Festivals of Life: The Depth and Meaning of the Moadim By Rabbi Zev Leff Festivals of Life: Rabbi Zev Leff, Rav of Moshav Mattiyahu, explores the Jewish Holidays with perspectives on the moadim-Jewish festivals & the inner meaning of the Jewish Holidays. Buy Festivals of Life at a special online price at www.targum.com

INTRODUCTION

THE CYCLE OF THE JEWISH YEAR

The Jewish year is a cycle that we return to again and again, starting from Rosh HaShanah in Tishrei and ending with the preparatory days of Elul. There is a purpose and meaning to this yearly cycle; each yom tov has unique mitzvos and customs that emphasize different qualities and attributes that define us as the am hanivchar — the chosen and special nation who are able to be the “mamleches Kohanim v’goy kadosh — a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Shemos 19:16). The cycle of the yamim tovim renews and refreshes these attributes. Thus we are the nation of G-d’s personal servants and representatives to the world through the totally sanctified lifestyle we are mandated to live by.

Although Shabbos represents the foundation of belief in G-d as the Creator of the world, the message of the yamim tovim extend that idea to include our belief in G-d’s continuing guidance of all world events. The yamim tovim — and specifically Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos — commemorate the Exodus and the events surrounding the Exodus. The miracles of the Exodus and those leading to the Revelation at Sinai proved that G-d is running the world. The Rosh in Orchos Chaim 26 says that one who does not believe in the Exodus — G-d’s ongoing involvement with world events — basi-cally denies the existence of G-d, because a god that created the world but is uninvolved in it is irrelevant. Perhaps this is what our Sages meant when they explained why Shabbos is listed among the festivals. It teaches us that if one desecrates the festivals, it is as if he desecrated Shabbos. Denying the message of the festivals — G-d’s ongoing divine providence, especially as it affects the Jewish people — is an automatic denial of G-d as a relevant Creator and hence a desecration of the message of Shabbos.

There are three levels to recognizing G-d in our relationship with Him: chochmah, wisdom; binah, understanding; and da’as, knowledge. There are three stages to developing this relationship: “b’ficha,” verbally; “bilvavcha,” conceptually, in one’s heart; and “la’asoso,” physically, with action.

The preface to Kedushas HaYom, the middle blessing of the yom tov Shemoneh Esrei, reflects these ideas. The prayer begins with the fact of our chosenness: “Attah bechartanu mikol ha’amim — You chose us from all the nations,” and concludes with the end goal, the result of our recognition: “V’shimcha hagadol v’hakadosh aleinu karasa — Your great and holy Name You called upon us.” The prayer contains two sets of phrases, one describing the three aspects of our relationship with G-d and the second describing how we come to that recognition. These three aspects define the interrelationship between the various yamim tovim that enables us to fulfill our mission of “Your great and holy Name You called upon us” — that we are the representatives of G-d’s greatness and holiness in the world.

PESACH: THE FIRST STAGE

“Attah bechartanu — You chose us from all the nations” refers to Pesach, when G-d redeemed us from Egypt, separating us as a nation from among the Egyptians and exhibiting His special relationship with us, His firstborn son. This chosenness is manifest by “V’romamtanu mikol haleshonos — You exalted us above all the languages.” To facilitate the special mission for which we were chosen, G-d singled us out from the nations, making us His Kohanim, endowing us with a special holy soul that is manifest by our language.

Language is what distinguishes man from animal, and each of the seventy root languages represents the essence of the soul of the nation that speaks that language. We were given lashon hakodesh, the holy language, which manifests and expresses the supreme, potential holiness of the Jewish soul. This lashon hakodesh is the language that G-d Himself used to create the world and transmit the Torah. This is “b’ficha,” the first stage in developing our relationship with G-d. And this first stage embodies the quality of chochmah, knowledge — the first level in recognizing G-d and His special relationship with us. The ultimate chochmah is yiras Hashem, fear and awe of G-d, as it says, “Reishis chochmah yiras Hashem — The beginning of wisdom is the fear of G-d” (Tehillim 111:10). Likewise, Pesach is the yom tov of chochmah. The chacham, the wise son, is the focal point of the Seder, and this chochmah is conveyed by speech, as it says, “[The words of Torah] are life to those who express them” (Mishlei 4:22).

