A TIME TO LAUGH... A TIME TO DANCE
Friday, October 17
Tishrei 18, Fourth Day of Sukkot
THE JOY OF UNITY
Armies once had the custom of singing victory songs as they went to war. Why would they sing a victory song when they had not yet begun to fight? To express the conviction that they would win. This conviction lifted the soldiers' morale and inspired them to fight more valiantly, secure in certain victory.
Sukkot is this victory song. We march with the "four kinds" armed with our spiritual weapons resolute to fight any battle, confident we will prevail.
Sukkot gives us the power to transcend our uncertainty, our fears and vulnerabilities. It helps us access a greater strength that inspires us to be joyous. (Conversely, lack of this awareness is the root of insecurity, fear, uncertainty, and the inevitable resulting despondency.)
Joy is a revealed expression of the soul's innate celebration of life—of our indispensable purpose in life, of our connection to our Divine mission. On Sukkot we celebrate this connection. We dance and sing with unadulterated joy in expression of genuine happiness from the essence of our being.
Sukkot is "the time of our rejoicing" because we do not celebrate alone—G-d also joins the celebration and rejoices with us, His creatures.
Joy unites us with G-d and with other people. Indeed, because joy cannot be celebrated alone, we are obligated to invite guests to our sukkahs.
"It is fitting that all of Israel should dwell in a single sukkah," says the Talmud. Though physically we might sit in separate sukkot, spiritually we all sit together in one unifying sukkah. We bind together the "four kinds" which symbolize different personalities, acknowledging that our diversity is our strength, that it feeds our unity, and that each of us has a unique contribution to make to the greater good.
Let us gather together during the remaining days of Sukkot and celebrate—celebrate our lives and the gifts that G-d gives us every day. This message of hope, joy and unity is needed now more than ever. It is the ultimate fuel to be help us forge ahead, rebuild, and come out even greater.
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Saturday, October 18
Tishrei 19, Fifth Day of Sukkot
A TIME TO LAUGH... A TIME TO DANCE
The Rebbes tell us that what we accomplish on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur through tears, we can accomplish on Sukkot and Simchat Torah through joy.
The obvious question is, if you can accomplish the same thing with joy as with tears, who needs tears? Why not just skip Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and go straight to Sukkot?
But here's the secret—you can't reach the necessary state of joy unless you can cry first. True joy is not about denial or escape; it is a celebration of the gift of life and the mission with which we were charged. Such joy comes hand in hand with accountability and responsibility, and the need, when necessary, to be sensitive and shed some tears over our lost opportunities and mistakes.
In other words, there is time to cry and a time to rejoice, as we learn from the famous book authored by King Solomon, the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) which some read during Sukkot:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance... (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
The secret we need to master is how to ride the rhythms of life. This holiday season teach us exactly that—because it is all about cycles. What particularly stands out is the cycle of seven: Tishrei is the seventh month. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur important prayers are recited seven times. Seven days connect Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. And Sukkot lasts seven days.
On Hoshana Rabba we circle the bimah seven times, reciting seven Hoshanot. Then finally, on Shemini Atzeret, we celebrate Simchat Torah, circling the bimah seven times again, while reciting seven verses and dancing seven hakofot ("circlings").
Seven is the cycle of time, the cycle of existence, the cosmic cycle.
The secret to a balanced life is aligning ourselves with the inner cycles/rhythms of existence. To know when to cry and when to dance. Because there is a time for everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tishrei 18, Fourth Day of Sukkot
THE JOY OF UNITY
Armies once had the custom of singing victory songs as they went to war. Why would they sing a victory song when they had not yet begun to fight? To express the conviction that they would win. This conviction lifted the soldiers' morale and inspired them to fight more valiantly, secure in certain victory.
Sukkot is this victory song. We march with the "four kinds" armed with our spiritual weapons resolute to fight any battle, confident we will prevail.
Sukkot gives us the power to transcend our uncertainty, our fears and vulnerabilities. It helps us access a greater strength that inspires us to be joyous. (Conversely, lack of this awareness is the root of insecurity, fear, uncertainty, and the inevitable resulting despondency.)
Joy is a revealed expression of the soul's innate celebration of life—of our indispensable purpose in life, of our connection to our Divine mission. On Sukkot we celebrate this connection. We dance and sing with unadulterated joy in expression of genuine happiness from the essence of our being.
Sukkot is "the time of our rejoicing" because we do not celebrate alone—G-d also joins the celebration and rejoices with us, His creatures.
Joy unites us with G-d and with other people. Indeed, because joy cannot be celebrated alone, we are obligated to invite guests to our sukkahs.
"It is fitting that all of Israel should dwell in a single sukkah," says the Talmud. Though physically we might sit in separate sukkot, spiritually we all sit together in one unifying sukkah. We bind together the "four kinds" which symbolize different personalities, acknowledging that our diversity is our strength, that it feeds our unity, and that each of us has a unique contribution to make to the greater good.
Let us gather together during the remaining days of Sukkot and celebrate—celebrate our lives and the gifts that G-d gives us every day. This message of hope, joy and unity is needed now more than ever. It is the ultimate fuel to be help us forge ahead, rebuild, and come out even greater.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 18
Tishrei 19, Fifth Day of Sukkot
A TIME TO LAUGH... A TIME TO DANCE
The Rebbes tell us that what we accomplish on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur through tears, we can accomplish on Sukkot and Simchat Torah through joy.
The obvious question is, if you can accomplish the same thing with joy as with tears, who needs tears? Why not just skip Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and go straight to Sukkot?
But here's the secret—you can't reach the necessary state of joy unless you can cry first. True joy is not about denial or escape; it is a celebration of the gift of life and the mission with which we were charged. Such joy comes hand in hand with accountability and responsibility, and the need, when necessary, to be sensitive and shed some tears over our lost opportunities and mistakes.
In other words, there is time to cry and a time to rejoice, as we learn from the famous book authored by King Solomon, the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) which some read during Sukkot:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance... (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
The secret we need to master is how to ride the rhythms of life. This holiday season teach us exactly that—because it is all about cycles. What particularly stands out is the cycle of seven: Tishrei is the seventh month. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur important prayers are recited seven times. Seven days connect Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. And Sukkot lasts seven days.
On Hoshana Rabba we circle the bimah seven times, reciting seven Hoshanot. Then finally, on Shemini Atzeret, we celebrate Simchat Torah, circling the bimah seven times again, while reciting seven verses and dancing seven hakofot ("circlings").
Seven is the cycle of time, the cycle of existence, the cosmic cycle.
The secret to a balanced life is aligning ourselves with the inner cycles/rhythms of existence. To know when to cry and when to dance. Because there is a time for everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by kurtiskabbalah at 8:29:00 AM
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