Be Happy!

We are in the midst of a month long holiday (the HOLY days) that started with Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year: G-d is THE king, not Apple computers) continued into Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement: Oops, sorry we messed up! Take Two) and now we are in the middle of Succot (Be Happy!). It is an actual commandment to be happy during Succoth (“You shall dwell in Sukkot seven days, every citizen in Israel shall dwell in Sukkot, so that your descendants shall know that in sukkot I caused the Children of Israel to dwell when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,” and "Seven days you shall celebrate for Hashem, your God, in the place which Hashem will choose; for Hashem, your God, will bless you, with all your produce and all your work and you will be only happy.")  My husband believes that this happiness comes from having emunah (faith), and, as is his mantra, he has brought that faith back to having joy from immersing oneself in the details. I am not so sure that G-d’s commandments for us to be happy had a lot to do with the details in this particular instance. Rashi (commentator on the Torah) even backs me up as he interprets this not as a commandment to be happy, but a promise that we will be happy. I believe that G-d is ultimately interested in our being joyous and that joy is achieved (a by-product) once we are in sync and observing his commandments. Maybe our interpretations are not so different.

At any rate, we are in the middle of this joyous festival; and honestly, I find it quite peaceful if not joyful to sit in the sukkah. Plus my hubbie has removed some of the DRPs (dead rabbi posters) and we now have more joyful posters and family photos. It’s beautiful and I am quite happy. 

We just finished the first three days of the holiday (yom tov plus Shabbos: religious days with restrictions) and now we are in the middle section (chol hamoed: non religious days with less restrictions). There are still a few restrictions but not so many as we have during the yom tovim. We can go on trips, drive, turn lights on, take a shower (really hard to be happy when you are dirty and sweaty), etc., but we are supposed to lighten up our work so as to continue enjoying this time. I have a HUGE pile of laundry after three days of not showering (plus one sopping wet table cloth from the night that that it rained in the sukkah and another two dirty ones). I was carrying it all downstairs when youngest son saw me and said, “Mom! Stop! You can’t do laundry during Chol Hamoed!” I said, “I have to. I can’t wait seven more days.” My other son came around the corner, “Mom. You can’t do it! Don’t do it!” It’s hard enough having one rabbi in the house, now I’ve got two more (my older two let me figure these things out on my own) following me around the house yipping out orders. Its not that I love laundry, but you see if I wait seven more days (and there are six of us in the house, thank G-d), I will have at least 60 pair of underwear, 120 socks and 60 outfits to wash. That thought makes me SAD and G-d promised me, according to Rashi, that I would be happy. Plus, there will be six sets of linen, towels and sheets. Doing one load here and there would not be a burden on my happiness and lighten up the anxiety facing me at the end of the week compounded with dirty dishes and 175 emails. 

OK, so maybe I’m a bit too focused on the laundry, but, really, it just doesn’t’ seem like such a big deal. Now, if they really wanted me to be happy, the rabbis would have instituted something like, “No woman shall cook or clean for the entire holiday and her husband and children shall wait on her (or hire her a personal attendant) and buy her gifts and she shall be happy.” I suppose I will have to find some happiness is my heap of dirty clothes. And, there will be a lot more to add to the pile after our dance-a-thon next week. Simchat Torah will be finishing up this month of HOLY days and if you like to dance, this is your day. If you are still worried about the whole golden calf fiasco, this day is supposed to turn that all around as we are dancing for G-d and not a golden calf. If you don’t like to dance…you are out of luck (you surely don’t want to be one of the “wall standers,”). So, you might just want to try dancing and find some happiness amongst your two left feet and your sweaty clothing. #behappy, #succot #marriedtoayid #ataleoftwosouls