Hence, Pesach is the yom tov most represented by speech. The name itself intimates this: “peh sach” — a mouth that speaks. The underlying mitzvah of Pesach is sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, the retelling of the account of the Exodus, and the more one speaks of it, the greater the mitzvah.

It is interesting that the Torah describes G-d’s choosing us and our reciprocating by distinguishing His special relationship with us with the words “You have spoken of Hashem today and Hashem has spoken of you” (Devarim 26:17–18). We see here that the chosenness of the Jewish nation is manifested and conveyed through speech. Thus Pesach is the yom tov of Avraham Avinu, the believer whom G-d chose and who chose G-d, the representative of the ultimate chesed, loving-kindness. The attribute of loving-kindness makes possible an intimate relationship with the Source of all good, after we have been chosen and verbally expressed our unique holiness and recognition of G-d and our mission.

SHAVUOS: THE SECOND STAGE

After gaining this chochmah, this knowledge of G-d and our divine mission, we are able to ascend to the second stage, that of binah, understanding. This is where we understand the implications of that knowledge of G-d and of our distinction. Hence, after the yom tov of chochmah, which is Pesach, we count forty-nine days, representing the forty-nine gates of binah, until the holiday of Shavuos.

This is “bilvavcha,” in your heart, the second stage in developing our relationship with G-d — taking the knowledge and pondering it inwardly with the sensitivity of our hearts and thought and realizing that if there is a G-d and we are His chosen nation, then we must accept His directives and fulfill His commandments.

Thus Shavuos, the day we received the Torah and mitzvos, is the yom tov of binah and thought, because binah is the factor that leads to the acceptance of mitzvos. This is why women, who are invested with an extra measure of binah, become responsible for mitzvos at age twelve, a year earlier than men.

On Shavuos there are no actions nor verbal mitzvos, only thought. The mitzvos of this day involve the acceptance of the yoke of G-d’s Torah, a function of the heart. Thus, this is the yom tov of Yitzchak Avinu, who exemplified avodah, total subservience to G-d. And this is reflected in the words of the yom tov prayer, “Ahavta osanu — You loved us.” Love is a function of oneness, of bonding. Our love for Hashem brings us to cleave to Him and subjugate ourselves to Him in performing His service. This corresponds to the second phrase in the second set of phrases, “V’kidashtanu b’mitzvosecha — And You sanctified us through Your mitzvos.” By sanctifying us through Your mitzvos, You made us holy. The Nefesh HaChaim explains the similar phrase used in blessings, “asher kideshanu b’mitzvosav — for You sanctified us with Your mitzvos,” that the mitzvah itself surrounds us and permeates us with holiness. If we are holy, we can relate to Hashem and cleave to Him, because He is the essence of holiness.

Hence, this affinity and love, our ability to bond or become one with Hashem, so to speak, is affected by our ability to become holy through the fulfillment of mitzvos.

SUKKOS: THE FINAL STAGE

Having acquired chochmah on Pesach and binah on Shavuos, we are ready to synthesize our knowledge and understanding and put it into action on Sukkos. This is the stage of “la’asoso” — to do — and this is the essence of da’as, the conveyance of our intellectual knowledge into action. This is reflected in the yom tov prayer’s words “v’ratzisa banu,” usually translated, “You desired us,” but a more exact translation would be “You desired through us.” G-d channels His desires for the world, the fulfillment and manifestation of His plan for history, through us. Through our Torah, mitzvos, and prayers, we initiate G-d’s will; we bring G-d’s will to fruition in this world, as we utter many times in our prayers, “Yiheyu l’ratzon imrei fi — May the words of my mouth be Your will.”

This corresponds to the third phrase in the second set of phrases of the yom tov prayer: “V’keiravtanu Malkeinu la’avodasecha — And You drew us close, our King, to Your service.” Avodah is the service of sacrifice and prayer that initiates G-d’s will. Thus Sukkos is the yom tov of extensive sacrifices, the yom tov of action, with its many mitzvos — sukkah, the four species, and others.

Da’as integrates chochmah and binah into all facets of existence and reality. It is the introduction of G-dliness into all the physical and material worlds. Sukkos is thus the yom tov of Yaakov Avinu, whose attribute was Torah and emes, truth, that which introduces Torah into all aspects of reality and substance.

