Definition of true Happiness 

ושמחת בחגך אתה ובנך ובתך ועבדך ואמתך והגר והיתום והאלמנה אשר בשעריך
דב’ 16:13-15
“Be joyful at your festival. You, your children, your servants, the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows who live in your towns.”

Besides living in the Sukka and taking the four species of plants, in Sukkot we have another Mitsva: “simcha”, happiness. The Tora instructs us to be and behave happily every Yom Tob, particularly in Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Tora.

DEFINING HAPPINESS

First, we should realize how privileged we are to belong to Am Israel, knowing that HaShem protected us in the desert and that we are still under His permanent care: this thought should bring us happiness.  Second, although we are used to the idea that happiness results from success and that success consists of having more, gaining more, showing more, etc., the Jewish vision of happiness is slightly different. It is not having what I want but wanting what I have and especially enjoying sharing what I have.

MEALS and GIFTS

The essence of the Mitsva of being happy consists of enjoying festive meals with our family, friends, and guests. Meat and wine are a must on Yom Tob’s menu. We eat, drink and sing in gratitude to HaShem. We honor the day and make it pleasurable as we do during Shabbat (Shulhan ‘arukh OH 529:1). In honor of Yom Tob, we should dress well, and according to the Shulchan ‘arukh we should dress in Yom Tob better than in Shabbat. (idem.)  Our Sages also mentioned that each family member enjoys material happiness differently. Before Yom Tob begins, the parents should get for their children “…roasted nuts and walnuts (=the equivalent today of candies and small toys); the husband should buy clothing and jewelry for his wife, whatever he can afford.  And the husband is happy with a good meal. And his happiness increases –I would add –when seeing his wife and children happy!.

MODERATION:

The “Simcha”, the joy of Yom Tob, also requires moderation. “During Yom Tob [and this includes the celebrations of Simchat Tora] a person should not drink too much alcohol … because drunkenness and frivolity are NOT part of the Mitsva of behaving with joy: excessive consumption of alcohol brings to lightheadedness and frivolity. Our goal as Jews is to reach a level of happiness conducive to serving God. No one can serve the Almighty through frivolity and drunkenness “(Idem., 6:19)”. The best way to serve God is to feel happy that we are fulfilling God’s commandments and that we love and we are grateful to Him. “(MT H. Sukka veLulab, 8:15).

SHARING 

In the pasuq me mentioned above, the Tora specifically commanded us to share our happiness with those who have less. In a sense, the Tora is explaining to us that being happy consists of making other people happy: providing means or food to orphans, widows, and poor people (SH ‘A 529: 2). Maimonides elaborates on this last point: “If someone closes the doors of his house [to the needy] and he eats and drinks alone with his children and his wife, and does not feed and give to drink to the poor and needy, he is not feeling the joy of a mitsva, but the joy of his stomach. . “(MT Yom Tob 6:18)



