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DATEBOOK
SUNDAY
OCTOBER 3
Kadimah & Lahav Youth Groups Go Sukkah Hopping
Men's Club & Chavura Aleph Tour of Old Jewish Detroit
THURSDAY
OCTOBER 7
Family Simchat Torah Dinner Followed by Services and Simchat Torah
Dancing
FRIDAY
OCTOBER 8
Simchat Torah Services Followed by a Pizza Kiddush
SUNDAY
OCTOBER '10
Club Chayim visit to Apple Orchard
SUNDAY
OCTOBER 17
BETH ACHIM Juried Boutique, Arts & Crafts Show
Nitzanim & B'nai Maze! Youth Groups Visit Fun With Plaster
FRIDAY
OCTOBER 22
Family Shabbat Dinner Honoring Past President Dr. Eric Gordon
SAT., OCT. 30
Special Shabbat
SUN., OCT. 31
Brunch Honoring the Past Presidents of the
Men's Club, Sisterhood & Young At Heart
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21100 W. Twelve Mile Rd./Southfield
Please join us as we dedicate our new building
Sunday, October 17, 1993
2:30 - 4:30 p.m.
The JNF Charach Building
17100 West Ten Mile Road
Southfield, Michigan 48075
Our guest speaker will be
Dr. Samuel I. Cohen
Executive Vice President
Jewish National Fund of America
Our program will include Election of Officers.
Please RSVP by October 8, 1993
557-6644
Cocktails
N
K
MARGUERITE
Thursday
October 14th
Friday,
October 15th
11-8
10-6
N.R. 1
Holiday and Cruisewear
46
H
Sizes 2 16
0
Hors d'oeuvres Will Be Served
-
on the Boardwalk
A Simcha's Joy
Is Explained
RABBI AVIE SHAPIRO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
BOOK BITES DINNER SERIES: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 19 & 26
SAVE THE DATE: DECEMBER 12 CONCERT BY
FOR INFORMATION CALL 352-8670
T
Torah PRIOR
932-5252
ach of our sholosh regolim
(festivals of pilgrimage) is
known by two sets of ad-
ditional names, one con-
noting a farming characteristic,
i.e. Shavuot is the Chag
Hakotzir (holiday of harvest),
Sukkot is the Chag Ha-asif (hol-
iday of ingathering), and Pesach
is the Chag Hainotzos (that's
the end result of harvesting the
crop and gathering it indoors).
The second set of supplemental
names relates to a holiday
theme which emphasizes the
timing of the particular holiday.
Thus, Pesach is the z'man
cheyrusaynu (the time of the
freedom); Shavuot is the z'man
matan torasaynu (the time of
the giving of our Torah). Sukkot
is z'man simchaseynu (the time
of our joy).
This choice of labeling be-
comes a matter of concern for
us. Why should Sukkot be more
of a joyous experience than its
two sister holidays? What
greater joy can there be than for
an incarcerated slave to be set
free! What greater joy for a na-
tion than to be presented with
a charter by their king spelling
out clearly what the terms of
their relationship will be!
Perhaps the sages took into
account the anxiety which no
doubt accompanied the process
of going free — and for later
generations (our own and be-
yond), the anxiety which ac-
companies readying the home
for Pesach and cleaning out the
chametz, etc.
For Shavuot it must have
been the discovery that once we
realized the weight of the re-
quirements and restrictions of
the Torah's 613 mitzvot it was
somewhat difficult to still smile.
Of course some of the above
is said tongue-in-cheek, to re-
tain the reader's attention. In
actual fact, the source and guid-
ance for identifying our holidays
with a happiness quotient is
found in the Torah. Through-
out its multiple references to Pe-
sach, simcha — happiness — is
not mentioned even once. For
Shavout the simcha aspect ap-
pears once.
But for Sukkot, the Torah
commands us three times to ex-
perience happiness. (Once in
Vayikra 23, and twice in De-
uarim 16). The sages explain
that it is in relation to this re-
quirement for excessive happi-
ness that the yom toy of Sukkot
is so fully endowed with
RABBI AWE SHAPIRO is director of
religious activities for the JHA.
mitzvot: sukkah, lulav-etrog et
al, special daily sacrifices, and
the unique Aravah service of
Hoshana Raba.
To round out the complement
of joyous experiences, we were
also instructed to engage in an
additional activity known as
Nisukh Hamayim — the water-
pouring service, which was only
practiced on Sukkot during the
daily morning sacrifice. Requi-
site for this sacrificial water li-
bation was the Simcha Bait
Hasho-ayva celebration on the
second night of the holiday.
Such indescribable happiness
was experienced at the Bait
Hasho-ayva festivities that the
Talmud says: "Whoever has not
seen the joy of the simchas Bait
Hasho-ayva, has never seen joy
his entire life."
Realize that the joy which is
reflected here is not the unbri-
dled wild "fun" which many
misguided members of modern
society associate with "having
Shabbat Chol
HaMoed Sukkot:
Exodus 33:12-34:26
Numbers 29:17-22
Ezekiel 38:18-
39:16.
a good time." The greatest Tal-
mudists of the generation as-
sumed the role of entertainers
to the masses, demonstrating
their physical dexterity through
acrobatic feats and juggling per-
formances.
The brightness which was
produced by the enormous
torches was so intense that
there was nary a courtyard in
all of Yerusholayim which did
not reflect its brilliance.
And having absorbed the
grandeur of that entire scene,
we must now stop and ask, "So
what's the point? What is the
lesson to be derived?"
Before suggesting one possi-
ble answer, we will need to
focus on one more Torah text.
In Devarim 28, we are rebuked
and threatened with various de-
grees of suffering and punish-
ment for rebelling against the
authority of the Almighty.
It would appear that the
Almighty anticipates that we
will relate to Him in happiness
and with gratitude for past and
current blessings. Any other
response from us is clearly re-
garded as sinful and unaccept-