah. lulav through the streets, raised like a food for the holiday. Every individual – not just those scru- banner, expressing confidence that we pulous in their observance! Many have the custom to begin build- were victorious in judgment just a few ing their sukkah immediately after Perhaps there is a deeper answer. days ago. Yom Kippur. After fasting and pray- By building the sukkah immediately And while we are required to rejoice ing all day, they eat something and after Yom Kippur, we recognize the during every festival, Sukkot is espe- get right to work – going from one intimate connection between Sukkot mitzvah to the next – not delaying or cially joyous. In fact, Sukkot is called and the days that immediately pre- missing the opportunity. It’s a labor the “time of our rejoicing.” It is the cede it. By mentioning the custom of love, which expresses the desire to very paradigm of joyful celebration – in both the Laws of Yom Kippur and the “Chag.” That joy is a result of the translate the inspiration of the past again in the Laws of Sukkot, the Rema closeness we feel to G-d, achieved 25 hours into action. There is some- stresses this connection. thing magical that takes place on during Rosh Hashanah and Yom these moonlit Jerusalem rooftops and According to Rabbi Shlomo Kluger Kippur. balconies. It’s an intense ending to an (Chochmat Shlomo, intense day. 625:1), we begin building the sukkah As we sit in the sukkah, the Divine right after Yom Kippur, as G-d, so to Presence surrounds us. In Chassidic Curiously, the custom to begin build- speak, covers our sins on Yom Kippur thought, it is a symbol of G-d’s love. ing one’s sukkah immediately follow- and on Sukkot He covers us with His The Sefat Emet compares the sukkah ing Yom Kippur is cited by the Rema sukkah. to a chuppa, a wedding canopy. It is twice: once in the last section of the the canopy under which the Jewish Laws of Yom Kippur, and then again in The intimate connection between the the first section of the Laws of Sukkot. Days of Awe and Sukkot is also deeply nation is wed to G-d. The sukkah is rooted in our historical experience. also an embrace. According to hala- Why does the Rema – always metic- According to one opinion, the sukkah cha, the sukkah must have at least two ulous in his comments – cite this represents the Clouds of Glory, which walls and a handbreadth of a third. custom twice? And what is the reason protected the Jewish people in the The two walls and a handbreadth are for this practice? Can’t the sukkah wilderness. But after the Sin of the imagined as an arm providing a great wait till tomorrow? Golden Calf, the Clouds of Glory were big Divine hug. removed. On Yom Kippur, the Jewish The first time the Rema records the people were forgiven for the Sin of the And after having gone through the minhag, he mentions “those scrupu- Golden Calf, and the Clouds of Glory Days of Awe – isn’t that all we need? lous in observance (hamedakdikim) returned. begin building immediately…” The Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel lives and interprets this to The Vilna Gaon writes that Sukkot teaches in Jerusalem, where he serves as imply that everyone else begins the commemorates the return of the Mara D’atra of Har Nof’s Kehilat Zichron next day. That is why the custom is Clouds of Glory and with them, the Yosef.

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Rabbi Johnny Solomon

Renewing our Faith

ukkot is the festival of faith, and for the mitzvah, this is not an abso- like a sukkah whose test of strength by leaving our homes and dwell- lute requirement. In light of this is whether it can stay standing in -literally, ‘a typ) ּרו ַח ְמ ּצוָיה ing in a sukkah under the natural debate, common practice is to shake response to a Ss’chach, we demonstrate our faith in or momentarily lift a small section of ical wind,’ but which also translates as G-d. In fact, the Zohar (Emor 103a) ‘old’ s’chach as an act of renewal. ‘the current spirit of the times’),3 and actually refers to the s’chach’s shade as whose roof – which represents the the protective shade While s’chach – which reminds us of – צילא דמהימנותא how G-d protected Bnei Yisrael as protective shade of faith – can protect of faith. With this in mind, I would its inhabitants notwithstanding the like to explore one of the halachot of they journeyed through the wilder- ness, and whose shade represents the fact it is both fragile and porous to the the s’chach, and thereby consider how elements. we should relate to our faith. protective shade of faith – can techni- cally fulfill its function as a reminder Just like the s’chach is shaken or The Mishna (Sukkot 1:1, 9a) presents of faith even if it has been sitting on momentarily lifted as an act of a disagreement regarding the halachic a sukkah for more than 30 days, its renewal, our faith can be renewed validity of a sukkah yeshana (literally, long-term presence can often mean an old sukkah) – a sukkah on which we forget its core message. Conse- either when we have undergone s’chach has sat for over 30 days and quently, we are required (according a challenging experience that has which had not expressly been placed to some), and strongly encouraged ‘shaken’ us, or been through an expe- there for the sake of the upcoming (according to others), to perform a rience that has ‘lifted’ us. And why? Sukkot festival. According to Beit renewal act on the s’chach to ensure Because by having either of these , this ‘old’ s’chach is invalid we haven’t forgotten what the s’chach experiences, we are reminded that and must be renewed, while Beit is meant to teach us spiritually. faith is not something that is fixed Hillel permits the use of ‘old’ s’chach. but is, instead, something that can be Just as ‘old’ s’chach needs a renewal moved and renewed. However, while we follow the position act to help us remember its function of Beit Hillel, the Yerushalmi (Sukkah and message, so people of faith can And this is why, if your sukkah has 1:2, 4b) stipulates that some minor at times forget what it means to have had s’chach on its roof for over 30 renewal) must still be faith, because anything perpetually days, you need to move it. By doing) ִ ה ְ ת ַ ח ְ ּ ד שׁ ּו ת act of performed on a small section of the present in our lives runs the risk of us so, it will remind you that true faith ‘old’ s’chach. taking it for granted and forgetting its must be something that moves you core message. too. Admittedly, this requirement is not evident from the conclusion in the So, while we shake or momentarily lift

Gemara, and hence the Rambam and up a small part of the s’chach as an act 1 Rav Yehudai Gaon (as cited in the Shibolei the Rif make no reference to perform- of renewal, what sort of renewal act HaLeket Ch. 337), Tosfot (Sukkah 9a), Rosh ing any renewal act on ‘old’ s’chach. should we be performing on our own (Sukkah 1:13), Tur (Orach Chaim 636), Shul- However, there are other authori- faith? chan Aruch (Orach Chaim 636:1). ties1 who state that the Yerushalmi’s 2 Meiri (on Sukkah 9a), Ran (on Sukkah 9a), to renew an Faith, like s’chach, is often fragile. Ritva (Sukkah 2a), Magen Avraham (OC – ְלַחֵּדשׁ ָּבּה ָּדָבר demand 636:1), Mishna Berura (OC 636:4). element of [the s’chach] – is an abso- Faith, like s’chach, is always porous. lute requirement. The mistake we sometimes make is 3 Sukkah 24b. viewing faith as if it was a solid con- 2 Finally, there is an opinion that while crete building with a watertight roof. Rav Johnny Solomon teaches at seminaries a renewal act should, lechatchila, be But this is a misnomer. Faith is not in Yerushalayim and writes Jewish educa- performed on ‘old’ s’chach to demon- comparable to a solid house, and faith tional content for schools and organizations strate the intentionality of using it is not ‘watertight.’ Instead, faith is around the world.