Shemini Atseret & Simchat Tora

ושמחת בחגך אתה ובנך ובתך ועבדך ואמתך

והגר והיתום והאלמנה אשר בשעריך

דב’ 16:13-15

“And you shall rejoice in your celebration, you, and your sons, and your servants, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow that dwell in your people”
During the festival of Sukkot, we reside in the Sukka for seven days and we take the four species of plants (etrog, lulab, hadas, ‘araba). Also during Sukkot, we have another Mitsva called “simcha”, which means “to celebrate” or to be happy. This is the only one of the three Mitsvot of Sukkot that also continues for the next festival: Shemini Atseret, this coming Shabbat Oct 6th and 7th and Simchat Tora, Sat night Oct 7th and Sunday, Oct 8th.
What is Simchat Tora?
Outside Erets Israel, as on any other festival (= Yom Tob), the holiday is celebrated for two days in a row. In this case, the second day of Shemini Atseret is also known as Simchat Tora, in which we celebrate the completion of the annual cycle of Tora reading and the uninterrupted beginning of the new cycle of reading from Bereshit.
The Tora tells us to be happy and to manifest our joy during these holidays. We sing and dance around the Tora, expressing our joy at being a part of the people chosen by God to study and observe His Law.
Material joy is also part of the celebration. During Yom Tob we share several festive meals with our loved ones. We eat, drink, honor the day of Yom Tob, and make it as pleasurable as the Shabbat (Shulhan ‘Arukh OH 529: 1).
In honor of Yom Tob we also dress well, as we do when we go to a wedding. According to the Shulhan ‘Arukh we must dress in Yom Tob “better” than in Shabbat. (Idem).
The Rabbis also explained that each individual enjoys material happiness in a different way. They said that before Yom Tob begins, the parents will give their children “… nuts [to eat] and nuts [to play]. The equivalent today would be “candies and small toys [not electronics!]”. The husband must give his wife clothes and/or jewelry, always according to his possibilities (and the husband is happy seeing his wife happy).. On the other hand, the woman of the house prepares a good meal for her husband and her family. Wine and meat are “mandatory” on the menu of Yom Tob. Meals are prepared with care and in abundance, but still within each person’s budget.
Although we are accustomed to the idea that happiness is the result of success and that success consists of having more, gaining more, showing more, etc., the Jewish view of happiness is a little different. In Yom Tob, we learn to rejoice with what we have, regardless of “how much” we have. In our materialistic society, it is considered that success is having what one wants; we must learn that happiness consists in wanting what one has and sharing with others what one has.
By offering others–those who do not have enough to eat, or those who do not have a family, especially orphans and widows– to participate of our family meals (SH ‘A 529: 2).
Maimonides said about this last point: “The person who closes the doors of his house [to the needy], eats and drinks [by himself] together with his wife and children and does not feed and drink the poor, is not practicing the joy of this Mitsva, but the joy of his own stomach … “(MT Yom Tob 6:18)
Finally, material joy also requires moderation:
“During Yom Tob [and this includes Simhat Torah, YB] a person should not drink too much [alcohol] … because drunkenness and frivolity are not part of the Mitsva to be happy. [drunkenness is rather] part of vulgarity and ignorance … and [the Tora commanded us] to attain a level of happiness that is compatible with our service to HaShem … a person can not serve HaShem from frivolity, lightheadedness or drunkenness “(6:19). “The highest way to serve HaShem is to feel happy that we are able to fulfill [His will by observing] His commandments …” (Maimonides, MT H. Sukka veLulab, 8:15).


Where is the Etrog Originally From?

Although it is not mentioned in the Tora as one of the seven typical fruits of Israel (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates), the etrog is a fruit indigenous to the land of Israel. Maimonides has already suggested this fact in his “Guide for the Perplexed,” where he explained that the Tora instructed us to use four specific plants, etrog, palm branches, myrtle, and willows, which were easily obtainable in the land of Israel.
 
The etrog was such a predominant Jewish symbol that it could be found in many mosaics and coins of ancient Israel. For example, in the coins of the year 66 CE, before the destruction of our Second Temple, and especially in coins minted in the years of the of Bar Kokhba revolt, 130- 135 of the Common Era.
 
Back then, supported by Rabbi Aqiba, Bar Kokhba led an army that tried to rebel against the Roman empire and rebuild an independent Jewish state, but the rebellion failed.
 
The use of etrogim in the coins of the Bar Kokhba rebellion is even more meaningful when we remember the great discovery of the Israeli archaeologist Yigal Yadin, who found a perfectly preserved letter in the caves of the Yehuda Desert, written by Bar Kokhba himself, in which he describes the difficulties of his troops with some unique supplies.
 
This is the text of the letter.
 
“Shimon [bar Kokhba] to Yehudah: …. I’m sending two donkeys and two men. I sent them to Yehonatan bar Masabla … you must ask them to carry donkeys and bring them back loaded with palm branches [lulabim] and etrogim. And also send other [men] to bring to our camp branches of myrtle [hadasim] and willow branches [‘arabot]. Make sure tithing (ma’aser) is already separated. Send all to my camp. Our army is very large. Shalom“.
 