A CHANGE IN THE CYCLE

These three festivals, these shalosh regalim, should have been the three pillars that would bring us to “v’shimcha hagadol v’hakadosh aleinu karasa,” to have G-d’s great and holy Name devolve upon us. However, after the first Shavuos, the day we received the Torah, we sinned with the golden calf and to a certain degree blemished and diminished the chochmah we achieved on Pesach and the binah we achieved on Shavuos. Da’as is impossible to achieve without first having chochmah and binah. Hence, two new yamim tovim were necessary to compensate for the lost chochmah of Pesach and the lost binah of Shavuos before the da’as of Sukkos could be achieved.

These two new yamim tovim were Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. This idea, that Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur were added to the Jewish year as a result of the sin, may be based on the words of the Ran (Rosh HaShanah 16). He says that according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua, the world was created in Nissan and not in Tishrei, and therefore Rosh HaShanah does not mark the day of man’s creation. The reason that Rosh HaShanah was chosen as the day of judgment was because the atonement for the sin of the golden calf that was achieved on Yom Kippur actually began ten days earlier on Rosh HaShanah.

We see that the holidays of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur have a connection to the atonement of the sin of the golden calf. It may be that these two yamim tovim would have been added even without the sin of the golden calf, but they received an added dimension due to the sin. Similarly, every Rosh Chodesh would have been a yom tov had it not been for this sin, and because the women did not take a part in the sin of the golden calf, they were given Rosh Chodesh as a holiday. Also, the Midrash says that there would have been three yamim tovim in Tammuz, Av, and Elul had it not been for the sin (Pesikta D’Rav Kahana 28:1). So here is a further source that the cycle of the yamim tovim were altered after the sin of the golden calf. Hence, Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur took on new meaning after that sin.

Rosh HaShanah was given as a supplement to Pesach. Like Pesach, it is a yom tov of chochmah, for blowing the shofar is described as a chochmah (Shabbos 117b). This is because blowing the shofar is a skill; it requires chochmah. Rosh HaShanah is a yom tov that we celebrate verbally — “b’ficha,” with our mouths — with its extra-long Shemoneh Esrei and the blowing of the shofar. It is the day we use chochmah — acknowledging G-d’s kingship and recognizing Him as Creator and King.

Hence, Rosh HaShanah compensates for what was lost on Pesach. Yom Kippur, the day the second tablets were given — the day of the regiving of the Torah — compensates for Shavuos, a day of commitment that is basically in the heart. This is when we use binah to reaccept the mitzvos that we abrogated in the sin of the golden calf. Only after Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur has corrected the deficiency of chochmah and binah can we celebrate Sukkos, the yom tov of da’as. This explains why Sukkos, which celebrates our journey in the desert, comes in Tishrei, right after Yom Kippur and not immediately after Shavuos.

THE RABBINICAL YAMIM TOVIM

After we went into exile, we needed still other, rabbinic yamim tovim to strengthen the Torah-mandated yamim tovim in the negative and hostile environment of galus. Hence, Purim corresponds to Shavuos. It is a one-day yom tov of “kimu v’kiblu” — a reaffirmation of the receiving of the Torah. We celebrate the day by reading the megillah, a manifestation of the Written Torah, and by revealing the inner secrets of our heart through imbibing wine. Chanukah, an eight-day yom tov, corresponds to Sukkos, also celebrated for eight days. During Chanukah we experienced the illumination of Torah knowledge in the darkness of the world, the triumph of Torah over Greek philosophy, and the introduction of holiness into the material world. Similarly, on Sukkos, the yom tov of da’as, the mitzvos of the day represent the integration of the physical temporal world with the spiritual eternal world.

As for Pesach, the Sfas Emes says that the ultimate rabbinic yom tov will come with the culmination of the exile, when the redemption of Pesach will finally be complete and our chosenness will reach its crescendo. When Mashiach comes, there will be a third yom tov d’rabbanan corresponding to Pesach.

Thus, in this world we have a total of seven yamim tovim, including the rabbinical yamim tovim. They serve as the completion of the physical world that was created in seven days and is represented by the number seven. When Mashiach comes, we will have an eighth yom tov, eight representing that which is beyond the natural world, the world of eight where our cycle of yamim tovim will finally be complete.

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