By Bob Braun, Sukkot first day, October 7, 2025
Chag sameach!
In my law firm – and maybe in legitimate businesses as well – we’re encouraged to let our co-workers know when we won’t be in the office.
On that basis I send out a message every time that I’m going to be out of the office for one of the Jewish holidays, and that means that I’m sending a notice for every week in Tishrei. Building on Joel Grossman’s excellent drasha from last Shabbat, one of the things I do in my messages is to attach the Wikipedia reference to the holiday, because while my partners and associates have some familiarity with Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur and Passover, they get lost on Sukkot and Shavuot. And let’s not even talk about Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Wikipedia lets them know I’m not making it up. Interestingly, everyone asks if I’m taking time off for Hannukah, which I find somewhat amusing.
Anyway, this is a big month – there’s no other month in the Jewish calendar with the volume and speed of the holidays. Given this, I’ve often considered that while there are clear connections between Pesach and Shavuot, and between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and among Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, the connection between Yom Kippur and Sukkot is less obvious, even though they are only 5 days apart – closer than Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, and much closer than Pesach and Shavuot.
As we know from 5 days ago, the period of teshuvah ushered in by Rosh Hashanah ends dramatically with the blowing of the shofar at the culmination of Yom Kippur. Sukkot seems to be independent of the holidays that precede it so closely.
Indeed, Sukkot presents quite a sharp contrast to Yom Kippur. Sukkot is a harvest holiday celebrating a hopefully successful agricultural year, and a holiday that, if I can be a bit heretical, we adopted from other communities and likely predates Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. As my brilliant daughter-in-law said in her Rosh Hashanah drash, Rosh Hashanah begins on the new moon, while Sukkot, like the other harvest holidays, begins on the middle of the month. And this month, on the super moon!
Rambam characterizes Yom Kippur as a day lacking in “simchah yeteirah,“an extra sense of joy (hil. Hanukah 3:6), while he depicts Sukkot precisely as a time of “simachah yeteirah” (hil. Sukkah 8: 12). Yet the final “gemar,” the final judgement to our status of t’shuvah isn’t actually at the end of Yom Kippur; we are told that the gates of repentance are not closed until Hoshanah Rabah, the conclusion of Sukkot. Moreover, compelling parallels bind Yom Kippur and Sukkot and there are strong indications that the intervening period is not merely a bridge between them, but constitutes a significant period by virtue of the link between them.
Sukkot counterbalances Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur takes place inside; Sukkot takes place outside. On Yom Kippur we fast; while on Sukkot we feast. On Yom Kippur we pray and study with our minds; for Sukkot we build with our hands (which can be amusing in and of itself!). On Yom Kippur we hold a book; on Sukkot when we hold the lulav and etrog – we hold nature. On Yom Kippur we are serious and introspective; on Sukkot we are commanded to be joyful.
The kabbalist Isaac Luria, instructed his disciples that the cultivation of joy is one of the prerequisites for attaining mystical illumination. Having gone through the necessary ten days of teshuvah from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, we are ready to begin our engagement with the new year. That engagement can only take place with joy as one of its elements, the joy of Sukkot sets our bearings on the right course.
Another factor – in the same way that we push aside distractions during 10 days, we encapsulate ourselves with friends and family and familiar traditions during Sukkot. It would be hard to jump back into life after YK; Sukkot provides the soft landing.
That last thought, the joy of friends and family, is particularly meaningful now. We are at an historic and fraught time – not the only one in our history, by any means, but fraught, nonetheless. Our links to Israel are taut, differences between our coreligionists are greater, we are under increasing antisemitic attacks in a nation that we felt sheltered us for years, and the background of shattered national goals here and in Israel are the undercurrent – and sometimes the loudest sound – in our lives. And how can we pray today without the knowledge that, two years ago, we suffered the greatest attack since the Shoah. We have prayed for two years for the return of the hostages, and we all prayed that by today, we would have the unmitigated joy of knowing they have returned to us. But we cannot celebrate Sukkot without remembering Simchat Torah from two years ago, with hostages still unreleased, and with Israel – with our children – at a war encompassing the entire region.
On Thursday, we tried to push that all aside as we, the entire Jewish people, focused on our individual and communal t’shuvah. It may be too much to ask, but perhaps we can use the joy of Sukkot to extend our unity for just a few more days and gain some comfort from it.
Chag sameach