And this is the original letter of Bar Kokhba in ancient Hebrew
 
 
While originally from Israel, the etrog is also found on the coasts of the Mediterranean. Some areas are famous for the extraordinary quality of their etrogim. Calabria (Italy), the island of Corsica (France) or the island of Corfu (Greece). One can find etrogim also in Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, etc.
But, how did the etrog come to those parts of the world?
 
The most accepted hypothesis today is that the etrog was brought from Israel to other areas of the Mediterranean with the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world, with a very specific mission in mind: to be used during the holiday of Sukkot.
 
Why do researchers believe that?
 
Because unlike the lemon or other citric fruits, the etrog tree is relatively fragile, very sensitive to diseases that can affect its root, and lives for relatively few years (12-15, unlike the lemon, which can live 25 to 30 years). In addition, the etrog demands much more water than other citric trees; and the fruit has almost no pulp. For what other reasons have etrogim been planted in orchards along the Mediterranean Sea?
 
For a long time, etrogim were not grown in the land of Israel, and these “foreign” etrogim supplanted the etrogim from Israel. Only in the mid-19th century, on the initiative of Sir Moses Montefiore z”l, that etrogim were grown again in Israel.
 
Many Jews in the diaspora use etrogim from Morocco, Italy, Yemen, etc. But it is good to remember that those etrogim also have solid Jewish roots…

See this interesting article about Calabria and the Etrogim https://www.calabriatheotheritaly.com/santa-maria-del-cedro-diamante-citron/



What is the Secret of the Four Plants?

“And, you shall take on the first day [of Sukkot] a fruit of a citric tree (etrog), branches of palm-trees (lulab), a branch of myrtle (hadas) and willows of the brook (‘araba), and you shall rejoice before HaShem, your God, for seven days”. (Lev. 23).
What is special about these plants that we take in Sukkot?The Tora does not explain why we should take specifically these four species during Sukkot. One possible explanation for this omission, in line with the thinking of Maimonides, is that at the time the Tora was given the reason for this commandment was so obvious that it needed no further explanation.The Hakhamim (the Rabbis of the Talmud) offered some interpretations, focusing on what these plants visually represent (four organs of the body -spine, heart, eyes, mouth- all united to serve HaShem); or their perfume and taste ( four individuals of the Jewish people, their study and their virtuous deeds).

PERENNIAL PLANTS My teacher, Rabbi Sa’adia Benzaquén, z “l, used to say that what these four plants represent the “vegetable kingdom” because all of them are perennial plants, i.e., they do not die or lose their leaves in the winter. This is particularly characteristic of the etrog, a fruit, that as the Gemara explains “remains in its tree throughout the whole year (haddar beilano mishana leshana). These four plants also grow in four completely different habitats. The etrog grows in the valleys, the lulab in the desert, the myrtle (hadas) in the mountains, and the ‘araba (willows) on the shores of lakes and rivers.

Their need for water is very different.

THE LIFESPAN OF A PLANT I also noticed a few years ago that these plants get dry at a completely different pace. The plant that dries faster than all other plants is the ‘araba. Willow branches, once cut from their tree, would dry up within a few days. Sometimes, the branches of ‘araba might not survive even the seven days of Sukkot. Then we have the myrtle leaves, hadasim, which would dry up completely in a few weeks. The lulab, the palm branch, dries very slowly, it takes months not weeks to dry up. And finally, we have the etrog. There are several elements that make the etrog a special fruit. But perhaps the most characteristic aspect of the etrog is that it does not decompose, and might last for years. If one leaves, for example, a lemon or any other citric fruit for a few days outdoors, or even in a refrigerator, it will inevitably turn white or green and moldy . The etrog, however, never decays. The etrog will shrink and dries up and it would loss its color, but it would not decompose, and it would preserve its aroma, not for months but for years!