42 | Write it Down... HOLIDAY READING Before it’s Too Late

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Rabbi Benzion Scheinfeld

Celebrating Now and Then: THE CONTRASTING MESSAGES OF SUKKOT AND PESACH

hy is it that Pesach – left Egypt is just fine. Why then, if the We do not have to imagine our past to rather than Sukkot – is Torah goes to such lengths to recreate feel the internal messages of Sukkot. known as the holiday the Sukkot experience of the midbar, We are asked to simply be sensitive Wwhen Jews relive and recreate their does it leave out the clincher? Namely, to our present reality. For sitting in a past? On Sukkot, we are commanded our obligation to imagine we are part sukkah circa 2020 is just the same as to take our furniture out of our house of Klal Yisrael journeying through the sitting in a sukkah circa 3300 BCE. and eat and sleep for seven days in a desert, as we are obligated to envisage Both cases involve sitting in a flimsy open to ( ִ ּד ַירת ֲעַראי) hut covered only by s’chach, braving on Pesach? temporary shelter the elements, just as our ancestors did the elements, aware of our tenuous in this , ע וֹ ָל ם ַה ֶ ּז ה in the desert. The beraita in Masechet Pesach and Sukkot evoke very differ- physical existence in ע וֹ ַל ם Sukkah elaborates and says we must ent internal narratives and empha- world, which is ultimately an a transient world dependent , ֲעַראי do all of our activities in the sukkah. size very different types of spiritual The obligation to reenact on Sukkot growth. Pesach is a holiday that upon G-d. There is no need for imag- is more encompassing in both time emphasizes a one-time event that ination or connecting to a borrowed (seven days vs. one for most Pesach cannot and will not ever be dupli- experience from our collective past. mitzvot) and scope (all of life’s activ- cated. The ahava between Klal Yis- ities vs. just eating). If observed cor- rael and G-d expressed on the night of All that is necessary for Sukkot is rectly, Sukkot seems to be a far more Yetziat Mitzrayim was so intense and openhearted existential awareness intense recreation of our past history powerful that it echoes through time. of the present. It is through that than Pesach. So why all the fanfare for Once a year, the Torah demands we openness we are to connect to G-d Pesach? try our best to “remember” that spe- by embracing our present and the Perhaps the answer can be found by cial night using physical activities to ever-present connection to Hashem solving another apparent mystery that arouse our imagination and connect built into the fabric of life. Sukkot separates the two chagim. Concern- with this moment. We are obligated represents the timelessness of our ing Pesach, the Mishna states: “On to do our best to escape our present connection to G-d while Pesach is all this night one is obligated to imagine reality and go back to a time many about a moment in time. themselves as if they were personally years ago. By going back and touch- LeZecher Nishmat Mrs. Esther Scheinfeld leaving Egypt.” On Seder Night, one ing that distant moment – albeit in z”l, a woman whose personality and love must also bring one’s imagination in our imagination – we are fulfilling the of Torah and Eretz Yisrael touched and addition to all the required physical Avodat HaYom (the duty of the day) inspired so many lives. Niftara items (Pesach, Matzah and Maror). Elul 5780, August 21, 2020. of feeling the echoes of that incompa- Just eating matzah and maror, even rable event. LeShem Mitzvah, would not fulfill one’s obligation. Rather, one must use On Sukkot, however, we are not asked one’s imaginative faculties to actually to leave our present reality at all. The envision oneself as if I personally was powerful recreations of Sukkot are leaving Egypt. not meant to jar our imagination and In contrast, despite the intense transfer us to a distant past. Sukkot ,remembrance , ְז ִכ ָירה demands of “living 24/7 in the does not demand -knowledge. In fact, the rec , ְי ִד ָיעה sukkah,” we are not asked to use our but imagination. Eating and sleeping in reations of Sukkot are not reenact- Rabbi Benzion Scheinfeld is Director of the sukkah without imagining you are ments at all. They are so real they are Camp Kanfei Nesharim and a high school in a hut in the Sinai Desert having just actually reality. educator.

44 | HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Shalom Rosner

The Gift the Angels Don’t Have

he Gemara (Shabbat) tells live by the pshat of the Torah – like The Vilna Gaon suggests a fascinat- can mean tears, but ָ ּד ַמע .us that when Moshe Rabbe- human beings do – you can appreci- ing idea inu went up to Har Sinai, the ate even the deeper levels. it could also come from the word mixed up. The Ramban tells , ִמ ּד וֹ ֵמ ַע ,Tmalachim (angels) confronted him The angels, who do not live by the complaining that G-d was giving the us that on a deeper level, the entire Torah, cannot change their apprecia- Torah to Moshe and not to them. Torah spells out the names of G-d. tion level. Moshe responds, “It says in Your When Moshe Rabbeinu received the Torah, ‘I am the L-rd your G-d who Torah from G-d, he received it in a brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ As we take a step decoded fashion. It didn’t spell out Angels, were you taken out of Egypt? back from that the names of G-d anymore. The Torah It says in Your Torah don’t worship “” was spelled out in a way mere mortals other gods. Angels, do you ever have Gemara, let us look could understand. The Vilna Gaon a desire to worship other gods? It says to Simchat Torah, suggests that the last eight verses of in the Torah ‘honor your father and ְּב ֶד ַמע when we essentially the Torah were given to Moshe your mother.’ Angels, do you have – as a mixture – in its pristine, orig- parents? It says in the Torah ‘don’t kill, celebrate the many inal, coded and ‘mixed-up’ state. It don’t steal, don’t covet.’ Angels. Do and Moshe) ַוָּי ָמת ׁ ָשם ׁ ֶמֹשה different levels did not say these apply to you?” of understanding died there). It said the name of G-d on The Gemara says the angels recog- and appreciating a hidden, deeper level. After Moshe nized the truth of Moshe’s argument died, G-d decoded it for Yehoshua bin and gave the Torah to him with no the Torah. Nun to spell out the exact verses. complaints. They even gave him gifts As we celebrate Simchat Torah, the on his way down. As we take a step back from that end of the festive cycle, both of the Many commentaries ask, what were Gemara, let us look to Simchat Torah, Yamim Noraim and the Shalosh the malachim thinking? They knew when we essentially celebrate the Regalim, let us recognize the unique what it said in the Torah, they knew many different levels of understand- gift of Torah. Let us try to live it on who it was for and yet they still ing and appreciating the Torah. a pshat level and as we grow level by wanted it. Why? level, may we be zoche to appreciate The Gemara (Menachot 30) describes it even more and plunge the Divine a machloket regarding the Some commentaries suggest the depths of its wisdom. malachim knew the Torah existed author of the last eight verses of the -stands Torah that describe Moshe Rabbe ַּפְר ֵ ּדס .on many different levels Four differ- inu’s death. One opinion says Moshe . ּ ָ פ שׁ ַ ט, ֶר ֶמז, ָ ּ ד ַ ר שׁ ְו ס ֹ ו ד for in – ְּב ֶד ַמע ent levels of interpretation, from the Rabbeinu wrote them simple to the mystically sublime. The tears. How could Moshe have written angels recognized that the pshat, the them? Can one describe one’s own simple interpretation, didn’t apply death after the fact? What does that to them. But they wanted to have mean? The second opinion holds that the Torah in order to appreciate the Yehoshua bin Nun wrote the last eight deeper ideas. The Gemara answers verses. That sounds a little strange that, yes, the deeper ideas and all the too, but it is certainly more logical Rabbi Shalom Rosner is a Rebbe at different levels are significant, but than Moshe Rabbeinu writing about Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh and Rabbi of the only if you live by the Torah. If you his own demise. Nofei HaShemesh community.

| 45 HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Stewart Weiss

All Wrapped Up in Mitzvot

“Like an eagle protecting its nest, G-d spreads His wings over us…” (The song of Ha’azinu).

n this crazy-busy world of ours – forget about so-called “time-saving” devices, we’re busier now than our Iprevious generations ever were! – we struggle to find a “safe space” (sorry for using those overused buzz-words) to just be calm and peaceful. A place to let our minds roam free as we pause and think – just plain think – about the magnificent, multi-dimensional world around us, our place in it, and G-d.

