I get “Happy Holidays' ' a lot these days from neighbors who know I’m Jewish and honor our sacred New Year season with a sweet greeting - even as it’s borrowed from December. American culture uses ‘happy’ a lot when it comes to holidays or birthday wishes - but the single original Jewish holy day on which we are actually ‘commanded’ to be happy -- is Succot, coming up in just under two weeks, when the moon is full, for a full week of festivities. It also shows up, along with curious demand for joy, in today’s chapter:
"וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֖ בְּחַגֶּ֑ךָ אַתָּ֨ה וּבִנְךָ֤ וּבִתֶּ֙ךָ֙ וְעַבְדְּךָ֣ וַאֲמָתֶ֔ךָ וְהַלֵּוִ֗י וְהַגֵּ֛ר וְהַיָּת֥וֹם וְהָאַלְמָנָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֗ים תָּחֹג֙ לַיהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בַּמָּק֖וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֑ה כִּ֣י יְבָרֶכְךָ֞ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ בְּכֹ֤ל תְּבוּאָֽתְךָ֙ וּבְכֹל֙ מַעֲשֵׂ֣ה יָדֶ֔יךָ וְהָיִ֖יתָ אַ֥ךְ שָׂמֵֽחַ׃ "
“Be happy during your festival, along with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow in your communities. Celebrate a seven days festival for your God YHWH, in the place that God will choose; for your God will bless all your harvest and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but happiness.” DV 16:14-15
‘Simcha’ is the word used here, twice, to proscribe ‘happiness’, that feeling that doesn’t always perform well under pressure and esp. during festive familial gatherings...
So why this biblical demand? Does the fact that the fall harvest at the core of the Succot celebration, comes right after the days of atonement have anything to do with it?
Happiness is complex and its pursuit is not only at the heart of the American story but keeps many of us, and many scholars, up at night all over the world. For generations, Jewish sages have also written about what happy means, and also pondered this verse, its implications and how to translate it into action. On the one hand, there are prohibitions against public rituals of grief and mourning during the days of this holiday, even for close relatives. On the other hand we are encouraged/instructed to feast, dance, celebrate life for all we’ve got.
It is assumed by many that this fall harvest celebration, along with its built in prayers for winter rains, is one of the oldest on our calendar, critical in ancient days. The fall season is when the state of what’s in stock from summer crops determines survival during the winter months ahead. Rainmaking is a life or death reality, still. Sukkot has become known as “Time of our Happiness” because it is at the heart of what was the tribal cycle of seasonal return, in tune with the rhythm of nature, loss and growth, perhaps as a way to cultivate a sense of inner happiness, come what may, particularly at a time of great anxiety ahead of the unknown. Will we survive another winter?
As Yom Kippur grew in importance over generations and with growing distance from living on the land as farmers, the original basic happiness of survival became more of a spiritual exercise in collective optimism.
Rabbi Yitz Greenberg makes the connection:
“ Sukkot comes just four days after Yom Kippur, the most ascetic, self-denying, guilt-ridden, awesome holy day of the Jewish year. On the Day of Atonement, Jews reenact their own death, only to be restored to life in the resolution of the day. Only those who know the fragility of life can truly appreciate the full preciousness of every moment. The release from Yom Kippur leads to the extraordinary outburst of life that is Sukkot. On this holiday, Jews are commanded to eat, drink, be happy, dance, and relish life to the fullest, and never forget those who are in need.”
The original happy command was likely linked to the precarious anxiety of farmers facing seasonal shifts, but with time, as Greenberg writes, the meaning shifts to link one holiday to another, and one fragile concern to the wise human maxim - focus on as happy as you can, not fake but with insistence that the harvest is good no matter what, content with enough, persistent on the positive. Is this the secret to happiness at an age of too much excess and too many options?
Meaningful holy days, with happiness within and throughout, all year round.
Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections: Join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible, with daily reflections, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. January 2022-July 2025
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Reflecting how after going deep, atoning, and shedding sins of the past year..there needs to be a time of joy and gratitude for the harvest. I also resist the saccharine “happy holidays” no matter what holiday is being observed!