Succos; Appreciating Value
Succos is almost upon us so I will forgo the opportunity of discussing this week’s Parsha, Ha’azinu, and focus on this most beautiful holiday. Succos is referred to as “The Time of Rejoicing”. This needs explanation. Is not every holiday a time for rejoicing? Would we not consider the holiday of Pesach which celebrates our exodus from Egypt, the birth of our nation a more significant time of rejoicing?
The Torah refers to Succos as the Festival of the Harvest because it occurs at the period of the harvest. The summer has ended and all the grain has already dried and is ready to be milled. We are getting ready to hunker down for the winter. Could it be that this is the reason why it is the Time of Rejoicing?
The problem with this explanation is that it seems to be going against the flow of the calendar. This month of Tishrei began with the two serious holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Although they are holidays they are nevertheless somber days. They are the days of Judgement. On Yom Kippur we fast and refrain from worldly pleasures so as to be like angels. The first ten days of this month we are totally focused on our spiritual side. Does it not seem odd that five days after Yom Kippur we celebrate our material wealth and accomplishment?
Considering the frame of mind that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur engendered how should one feel about the abundant harvest he has brought in? Certainly the Torah does not wish that we frown upon material success. The Torah itself rewards our commitment to her commandments with a plentiful bounty from the produce our fields yield. It seems to me that the first ten days of the month helped the Jew in re-evaluating the priorities of life. What are the most important factors in my life and what are the less important important factors.
The greatest blessing a person can have is the ability to discern what is truly valuable and what is not. Consider the person who thinks his money should spent on drinking and partying. He will squander all his hard earned money in no time at all and will have nothing to show for it. The person who understands the value of money will save and invest his earnings in a way that it will work to make more money for him.
After having traveled through the first ten days of Tishrei and we have a clearer perspective of what is truly valuable and what is not. We have hopefully gained an insight of the eternal value of a mitzvah and of a Shabbos.
So now as we approach the period of the harvest in which we finally reap the hard earned bounty we rejoice over our newly refreshed outlook. We now know how to use our bounty. In what endeavors should we invest our time and resources.
Have a wonderful Shabbos and a joyous Succos/Succot
Paysach Disknd