I once asked Rav Shlomo Carlebach – a In my sukkah, I am the Prince of my Ironically, the sukkah was once a man who was perpetually on the move Castle (G-d, of course, remains the symbol of our national homelessness, as and surrounded by fans and friends – King!). Cozy (I prefer that to small) we moved from place to place through where he goes when he wants “private and constructed by our own hands, we the desert on our epic journey to the time.” Where is his “escape room” where can sit in the great outdoors, under the Holy Land. We quickly assembled and he can be alone with his thoughts? He disassembled our makeshift quarters, stars, and contemplate nature, escaping pondered for a moment and said, “My and headed to the next stop on the map, one and only refuge from this all-too from the rush-rush-rush of ‘normal’ wandering and wondering when that invasive and intrusive world is when everyday existence. The decibel level long voyage would come to an end. His- I am completely wrapped up in my has dropped, the spiritual level has torically, it would continue for a long, tallit!” risen, and somehow – despite its tem- long time throughout the Diaspora. porary structure – I feel safe there. I The tallit is one of four mitzvot that But now we are home, finally and for- feel that G-d is squeezed right in here completely surround us from all sides ever. Wrapped in my tallit, sitting com- with me. so that, in a sense, we are “swallowed fortably in my sukkah in the re-Jew-ve- up” by the mitzvah. There is the mikvah The fourth mitzvah in which we can be nated State of Israel, I can close my too, of course, in which we immerse our eyes as the mitzvot wash over me and I completely immersed is living in Eretz whole body, and the sukkah, which also rhetorically ask, “Could it get any better Yisrael. The moment we fulfill this glo- totally envelops us, and is the closest than this?!” thing we can experience to the Ananei rious, foundational commandment and Kavod, the Clouds of Glory, the impen- come to Israel, its Kedusha encircles us etrable, Heavenly wall that kept Bnei as if G-d is whispering, “You are home. Rabbi Stewart Weiss is director of the Yisrael safe in the desert. You are safe in your Sukkat Shalom!” Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana.

46 | HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi Jesse Horn

What is Special about Simcha on Sukkot?

hile two of the three pilgrim- How does one fulfill the mitzvah of that embody the successful harvest, age holidays have a special simcha on ? For men, are used in religious practice – to and distinctive theme, it’s drinking wine and eating meat; for serve G-d. WSukkot, seemingly, does not. Pesach’s women, it’s buying new clothing, etc. While the goal of the classic simcha is cherut (freedom) and Shavuot’s is Each person should be involved with (the one existent in all three holidays), Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), what they themselves enjoy (Pesa- is to generate personal and national each of which defines the holiday and chim 109a). The goal seems to be to happiness and rejoice in expansive articulates their distinctiveness. Yet increase people’s happiness through fashion, Sukkot’s simcha is funda- Sukkot’s theme is simcha (happiness), engaging in activities that give them mentally different. Because the chag which is an element also found on the joy. other holidays. Why does Sukkot not itself carries a preexisting simcha, receive its own unique motif? By contrast, the simcha of Sukkot the Torah aims at now raising that is accomplished differently. Taking simcha to a higher level and focusing Perhaps one may suggest that Sukkot the lulav in the Beit HaMikdash is it towards G-d. has quantitatively more simcha. ,ושמחתם described by the Torah as Although there is nothing unique to We express our innate happiness in and be happy (Vayikra 23:40). More- Sukkot, it does have more simcha an appropriate spiritual way, through over, the Simchat Beit HaShoeva than the other holidays. As the sincere religious experience. (Sukkot water-drawing festival) took Rambam says, Sukkot has “excess place in the Beit HaMikdash as well. happiness” (Lulav 8:12). This lesson is not just important for Sukkot, but for life in general. One The Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 324) Alternatively, the simcha on Sukkot should direct and elevate one’s nat- claims that this time of year is a time could be qualitatively different from ural emotions and feelings in a way when people are naturally happy. the simcha on the other holidays. In that can better serve G-d and bring us After all, it’s the harvest season, when other words, there are two models closer to Him. And that, in turn, leads farmers rejoice with the fruits of a of simcha. One is the classic model, to even greater simcha. contained within Pesach, Shavuot year’s hard work. Furthermore, being and Sukkot, and the other is a singu- spiritually cleansed after Yom Kippur lar model unique to Sukkot, similar to adds to that feeling of joy. the way cherut characterizes Pesach The goal of Sukkot is to take that hap- and Matan Torah Shavuot. piness and channel it towards G-d, What are these two models? Perhaps wherever we are. We raise a lulav in examining the different halachot of all locations on the first day, and spe- Rabbi Jesse Horn is a Senior Ra”m (Rosh each can help us develop a theory cifically in the Beit HaMikdash, where Metivta) at Yeshivat Hakotel and director of to explain Sukkot’s ‘simchatic’ we raise it on all seven days (on a Bib- the Mizrachi/Yeshivat Hakotel Mechanchim uniqueness. lical level). The arba minim, plants program.

| 47 A GUIDE TO THE Hoshanot Prayers oshanot are the special prayers recited obligations to remember and to keep Shab- Heach day of Sukkot while holding the bat, the 2,000-cubit Shabbat boundary, lulav and etrog. The name comes from the the food and clothes, two .meaning “please save.” loaves of bread at each meal, and more ,הוֹ ׁ ַשע ָנא refrain of The Mishnah (Sukkah 4:5) describes how (On Shabbat, we do not carry a lulav and on each day of Sukkot, the kohanim would etrog or circle the bimah.) lead the people in a circle around the miz- ְ This hoshanah refers to G-d’s – ְל ַ ֽמ ַען ֲא ִמ ָּֽתך and on the seventh ָהוֹשִׁיעה נָּא beach reciting day of Sukkot – Hoshanah Rabbah – they various ‘traits’ – truth, greatness, splendor, would circle seven times. The Midrash kindness, goodness, unity, power, etc. It describes how we emulate this ceremony also mentions His covenant and the Beit as a sign we have emerged victorious from HaMikdash which, while not traits, are still our judgment on Yom Kippur, just five days relevant to the holiday. earlier. The theme of this hoshanah is – ֶא ֱע ְרֹך שׁ ּו ִעי The hoshanot were composed by the great that we should arrange our prayers in ad- liturgical poet Rabbi Elazar HaKalir and vance, rather than wait till times of trouble. are, for the most part, arranged according This prayer references the recently-com- to the aleph-bet. Each day, one hoshanah is pleted Yamim Noraim. read with seven being read on Hoshanah ּ This hoshanah mentions – ֶֽא ֶבן ׁ ְש ִתָֽיה .Rabbah. Each hoshanah has its own theme Unlike most prayers, the order of the Yerushalayim in general and the Beit Ha- hoshanah varies depending on what day Mikdash in particular – the foundation of the week Sukkot begins. This year, since stone, the threshing floor purchased for the Sukkot begins on Shabbat, the order is as land upon which to build the Beit HaMik- follows: dash, the trees imported from Lebanon to make panels, etc. Salem refers to the name This hoshanah is recited on of Yerushalayim until the times of Avraham – ֽאֹם ְנ ּצוָ ֽרה Shabbat and its theme is Shabbat – the Avinu, while Zion is the Temple Mount.

48 | .Salvation is the theme here – ֵ ֽא ־ ל ְל ֽמ וֹ ׁ ָש ֽע וֹ ת It lauds Torah scholars, who master the secrets of the Torah and all the details of the law, and turn to G-d to beseech Him to redeem us.

This hoshanah discusses G-d – ָא ֽד וֹ ן ַה ּמ וֹ ׁ ִ ֽשי ַע as our savior – only He has the ability to provide us with sufficient crops and rain.

There is an additional hoshanah not recited during Sukkot this year, but traditionally read on Hoshanah Rabbah:

The nation of Israel, is – ֽאֹם ֲא ִֽני חוֹ ָ ֽמה compared to a wall, the sun, a palm tree, and more.

On Hoshanah Rabbah, we re- cite seven hoshanot, including: ְל ַ ֽמ ַען ֲא ִמ ָּֽת ְך • ֶֽא ֶבן ׁ ְש ִתָּֽיה • ֽאֹם ֲא ִֽני חוֹ ָ ֽמה • . ָא ֽד וֹ ן ַה ּמ וֹ ׁ ִ ֽשי ַע and •

In addition, there are three special hosha- not for Hoshanah Rabbah:

Man is compared to various – ָאָֽדם ּוְבֵהָֽמה things, ranging from a tapestry to animals.

This discusses the curses – ֲא ָד ָמה ֵמ ֶאֶרר Adam brought upon the world through his sin.

