<\/p>\n
New York-Rabbi : Yakov David<\/p>\n
The journey from the Days of Awe to Sukkot is a movement from constraint to expansion. Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur belong to the realm of judgment; bounded, exacting, demanding reckoning. Sukkot removes those limits entirely. It is called “the season of our rejoicing” precisely because joy, by its nature, knows no boundaries; Its very essence is the breaking of limits.<\/p>\n
This is hinted at in the verse \u201cHis left hand under my head, His right arm embraces me.\u201d (Song of Songs 2:6) The left hand, the side of strict justice, is the Days of Awe. The right arm, expansive and embracing, is Sukkot. The sukka’s very structure, requiring two full walls and a bare handbreadth of a third, mirrors this embrace: the shape of an arm drawing someone close. The sukka itself is a divine embrace.<\/p>\n
Joy always moves outward from a center, breaking through what has been closed and confined. This is why we recite throughout Sukkot: \u201cOut of the straits I called to God; God answered me with expansiveness\u201d (Psalms 118:5). The straits are the narrow world of judgment; the expansiveness is the joy that follows escape from it.<\/p>\n
Seen together, the three occasions form a single arc. Rosh HaShana measures and judges. Yom Kippur transitions. It is purifying, yet still forward and severe. Sukkot culminates the process: what was concealed is now revealed, \u201con the day of our festival,\u201d in plain sight.<\/p>\n
Sukkot’s joy reaches deeper still, to sasson, an inner joy beyond ordinary rejoicing, drawn “joyfully from the springs of salvation.” This joy does not stay hidden as a private spark; It bursts forth for all to see, like flowing water.<\/p>\n
For this reason, Sukkot is called “the sukka of Your peace”, a festival of unity, gathering the Jewish people and even the nations who once came to the Temple, joining heaven and earth, all of existence rejoicing together in its liberation.<\/p>\n
– From the book Change and Renewal by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York-Rabbi : Yakov David The journey from the Days of Awe to Sukkot is a movement from constraint to expansion. Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur belong to the realm of judgment; bounded, exacting, demanding reckoning. Sukkot removes those limits entirely. It is called “the season of our rejoicing” precisely because joy, by its …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n