BY DESIGN? Are these characteristics by chance? Although I’m not quite sure how to interpret the meaning or symbolism of these features –and perhaps at the time the Tora was given the reason was absolutely obvious — I do not think that it is just a coincidence that the Tora mentions these specific plants. Why? First, because a fundamental element of the festival of Sukkot is water / rain. During Sukkot we start thanking HaShem for rain (mashib haruah, morid hageshem) , and we also pray and ask HaShem to have a year of generous rainfall, at its due time, knowing that at this time God decides the fate of our crops and produces (בחג נדונים על המים). And these plants seem to represent four different levels of “dependence” on water, and the humidity they contain and preserve. The etrog and the ‘araba seem to be at opposite ends in terms of how long the moisture they keep inside lasts. The main reason why I do not think this interpretation is a coincidence is the order in which these four plants are presented in the Tora. The Tora mentions these four species in a specific order: first, the Tora mentions the fruit that lasts the longer, the etrog. Then, the lulab (palm branch), then the hadasim (myrtle), and at the end the ‘araba (willow): the longer the plant last, the earlier it is mentioned in the pasuq.

MY GARDEN OF EMUNA

This year I planted in my backyard a few tomatoes plants. And I noticed that the tomatoes don’t grow all at the same time: they produce their fruits, one or two at a time, thus, allowing us to have tomatoes for the entire season. I was so amazed and grateful to HASHEM when I noticed that! Then, this year as I was reviewing what I wrote about the reason for these plants I thought of a similar idea: the main reason why the Tora tells us to take these plants and being grateful and “rejoice before HaShem, your God” is because Sukkot happens at the end of the harvest. It should be noted that in ancient times there were no refrigerators or food preservation methods like we have today. And of course it was always necessary for farmers to have food reserves that could last until the next harvest. There are perishable foods that, just like the “‘araba”, won’t last for a long time once they are harvested and they must be eaten while they are fresh. There are also foods that like “hadasim” and “lulab” can last for a few weeks. And there are other foods that can be left to dry like the “etrog”, like figs, dates, and most grains. In His infinite wisdom and goodness the Creator designed perishable foods that need to be eaten fresh, and foods with no expiration date. Perhaps the arba’at haminim, four plants with very different expiration date, represent these characteristics and they give us one additional reason to thank HaShem for his Awesome Creation.



Holding and Waving the Four Plants

This year, 2023/5784, the first time that we will fulfill the Mitsva of Lulab will be on the second day of Yom Tob: Sunday, October 1st, in the morning.  
(מוליך ומביא – למי שהארבע רוחות שלו, מעלה ומוריד – למי שהשמים והארץ שלו” (סוכה לז, ב
 
“And, you shall take on the first day [of Sukkot] a fruit of a citric tree (etrog), branches of palm trees (lulab), a branch of myrtle (hadas) and willows of the brook (‘araba), and you shall rejoice before HaShem, your God, for seven days”. (Lev. 23).
 
THE MITSVA: 
We are commanded to take the above-mentioned four species of plants during the festival of Sukkot. We take three branches and one fruit. One lulab, two ‘arabot, three hadasim, and one etrog are taken together each time. This Mitsva is called “the four species” (ארבעת המינים) or,, the Mitsva of lulab. We should hold the lulab, the hadasim, and the ‘arabot in the right hand and the etrog in the left hand. Then, we perform the Mitsva of netilat lulab, which means “lifting” the lulab. The four species must be held in the direction that they grow. On the first day of Sukkot, we must carefully perform the Mitsva with our lulab and etrog. During the other days, the four species may be borrowed from somebody else. The Mitzva of the four species is not performed on Shabbat.  This year, 2023/5784, the first time that we will fulfill the Mitsva of Lulab will be on the second day of Yom Tob: Sunday, October 1st, in the morning.  
 
