Page 15 - HaMizrachi # 23 Sukkot Simchat Torah 2020 USA

MIZRACHI SCHOLARS-IN-RESIDENCE TORAT MIZRACHI

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

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