-The deeds of our righteous fore – ְל ַ ֽמ ַען ֵא ָ ֽיתן bears with a unifying theme of fire. n

| 49 THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND WHAT’S IN A WORD

David Curwin

ּו ְל ַק ְחתֶּ ם ָל ֶכם ַּב ּיוֹ ם ָהִראשׁ וֹ ן, ְּפִרי ֵעץ ָה ָדר ַּכ ּפֹת תְּ ָמִרים, ַו ֲע ַנף ֵע ָץ־עבֹת, ְו ַעְר ֵב ָי־נ ַחל

n the first day, you shall more commonly used ones. A number “… go out to the mountains and bring take the product of hadar of examples of such speech are given. leafy branches of olive trees, pine trees, branches of palm In one case, Rav Nachman used the trees, myrtles [hadas], palms and “Otrees, boughs of leafy trees and willows word etronga. Rav Yehuda said calling [other] leafy trees [etz avot] to make of the brook...” (Vayikra 23:40) it an etronga is a sign of snobbery, and booths, as it is written” (Nechemiah it should be called either etrog or the 8:15). It is interesting to note that despite etroga. While the use of etrog the Biblical origin of the command- The Rabbis3 say that these are refer- is universal today, Rav Nachman’s ment, we don’t use the words found in ring to two different kinds of myrtle etronga was closer to the Persian the verse. Let’s look at how the words branches. The hadas mentioned in turung.1 have changed. this verse is referring to a “wild” type ּ of myrtle, which is appropriate for the ַּכפֹת The verse says we should “take” the The second species listed is branches of palm trees.” We roof of the sukkah, and the etz avot is“ – ְּת ָמִרים . ָל ַקח Four Species, using the verb refer to the with the our hadas, which is used for the Four ַעל However, the blessing we say is .In Rabbinic Species . ּלו ָלב Why did post-biblical word . ָנ ַטל using the verb , ְנ ִט ַילת ּלו ָלב Hebrew, lulav can also mean the more the Rabbis change the verb? The fourth species mentioned is the The . ַעְר ֵב ָי־נ ַחל – ”general “shoots, sprouts,” and derives “willows of the brook ,as in Yoma 81b ַל ְב ַלב The linguist Yechezkel Kutscher offers from the root the following answer (which he heard Talmud (Sukkah 33b) says while the where it says “the grapevine shoots from a high school student of his, who verse is referring to willows that grow [lulavim] sprouted [livlevu].” The root we now know as the famous Rabbi by the brook, any willow branches are both , ָנ ָצה is parallel to the Biblical ַל ְב ַלב Mordechai Breuer): while in Biblical acceptable for fulfilling the command- meaning “to blossom.”2 Both of these meant “to take,” by the ment. The word appears five times in ָל ַקח Hebrew time the Rabbis coined the blessing, roots are related to words meaning the , always in the plural form ִל ָּב ּה ָנ ַצץ the verb meant only “to buy.” And “to shine, to burn” ( and ) since – aravim. The singular arava first the halacha is that one need not buy the blossoming of a plant radiates like appears in the Mishnah, which also the lulav – it can come from hefker the shine of a fire. refers to the plural as aravot (as we do (i.e. have no previous owner) or be today). Why not the Biblical aravim? The third species is the “boughs of -was substi ְנ ִט ָילה received as a gift. So We refer to this ”.[ ֵע ָץ־עבֹת] leafy trees tuted, which only meant “taking.” This may be part of a trend where Unlike the previous words that appeared in Biblical . ֲה ַד ִּסים species as two species, hadas is a Biblical word, Hebrew with the suffix -im, have the ְּפִרי The first species mentioned is .appearing in the books of Yeshayahu, suffix -ot in Rabbinic Hebrew . ֶא ְת ר וֹ ג which we today call an , ֵעץ ָהָדר The word etrog is of Persian origin, Zechariah, and Nechemiah. The where it was known as turung. A verse in Nechemiah is interesting related word in Persian is naranga, because it mentions both etz avot and 1 In the Jerusalem Talmud, Gittin 12a, the word turunga itself is used for etrog. meaning “fragrant fruit.” This word hadas. Ezra tells the people to study 2 See Bereshit 40:10 and on eventually made its way to English the Torah, and the people find the that verse. as the word “orange.” The original laws of Sukkot. They then order that 3 See Sukkah 12a and 32b. form of the word is hinted at in a throughout the Land everyone must. story in Kiddushin 70a, describing a ,David Curwin is a writer living in ְצ ּאו ָה ָהר ְו ָה ִב ּיאו ֲע ֵל ַי־ז ִית ַו ֲע ֵל ֵי־עץ שׁ ֶ ֶמן ַו ֲע ֵלי dialogue between Rav Nachman and ,and the author of the Balashon blog ֲהַדס ַוֲעֵלי ְתָמִרים ַוֲעֵלי ֵעץ ָעבֹת ַלֲעשֹׂת ֻסּכֹת Rav Yehuda. Rav Nachman insisted .balashon.com ַּכ ָּכ ּתוב. on using fancier words, instead of the

50 | PLACES IN ISRAEL THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Barnea Levi Selavan

Four Trips for Chol HaMoed

he growing crescendo – mourn- Yerushalayim) offers many craft activ- Arad, many smaller sites, and a world ing and grappling with reality ities, rides and nearby springs. The of fruits, and other local prod- on 17 Tammuz and Tisha B’Av, amazing archaeological section boasts ucts. Last Sukkot they had hot-air bal- Tthe closeness of Elul, the stark truth of several multimedia presentations and looning and rappelling from a crane- Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and new discoveries. The visitors center lifted aerial porch. then this national explosion of joy – stocks refreshments, local crafts Sukkot in Israel. A nation celebrating including musical instruments and The Mateh Yehuda region features countrywide, with families out in their jewelry, wines, olive oil and books. the Adulam, Britania, Begin and thousands at mountains, valleys and Ancient Shiloh is an enchanting and Rabin parks, historical sites such as water sites. engaging experience for the whole Tel Azekah and Elah Fortress-Khirbet family. While this year we may not be able to Qeiyafa, and is chock full of wineries explore beautiful Israel landscapes, I The Benjamin region, with many – nearly 40 – and breweries. would like to share with you my four springs, open nature parks and Bibli- d d d favorite Sukkot spots, in the hope cal and historical landmarks, is stud- we will all be able to visit them again ded with ancient craft installations, Before setting out, check online for soon. shepherds and their cheese products the tourism departments of regional and amazing hilltop views. 1. Neot Kedumim Biblical Nature councils and cities, Facebook, etc (and for those of you staying in, this is a Reserve. The main attraction here are 4. Susiya (pictured). This ancient city the live displays of the Mishna’s range comes to life with crafts above and great opportunity to virtually explore of kosher and non-kosher sukkot – underground, and street actors. The the wonders of Eretz Yisrael). e.g., super-high, low, on a boat, etc. remarkable shul on top of the hill, Those of us fortunate enough to be in The reserve also teaches visitors olive and grape presses, the streets Israel now will never forget 5780. As about the Four Species, the Seven and town built to Mishnaic specifi- Species, and how nature, Tanach and cations – because they’re from that in ancient times, we pray that Dias- Chazal are all intertwined. time! And that’s not all. Go walk in pora Jews will join us here, thus we ּ ְו ֵתן ַטל ו ָמ ָטר – the secret... In the visitors center ask delay the request for rain 2. Ancient Shomron. This is the site to see the ”old” movie, and pick up – until 7 , so you can make of the last capital of the Israelite king- local food, cosmetic and artistic prod- it home before the mighty Euphrates dom, where Eliyahu and Elisha faced ucts. They also serve excellent coffee! swells from the rain. off with kings like Achav and Omri and the remnants of Achav’s palace d d d May we merit a healthy, sweet joyous are clearly visible. The Maccabees holiday and share that joy with those beat the Greek army here, and Herod For those who want to explore even who sorely need it at this time. later developed Sebastia. The army further, I suggest checking out Yatir safeguards the roads and site so the and Mateh Yehuda. public can visit. While lesser-known to English-speak- Barnea Levi Selavan offers live and 3. Ancient Shiloh. The site of the ers, the Yatir region hosts expansive recorded tours and lectures for communi- Mishkan (before it was moved to forests and ancient sites such as Tel ties and families.

