Happy Edition!

Moadim L’Simcha! This greeting, meaning “Joyous Festivals!” only comes out twice during the Jewish calendar year- on the middle days of Pesach and Sukkot. The traditional response to this festive greeting is "Chagim u'zmanim l'sasson," which means "Joyous holidays and seasons!" Here’s a fun video to illustrate the usage, featuring our students getting off the ferry at Governor’s Island yesterday.

The Torah famously commands us in the book of Devarim to "rejoice in our holiday" of Sukkot and to be "exclusively happy," referring to this chag as "the time of our joy." Feeling commandments are not unusual—fear God, love God, be happy, etc. —but they are hard to understand, let alone observe. Our earliest commentators struggle to translate these commandments into actionable steps. Some years, this charge is harder to observe. Last year was particularly hard for many of us to put on a happy face during Sukkot, which marked the first anniversary of Shiva B'October/October 7/The Black Shabbat. The command to be "only happy" felt unrealistic and even callous on the yahrzeit of one of the saddest days in Jewish history and in the midst of ongoing war and suffering. Last year, I did not feel authentic joy in any broad way. I hoped and assumed the world would be better on the second anniversary of Shiva B’October, but this year it again started with so much sadness in Israel, Gaza, here in America, and around the world. 

I read news about the ceasefire after Havdallah on Wednesday night, and I watched videos of crows gathering in Hostage Square and all over Israel and Gaza, bouncing and dancing with joy. I noticed that I felt anxious, incredulous about the possibility of better days to come. I know that what comes next, rebuilding lives, will be excruciating. 

So, I remind myself that we are commanded to choose joy. This year, I take it as a charge to remember that humans are capable of lifting themselves back up and celebrating, even when they have been through hell. As I enter this second yahrzeit of Shiva B’October–b’ezrat Hashem, with hostages home and the end of the war–I will keep revisiting the images of families and friends dancing from joy. I choose to replay that in my mind as an actionable, small step towards fulfilling the obligation to be “only happy” this Sukkot.