So writes Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch in relation to Sukkot – the “most joyful of all the Jewish festivals” – on this week’s parshah.
We tend to ascribe great importance to Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, but both of these serious days last a mere 24 hours (according to Torah law, although Rosh Hashannah is celebrated for two days ). In contrast, Sukkot – to which Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur are merely preparatory – lasts seven days during which we’re supposed to “rejoice before Hashem” (Leviticus 23:40).
G-d doesn’t want us to be morbid or morose. Rav Hirsch writes that Judaism calls for the “normal mood of one’s life to be, not the bowed down broken feeling, but the erect happy joy of life,” which comes as a result “of a life faithfully devoted to duty.”
Happiness is actually a running theme in Rav Hirsch’s exposition of Judaism. Rav Hirsch rejects the portrayal of G-d by Judaism’s enemies as angry and vengeful. He associates such character traits with pagan gods, which Judaism utterly rejects. Our G-d wants human beings to soar, not to cower in fear. He wants them to be happy and confident, not terrified.
Indeed, prophecy can only descend upon a prophet in a state of joy. And according to the Yerushalmi (Sukkos 5:1), “the summit of joy” of Sukkot actually occasioned prophecy in the days of old. The Gemara asks: “Why is it called the Place of the Drawing (beis hasho’evah)?” It answers: “Because through [the joy experienced there, people] draw Divine Inspiration.”
Human happiness is actually why G-d gave us so many morals and mitzvot. Not so that we receive reward in the world to come for heeding them. But rather, because the Torah “fills with eternal beauty the most fleeting moment of transitory life. Ratza Hakadosh Baruch Hu l’zakos es Yisrael, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u’mitzvot (Makkos 23) – G-d wished to bless His people…by weaving Torah u’mitzvot into all of earthly existence” (Collected Writings, vol. 2, p. 101, emphasis added).
Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) – head of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, Germany for over 35 years – was a prolific writer whose ideas, passion, and brilliance helped save German Jewry from the onslaught of modernity.
Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the host of “The Elliot Resnick Show” and the editor of an upcoming work on etymological explanations in Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch’s commentary on Chumash.