| 51 THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND ISRAEL INSIGHT

David M. Weinberg

Aliyah Anniversary Reflections

hen my wife and I moved But overall, my ledger is positive and is a world leader in desalination, to Jerusalem 30 years ago forward-looking. which (along with this past winter’s this summer, TV ads were abundant rains) has largely solved the Israel is nine million people strong, Wfor drinking milk and eating oranges, country’s water problems. not for 40” flat TV screens and “Fauda.” a poignant riposte to Hitler’s Holo- Shimon Peres was on the right-wing of caust. The birthrate is well above the In the grand strategic perspective, Western average, and Israel remains a the Labor Party. English was the coun- the regional security architecture is family-oriented society. Against many try’s second language, not Russian. moving in directions that strengthen expectations, religious tradition (with this country, where Israel is a linchpin Pesach and Sukkot vacations were unique Israeli flavors) and values-edu- of stability for the West and an ally for for hiking the streams, mountains, cation are making healthy comebacks. the Arabs in combating radical Islam. and flower fields of the Galilee, not 1.5 million immigrants have moved to Only Iran and Turkey threaten Israel, for shop-till-you-drop excursions in Israel since 1990, boosting the coun- and their comeuppance is coming. air-conditioned mega-malls or for try in every way. Israel’s diplomatic horizons have flights out to the casinos of Greece. According to all polls, Israelis are never been broader. The American We danced the hora, not trance. overwhelmingly proud and happy to Embassy is finally in Jerusalem! live in this country, even if many are was considered the country’s On a personal level, we arrived in hurting now because of the corona heroic and defining ideology, not a Israel 30 years ago with one baby crisis and they feel the government is chauvinist and politically incorrect daughter. Since then, my wife and I not functioning well. prejudice. Draft dodgers were people have been blessed with five more kids who closed their front doors when the The economy is fundamentally (born in Jerusalem!), several sons- evening breeze started. “Settlement” healthy, and fortunately, interest rates in-law and a daughter-in-law, and was not a dirty word. are the lowest ever. Israeli hi-tech beautiful grandchildren. Almost all and biotech are benefiting billions of have studied in yeshiva and graduated “Withdrawal” was a financial term people around the world. And despite university, including PhD and MBA (something you did with money at severe underfunding, medical care in studies, and even post-doctoral fel- the bank), and disengagement meant Israeli hospitals is second to none. lowships. Three have been senior IDF breaking someone’s lovesick heart. officers, two are front-line combat Even the intellectuals were unabash- Israel’s leadership ranks are no longer medics. They are proud of their long edly patriotic. a White-Ashkenazi-Labor-Socialist periods of service in defense of Israel. preserve, but more representative of The was where Jews the diverse population. Many youths In retrospect, moving to Israel was went to pray, not protest. The Law still want to serve their country in the one of the best decisions we ever of Return brought Jews to Israel. best and most difficult military units, made. We thank G-d for accom- The Chief Rabbinate sought to build and their determination to fix the panying us along the way. We feel bridges for religion with secular Israe- social-economic ills of the country is fortunate to be part of a meta-his- lis. The Supreme Court dealt with stirring. toric, grand drama of Jewish national legal issues and left it to you and me renewal and redemption. The next 30 and the Knesset to decide what is Israel’s universities and are years can only be even better. “reasonable.” first-class, with tens of thousands of students. The good L-rd has granted David M. Weinberg is vice president of the Indeed, Israel has dramatically this country major natural gas off- Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, changed in recent decades, in both shore deposits, with Israel soon to jiss.org.il. His personal site is davidmwein- encouraging and disconcerting ways. become a net energy exporter. Israel berg.com.

52 | THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

David M. Weinberg

Under Fire ISRAEL SENDS FIREFIGHTERS TO CALIFORNIA

ou have less than 72 hours precipitation in sight, California this life-saving, property-saving trip. to pack the equipment, get remains dry and ripe for wildfires. Not only were they putting their your visas and passports in lives in danger and away from home Straight into the fires they went, after “Yorder and fly to California. They need for two weeks, they knew that upon quickly learning procedure and strat- our help.” their return, they would also have egy from the Cal-Fire (California This was a first for Israel. The first Department of Forestry and Fire Pro- to spend another two weeks in man- time the small country had sent a fire- tection) team. They gathered all their datory quarantine. And not just any fighting delegation to help its power- equipment and joined the battle. Due two weeks, but two weeks of chagim. ful ally, the USA, fight fires on Amer- to COVID-19, the Israeli delegation “Now that all of Israel is in lockdown, ican soil. joined a capsule of Cal-Fire firefight- it’s like they’re joining us in support, ers and they worked side by side in so that makes it feel a bit easier,” Blum 10 officers and firefighters from Isra- 24-hour shifts over the next 12 days. added. el’s Fire and Rescue Services, rescue and forest fire experts, and a Foreign “We really felt the importance of our “While we played just a small role in Ministry representative, recently Jewish identity in California,” said saving forest lands in Sacramento, it returned to Israel from Sacramento, Edgar Blum, one of the Israeli fire- was extremely heartwarming to see California, where they assisted local fighters. “The Jewish Agency and firefighters from all around the world forces in battling a wave of wildfires the consulate ensured we had kosher – especially Israel and the USA – sweeping through the area. food, we recited kiddush on Friday joining forces and working together to night and met with the Jewish mayor Since the beginning of the year, there save lives, forests and property. To see of Sacramento, who thanked us for the humanity in helping those who have been nearly 7,900 wildfires in our efforts. It was certainly a proud- needed to be relocated from their California, burning over 3.3 million to-be-Jewish/proud-to-be-Israeli homes. This is what people are meant acres. Since August 15, when Califor- moment.” nia’s fires increased, there have been to do. Our most important work is 25 fatalities and over 4,200 struc- Many of the firefighters left families coming together and helping each tures destroyed. With no significant and young children at home to make other.” n

| 53 THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND RELIGIOUS ZIONIST LEADERS

OUR SERIES ON LEADERS WHO HAVE SHAPED OVER THE LAST 150 YEARS

Rav Yehuda Leib HaKohen Maimon

av Yehuda Leib HaKohen He served as Israel’s first Minister of and whose name was Moshe ben Maimon (born Fishman, 1875- Religion; helped draft Israel’s Decla- Maimon. 1962) was born in Bessarabia, ration of Independence and was one Rthen part of the Russian Empire. Rav of its signatories, and played a pivotal Rav Maimon was appointed Minister Maimon studied in Lithuanian yeshi- role in promoting Judaism in the new of Religion and Minister in Charge vot and after receiving semicha from Jewish State. A polymath and prolific of War Casualties in both the provi- Rav Yechiel Mechel Epstein, author author, he was awarded the Israel sional government and the First Knes- of the Aruch HaShulchan, he served Prize for his contribution to rabbinic set. Elected to the first Knesset in as maggid in Marculesti and then literature (1958). 1949 as a member of the United Reli- as Rabbi of Ungeni (1905-13). He gious Front (an alliance of Agudat Yis- became active in the Chibbat Tzion rael, Poalei , Mizrachi movement, for whom he wrote pas- and HaPoel HaMizrachi), he retained sionate pro-aliyah material and, after his ministerial role in the first and meeting Rav Isaac Jacob Reines second governments, resigned from (1900), the founder of Mizrachi, the Israeli cabinet over a dispute he took an active part in Miz- with Ben-Gurion, ceased his rachi’s founding conference in political activities after the death Vilna (1902) and in its first of his wife in 1957 and then world conference in Press- devoted himself entirely to lit- burg, Bratislava. erary work.

