Posted October 9, 2008, by Rabbi Judy Abrams. Please refer to Maqom's home page for information about previous passages.
The Yerushalmi emphasizes the role that happiness plays in celebrating Sukkot: reciting Hallel, singing with flutes, dancing. It even makes two statements that is, at first, surprising: happiness begets happiness:
This (saying Hallel) is beloved and that (waving the lulav) is beloved.
The Holy Spirit rests only on someone whose heart is happy. (Y. Sukkah 5:1)
The entire discussion is one of the loveliest I’ve ever learned in rabbinic literature. Of course, the subject matter is of the happiest nature: Sukkot is the holiday of happiness.
Still recovering from Hurricane Ike, this is personally helpful for me (and many of you may be dealing with health or financial problems). We can’t wait for God to come and make us happy. God is attracted to happiness. And how do we get happy, whether we are in the midst of stress or not? On Sukkot, we celebrate, we play music, we dance, we do things that delight the heart.
Discussion Questions:
Chag sameiach!