After making aliyah (1913), Rav Maimon played what was Rav Maimon was among unquestionably the dominant the founders of Mizrachi’s role in promoting Judaism in broad educational network the founding of the new Jewish in Eretz Yisrael. Imprisoned State and in its nascent govern- by the Turkish authorities at the mental institutions, particularly outbreak of World War I and con- through his remarkable friendship demned to death, he was ultimately with Ben-Gurion, who held him in freed due to active intervention by the highest regard. Jewish American leaders. He traveled to the United States, where he helped He was instrumental in ensuring that organize and strengthen Mizrachi all government institutions, including and, after returning to Eretz Yisrael Rav Maimon was one of many gov- the army, serve only kosher food, in on the first ship to reach its shores ernment ministers who, at Ben-Gu- promoting public Shabbat observance after World War I, he and Rav Kook rion’s request, Hebraicized his orig- (including by government officials), established the institution of the inal, exilic name. Not surprisingly, and in convincing Ben-Gurion to vest Chief Rabbinate. In 1936, he founded he did not much care for the name the Chief Rabbinate with authority .the literal translation of Fish- over marriage and divorce matters) איש דג -Mossad HaRav Kook, which still pub lishes religious books. As Chairman man); as he explained it, he chose the He is also credited with the wide because his family was acceptance amongst Zionist halachic מימון of the Jewish Agency Executive, he name was interned by the British on “Black descended from the Rambam (Mai- authorities of reciting Hallel on Yom Saturday” in June 1946. monides), whom he greatly admired HaAtzmaut. 

54 | RAV KOOK’S TEACHINGS THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND

Rabbi Chanan Morrison

Our Protective Fortress

he sukkah we live in during The Ultimate Fortress to the Land of Israel is based not on Sukkot is by definition a tem- Clearly, the protective aspect of the our military prowess but on the moral porary dwelling. The Sages ruled sukkah is of a spiritual nature. The strength of our eternal covenant with Tthat a very tall structure, over 10 meters eternal truth is that the sukkah — G-d and the merit of the Torah’s high, is invalid as a sukkah because it purposely defined as a structure mitzvot. is a permanent structure. On the other so flimsy it cannot even be called a hand, an exposed hut consisting of only proper dwelling — is a fortress that Beautifying the Law two walls and a handbreadth for the protects us from all adversaries and However, we should not be satis- third is perfectly acceptable. foes. What is it that transforms the fied with keeping only the minimum exposed sukkah into a shelter and This rickety booth is our protective requirements of Torah law. The Sages stronghold? Certainly not any of its fortress. As King David said, “You physical properties. Rather, its source taught that Jerusalem was destroyed protect them in a sukkah from the of inner strength is none other than because the judges ruled according strife of tongues” (Tehillim 31:21). G-d’s word. The sukkah protects us by to the strict letter of the law. They Why should such a flimsy structure be virtue of the Torah law that declares failed to take into account the spirit a paradigm of protection and safety? this structure to be our shelter during of the law and seek a ruling both just the holiday of Sukkot. and compassionate — lifnim mishurat The Sukkot of the Great Assembly ha-din (Baba Metzia 30b). To better understand the metaphor This is an important message for all times, especially in our generation. The mitzvah of sukkah is based on of the sukkah, we should examine We need great courage to return to Divine law, but there is an ancient a remarkable Talmudic passage. In the Land of our fathers and rebuild custom to adorn the sukkah with Nechemiah 8:17, it states that the our . Where can we decorated fabrics, fruits, and grains Jewish people had not dwelt in sukkot find the moral and spiritual resolve (Sukkah 10a). We should similarly from the time of Yehoshua until the to withstand the challenges of those seek to “adorn” the Torah law. We mitzvah was reinstated after their who oppose our return and deny our should go beyond minimum require- return from the Babylonian exile. right to a homeland in Eretz Yisrael? How could this mitzvah have been ments and aspire to the highest level Like the sukkah dwelling, our national neglected for so many centuries? of G-d’s word, in its purest ethical home is based on the spiritual form. Then we will merit that “David’s The Talmud (Arachin 32b) explains strength of G-d’s eternal word. The fallen sukkah” (Amos 9:11), the that the Jewish people always per- most advanced weapons may be able prophet’s metaphor for Jewish sover- formed the mitzvah of dwelling in a to penetrate the thickest walls, but eignty, will rise again, speedily in our sukkah. However, the sukkot erected they cannot prevail over the strong- days. by the Great Assembly in the time of hold of G-d’s word. Nechemiah were special sukkot, pos- From Silver from the Land of Israel and This is our fortress, our ultimate shel- adapted from Ma’amarei HaReaya vol. I, pp. sessing a protective quality that had ter of security. G-d’s eternal promise 149-150. not existed since the days of Yehoshua that the Jewish people will return to bin Nun. According to the Talmud, their Land and the House of Israel will these were not even physical sukkot, be built once again. but rather a unique spiritual act of Ezra and the Great Assembly: “They The protective sukkah of the Great prayed and abolished the passion Assembly was the merit provided by for idolatry, and this merit protected their spiritual efforts to abolish the Rabbi Chanan Morrison is the author of them like a sukkah.” desire for idolatry. Similarly, our right several books on Rav Kook’s writings.

Background illustration of Rav Kook courtesy of www.gedolimcanvas.com | 55 GENERAL INTEREST SOCIAL COMMENTARY

Rabbi Chaim Navon

Celebrity for a Moment THE ECHO OF THE SUKKAH

rev Sukkot 1997. 3 pm. Moise a time is naturally accompanied by a This is what Kohelet teaches us too. The Amsalem of Montreal hears a sense of joy and satisfaction. After a King of Jerusalem repeatedly tells us, is ָה ֶבל .everything is vanity – ַה ּכֹל ָה ֶבל knock on the door. It’s a court whole year of hard work, the farmer Eclerk with a summons for urgent legal finally sees blessing in his efforts. He also the breath that comes out of our proceedings. The Building Committee can spend time at home now and lit- mouths, which of course dissipates very had issued a complaint against Moise, erally enjoy the fruits of his labors. It is quickly… as does our entire life. demanding he immediately dismantles precisely at this time the Torah teaches the sukkah he just built on his balcony. us to leave our beautiful homes for a “Yesterday I was but a drop of sperm,” week and live in a shaky shack. said Marcus Aurelius, “And tomorrow The residents, many of whom were I will be a pile of dust.” Muslims, argued that the building’s Because stability, abundance and secu- Some people would learn from this that constitution forbade such a structure rity are only an illusion. and that it the building’s life has no value, but Kohelet’s conclu- esthetic appearance and lowers the We are all mortal. Anything we build, sion is different: “The sum of the matter, value of the apartments. anything we obtain or achieve, is all when all is said and done, is to fear G-d transient and temporary. and keep His commandments, for that So a few hours before chag, Moise finds is Man’s sole duty.” One can live a life himself in court. The judge on duty A father asked his son what he wanted of value, if one foregoes the pretension seemingly understood what was hap- to be when he grew up. “A mega-star,” of living forever, and endows his or her pening and postponed the case for a few said the boy. Among all the dreams a life with meaning here and now, as our days, which of course made the whole person can have, this is perhaps the G-d taught us. thing redundant. Moise took down his most pathetic. However, one could sukkah at the end of the chag and case say, perhaps, that this dream is a weird Even if our sukkah only stands for a closed. variation of the ancient human dream week, we will build it with care and beauty. We will hang colored chains Or so he thought. The next year, Moise’s of immortality. neighbors issued a lawsuit well before even if we fear – or perhaps hope – the Even if we all die someday; even if our Sukkot, and the case went through a rain will destroy them. And if neces- stay here is temporary, surely our name number of courts before ending up in sary, like Moise Amsalem, we will fight and fame will remain for eternity? the Canadian Supreme Court. There, in for our right to build our temporary structure. 2004, the judges ruled that Amsalem’s Well no. I was once asked in an inter- religious freedom overrode his neigh- view how I want to be remembered in A person’s life, deeds and name do not bor’s objections, and allowed him to 100 years’ time. I said no-one would last forever, but they can reverberate build a sukkah on his own balcony. Inter remember me in 100 years’ time, apart through eternity if we instill them with alia, the judges noted that the tempo- from my great-grandchildren perhaps, meaning and value. rary structure is only up for one week if I manage to be a particularly good a year, it is not really a nuisance and human being. Then this flash of lightning that is our neither does it lower the value of the life will fully illuminate for one short apartments. Even if we become celebrities or mega- moment, and what more can we ask for? stars for a moment, our names and fame Indeed, the sukkah is transient in No-one will remember us down here will disappear like a dream in the night. a temporary dwell- in another 100 years, but some-One in , ִ ּד ַירת ֲעַראי essence, a In ancient Rome, when a victorious ing. And this is also the spiritual mes- Heaven will remember us forever. general marched proudly through the sage of the chag itself. city streets, a slave would march beside the time when the him and whisper in his ear: “Remember Rabbi Chaim Navon is a renowned author , ַחג ָה ָא ִסיף Sukkot is farmers gather in their produce. Such death… Thus passes worldly glory.” and educator.

56 | GENERAL INTEREST GENERAL INTEREST

Rabbi Elisha Aviner

Teaching Our Children About Money

hildren who are able to work 2. To value money earned own personal example. How do we for payment will experience through hard work and honesty. treat our money? the feeling of earning an Chonest wage. They worked hard – 3. Not to be too miserly or For example, if we tend to express sometimes very hard – and for long wasteful, to be wary of spending our approval of the wealthy, with a touch of not-so-hidden envy, we hours, for a measly minimum wage. money in vain and to save and are transmitting a strong message Nevertheless, they may learn that happily spend whenever the need arises. that accumulating money is an ideal. money does not grow on trees and Or if we buy gadgets and products they are likely to value the money they However, what does “whenever the because everyone else is buying them earned through their own efforts. need arises” mean? What need? – and the neighbors have just bought Whose need? Who decides what’s Our role is to educate them to one too – we are exemplifying the needed and what’s not? become fond of their money and not ideal that social status is a priority value and one can buy it through to waste it. To encourage them to save I suggest the answer is a priority list. material goods. Or the children see and to spend it on worthwhile items What’s more important in life and us succumb to social pressure. And if and causes. what’s less important? For example, parents fight with their child on every the relationship between games and cent he or she asks for, even when it’s Too much fondness for honestly- books, between cognitive skills games justified, they are educating towards earned money can of course lead to and trendy, fashionable pastimes, and stinginess. miserliness. A miser is someone who when is there room for chesed and loves his money so much he cannot tzedaka. From the moment a child If Mom and Dad are always arguing bring himself to part with it. Even if has his or her own money, one should about money, or bemoaning their lot he sleeps with gold coins under his educate them to give ma’aser kesafim and saying “we can’t afford it” or are pillow, he himself is likely to live on (a tenth of their earnings) to charity. just never happy with what they have, a minimum and certainly won’t give the children absorb all that and could Before children earn their first very much charity. conclude that they just got dealt a bad money, they largely receive it as a deal and life sucks. At the other extreme is wastefulness. gift. Without parental intervention, they could place little value on money These are of course negative As the Rambam writes (Hilchot because it’s so easy to come by. examples. Act in the opposite way De’ot 1), there are those who chase around money and your children money, and whatever they have is That’s why giving pocket money will learn how to treat it in a healthy, never enough, and there are those without an educational context positive, grateful and generous way. who make no effort to earn what they can be very dangerous. Even those need. You have scrooges and savers parents who give their child a few In short, be thoughtful of how you are and spendthrifts and philanthropists. dollars to “go buy yourself a treat,” behaving and thinking about money, Is there an ideal balance though? are risking their youngsters placing and consider how you want your little value on money, demanding children to relate to it. Work out the How does that translate into financial more, or developing negative and self- principles you want to teach them and education in our times? What do we destructive attitudes to cash. then practice what you preach. want to teach our children about money? In my opinion, our educational function is not solely to lay down the Rabbi Elisha Aviner teaches in yeshivot 1. That it’s a means and not an rules. Sure that’s one side of the coin and founded an organization to end. (pun intended), but the other is our help parents with adolescent education.

58 | GENERAL INTEREST

Rabbi Elisha Aviner Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier

The Key to a Successful Marriage

hat’s the biggest cause of divorce today? If you were to ask a group of your Wfriends to list the biggest cause of divorce today, you would probably get a string of answers: money, children, religion, in-laws.

Interestingly, none of them are true.

While any one of these may create fric- tion in a relationship, none of them are children to a chassidishe school, and A big part of a happy marriage is real- significant causes of divorce. The one he wants them brought up Litvishe, the izing there are many things that won’t and only leading cause of divorce today solution isn’t for the kids to grow payot go the way I want. And it’s not because is fighting. just on one side. Or if he wants to have my spouse is mean or selfish. It’s not at least a dozen kids, and she feels that because he always has to have things Now you may say, “Well, isn’t that obvi- four is about all she can handle, there his way. And it’s not that, “We aren’t ous? Of course couples breaking up are is no solution that will satisfy both of meant for each other.” When you take going to be fighting. But it’s the issues them. two people with independent interests that cause the fights. The issues are the and values, it’s inevitable there will be crux of the problem.” These issues never go away. They differences. remain part and parcel of a couple’s life But this is a misunderstanding. It’s throughout their marriage. Yet despite The more a couple works on their bond not the issues that cause fights. It’s having these types of differences, most of love and affection, the easier these how the couple deals with the issues. couples are able to create a long-stand- things become. It’s much easier to give That defines their relationship. It’s not ing, harmonious union. in to someone I have a deep regard for. the children, or money, or religion, or If husband and wife can learn to have in-laws causing the trouble. It’s how What’s even more eye-opening is that true regard for one another, they will be the couple negotiates their differences studies show that about a third of the able to find a way around the issues that over these issues. That determines the issues couples fight about have no come up. But it still requires work, and success or the failure of the marriage. compromise position. It’s either your more importantly, the understanding parents’ house for the Seder or mine. that “Of course, there will be differ- As an example: Irreconcilable We paint the living room green or blue. ences, and naturally I will have to give Differences Mixing the two isn’t an option. Despite in often.” That is critical for a happy these differences, many couples are able marriage. Studies show that 70% of successful, to maintain a loving happy relation- long-standing marriages have irrecon- ship… and some aren’t. cilable differences. An irreconcilable difference refers to a major life issue Two mature, reasonable people can when he wants one thing, she wants manage to figure out a way to deal another, and there is no possible com- with almost anything that life throws promise. If he has a thriving business at them. Sometimes my way, sometimes in NYC, and for medical reasons, she yours, but we’re in this together, and Rabbi Ben Tzion Shafier is a veteran needs to live in San Diego, there is no we’ll figure it out. And if they can’t, educator and noted relationships expert middle ground. Chicago won’t help there are always plenty of people who who served as a high school rebbe for 15 either of them. If she wants to send the are older and wiser to guide them. years before creating TheShmuz.com.

| 59 An Israeli in Dubai by Michael Granoff

uring the ride back to my hotel, abandoning its fidelity to the decades- As with all life right now, this trip I struck up a conversation with old Arab boycott of Israel. took place against the backdrop of the Uber driver, who was from the global COVID crisis. To gain DPakistan, where his family remained. Less than two months ago, it was entry into UAE, my Israeli passport He asked where I was from. “Israel,” I announced that the UAE had agreed was fine, but I also had to bring proof replied. He briefly turned around and to normalize relations with Israel, and of a recent negative COVID test. In smiled. since then, through Linkedin requests what appeared to be a highly disci- and various introductions, I’ve had plined society, the wearing of masks “You’re the first person I’ve met from several worthwhile exchanges with in closed spaces was virtually uni- there!” Emiratis over video chat. A few weeks versal, and the case rate is low. This “I won’t be the last,” I promised him, ago, an opportunity to travel to Dubai is in stark contrast to the situation in as I imagined how this highly civilized came about, and I leaped at it. Israel, which at the time of my trip society will react when the Chanukah had the highest per-capita infection vacation brings Israeli tourists by the Never have I returned from two days rate in the world. I saw many things throngs. abroad with a greater sense of opti- Israel can learn from our new friends mism or potential. The purpose of the — management of the virus is cer- As he dropped me off, I said, “Do me trip was to establish relationships as a tainly one of them. a favor. Tell your family in Pakistan basis for future business, and on that My short trip was taken up mostly they should be next to make peace count, mission accomplished. But that with meetings, but I had time for with us.” He held up his hand for me was the least of it. to halt my exit from the car. After a one brief excursion. With the tem- moment of apprehension, I saw he What I found was not just a hunger perature too high to make anything had brought up the video app on his for commerce, but a genuine yearn- outdoors manageable, I took an Uber to the Dubai Mall – the world’s sec- phone. “Here, please tell them your- ing for friendship between peoples. ond-largest with over half a million self!” And so I did. Each meeting evinced curiosity about square meters of retail space. Even in Israel, and about Jewish practice, Of all the unexpected twists of 2020, a world in which retail is in a tailspin nothing would have been harder for culture and history. That curiosity and COVID remains a threat, the me to imagine than someone telling seemed to be colored by respect, and mall – which seemed larger than all me that my next business trip would even affection at times. At moments, of – had a sense of vibrancy be to Dubai… direct from Tel Aviv! a strange sense of déjà vu set in — I and safety. The architecture was At the time, I already held tickets for guess, after all, we are indeed cous- eye-catching, the space immaculate, two March visits to the US (trips both ins. The tenor of my interaction with and it featured seemingly every major canceled by COVID), and the United Emiratis was as unexpected as it was global brand under the sun. Incongru- Arab Emirates showed no signs of uplifting. ously, it also has an indoor ski slope

60 | Accords are worthy of universal commendation, and profound grat- one itude. The word ‘historic’ is loosely other. tossed around – this accomplish- ment will stand the test of time and The business prove to be one of the most impactful potential of Isra- regional events of the era. One hopes el-UAE relations has stag- it will pave the way for fruitful rela- gering ramifications which will tions between Israel and many other become apparent very quickly. Today, countries. – com- commercial tickets for direct flights plete with just weeks from now became avail- The evening before I departed, I was an equipment able. However, even as I followed the part of a large group that gathered at a rental section indistin- enthusiasm in the press and social restaurant attached to a luxury hotel. guishable to those on the slopes of media in recent weeks, nothing could Even though I did not get the full Utah. Catching the current outdoor have prepared me for the depth and culinary experience (because I keep temperature on my watch – 106 Fahr- genuineness that repeated across the kosher), it would not surprise me to enheit (41 c) – I spent a few minutes conversations I had. Or the gutra-clad find the establishment on a list of the watching bundled-up skiers make property owner who enthused about world’s best restaurants, even based their way down the hill. the kosher kitchen they’d installed to solely on the level of service. Of course, as impressive as my trip accommodate future guests. (In fact, we landed back in Israel to the news Shortly after came the most memora- was, UAE lacks some critical features ble moment of the visit when Ahmad that are taken for granted in Israel and that UAE is insisting its hotels make with whom I was in conversation, America. Only a minority of residents kosher food available.) checked his phone and I checked are Emirati nationals. When one of Another meeting, scheduled for an mine. We had both received news my interlocutors pointed out a policy hour, extended to more than twice alerts from outlets in our respective change that opened up an opportu- that length, with deep discussions countries. My alert read “Israel, UAE nity, I probed as to how policy got on history, religion, philosophy and to sign deal at White House on Sep- changed. He seemed almost puzzled politics. At one point, my new friend tember 15 — US officials.” We raised by the question, then smiled and just squinted at me and sought assurance our mojitos (mine alcoholic, his not) indicated that it’s all up to the lead- that if Joe Biden became President, he ers. When an Israeli journalist asked to toast the moment. And history did would not race to reenter the JCPOA, indeed seem to be in the air. his guide last week how the people the so-called Iran nuclear deal which, felt about peace with Israel, she quite clearly, looks no less danger- As we approach the final quarter responded: “We follow our leaders. ous to Emiratis than it does to most of 2020, the year itself has already Whatever they decide we support, Israelis. become a punchline of infamy. But blindly.” life is nothing if not paradoxical. And Yes, dealing with the mutual urgent this week gave me hope that 2020 may Accustomed as so many of us are to threat of Iran undoubtedly helped also be recalled as the year the prom- enduring the cynicism and hypocrisy bring us together, and is an issue on ise of peace in the Middle East at long with which much of the world treats which we are compelled to cooper- last became a reality. Inshallah. Israel, I am more reluctant to pass ate. But less than 48-hours on the judgment on these bases than I might ground made clear to me that rela- have been years ago. Bright-eyed ide- tions between our countries are going alism has a place, but to condition all to be about more than shared security relations on a Jeffersonian ideal would interests and even more than mutual be impractical and counterproduc- economic exchange. tive. My instinct, instead, was to build relationships with individuals based Leaders in Abu Dhabi, in Jerusalem on mutual respect, and hope that over and Washington who were coura- Michael Granoff emigrated to Israel in time all parties can learn lessons from geous enough to pursue the Abraham 2013 with his wife and four children.

| 61 GENERAL INTEREST

Rabbi Benji Levy

Finding Happiness in Corona Times THE MOMENTS BETWEEN THE MILESTONES

ilestones and smachot have – water? Moreover, if libations are to The celebration of water during the fes- looked very different in be celebrated, surely there are more tival of Sukkot is the ‘extraordinarifica- recent months. Leading precious liquids such as: ‘wine that tion’ of the ordinary – the celebration of Mup to these special occasions, many gladdens the heart of man’ or ‘oil that the moments between the milestones, people are disappointed the event will makes his face shine…’ (Psalms 104:15) slowing down the periods in our life look very different to how it looked Other liquids such as these were used that we often fast-forward. Giving birth in their dreams. And yet after the many times in Temple offerings – why is incredible, but this pales in compar- event, many have shared that it didn’t is the essence of joy associated with the ison with the potential life to be lived dampen their simcha at all. I believe most basic of liquids? – we should rejoice at a wedding, but that an ancient ritual commemorated even more in the resulting marriage. on Sukkot can help us appreciate not Life is filled with many milestones. Perhaps Sukkot is the ‘time of our just these more modest milestones, but Signposted by events such as birthdays, rejoicing’ because after the inspiration perhaps even the quieter moments we bar/bat , engagements, wed- of the High Holidays it celebrates the have been experiencing in between. dings, graduations, reunions and other simplicity of nature through the Four festivities, we always celebrate the big Species and sukkot. The Talmud (Sukkah 51a) states: ‘who- moments and are excited by the irreg- ever did not see the joyous water-draw- ular excitement of such events. How- This idea is highlighted in the ulti- ing celebrations, never saw joy in his ever, if our joy is only acknowledged at mate collective celebration of the year life.’ While there were elaborate fes- these times, the humdrum regularity revolving around the most elementary tivities, the essence of this celebration of the majority of life becomes but an liquid. Thus perhaps the statement of revolved around a ceremony which intermission between the highlights. the Mishnah that: ‘whoever did not see involved drawing ‘from the wells of The oft-unnoticed periods between are the joyous water-drawing celebrations, salvation’ (Isaiah 12:3) in the heart of where we spend most of our life and it never saw joy in his life’ is to be taken the and bringing these would be sad to allow these intervals to literally. If one only experiences joy on waters to appeal for a bountiful season remain out of focus. Whereas oil and the islands of happy occasions and spe- of rain. While this ceremony appears wine are luxuries, water is a necessity. cial events, one will never experience strange, the question begs as to why it is The former are artificial stimuli usually true joy in the mundane yet miraculous the ultimate symbol of joy? Surely there reserved for special occasions, while ocean of life. are other milestones in one’s life where the latter is part and parcel of every joy is experienced on a deeper level liquid for every living being. Corona has than the libations of the plainest liquid brought this message into greater focus. Rabbi Benji Levy is CEO of Mosaic United.

62 | GENERAL INTEREST Rabbi Benji Levy IT’S A CONSENSUS: 90 points

mosaic consensus 90.indd 5 8/27/19 12:10 PM