BLESSING: Two blessings are said the first day of Sukkot, ‘al netilat lulab and shehecheyanu. The berakha,  ‘al netilat lulab, is also said during the other days of Sukkot. Since every Mitsva has to be performed after we say the blessing, some people hold the etrog upside down and turn it back after the blessing, otherwise, the berakha would be said unnecessarily (berakha lebatala). Others would hold the etrog in their hand only after the berakha is said. Women are formally exempted from the Mitsva of lulab. However, the tradition in most communities is that women perform the Mitsva of lifting the lulab, which is meritorious. The Sephardic tradition indicates that women should not say the berakha for the performance of this Mitsva, while the Ashkenazi tradition indicates that women could say the berakha.
 
THE NA’ANU’IM: Once we say the berakha we move the Lulab in four directions (lena’anea’). And each time, we rattle the Lulab for a few seconds.
 
See in this video the na’anu’im, the movements of the Lulab, according to Maimonides, and the ancient Jewish tradition. 
 
 

 
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THESE MOVEMENTS? 

אמר רבי יוחנן: מוליך ומביא – למי שהארבע רוחות שלו, מעלה ומוריד – למי שהשמים והארץ שלו. במערבא מתנו הכי, אמר רבי חמא בר עוקבא אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא: מוליך ומביא – כדי לעצור רוחות רעות, מעלה ומוריד – כדי לעצור טללים רעים.  מסכת סוכה ל“ז:    

כל זה רומז שהכוונה לבקש מה‘ יתברך על העתיד ולהודות לו על העבר.       מנורת המאור שע“ט

In his book, Menorat haMaor, Rabbi Isaac Abohab explains why we do these movements with the Lulab, quoting a text from the Gemara.
Ribbi Yochanan explains that we move the Lulab forward and backward (towards one’s own body) and then up and down to thank HaShem “who is the owner of the four winds,” and to express our gratitude for those winds that brought the rain in due time during the past harvest. Why do we thank God in Sukkot for the good winds? Because on Sukkot the Jewish farmer had already harvested all of his fruits and produce for the year. Being grateful to God is essential, explains Rabbi Abohab, because when we have all the food we need around us, we are inclined to forget God (זמן בעיטה).

Ribbi Yose Bar Ribbi Chanina provides a different explanation: these movements with the Lulab, symbolizing the winds, represent our prayer asking God to protect future harvests, to prevent damaging winds —which bring drought or locusts— and destructive rains that can ruin all the products of the earth.

Which opinion do we follow? To thank God for the past or to ask God for a promising future? Our tradition is to do both during the famous Hallel prayer.
In order to thank and acknowledge God for what he gave us, we move and wave the Lulab as if it were a qorban, an offering to God, saying as we move, “HODU LASHEM KI TOB KI LEOLAM HASDO” Let us give thanks to God when it is good [=when we have abundance], [saying that] ‘His kindness is infinite’, ” .
And to beg HaShem for a promising material future, we move the Lulab while saying ANNA HASHEM HOSHIA NA, “Please, God, save us.” That is, “save us from the destructive winds, from inclement weather that could leave us without food and at risk of dying.

If these prayers about wind, rain, and dew are not very familiar to us, it is because, in our days of superabundance, we have so much food B”H that it is difficult for us to understand the terrible challenges of a year without harvest.

 
The Sephardic custom today is to move the Lulab, without shaking it, in six different directions:  south, north, east, up, down and west. This order was established by Hakhme haQabbala. In this video, we see Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu z”l doing the na’anu’im, as the Sephardic tradition holds.
 

 
 
 


The Fragility of the ‘araba

If you look at the four plants we take on Sukkot; you will see that one of the differences between them is the length of time they last until they dry out or decay.

The Etrog lasts the longest; it shrinks but can last for years without decomposing. Then, we have the Lulab, the palm branch, which takes a few months to dry (which is why, when the Matsot were baked at home, it was customary to use the dry branches of the Lulab, adding them to the oven where the Matsot were made). And then there are myrtle or hadasim, which can last a few weeks without decomposing. Of the four species, the most fragile and the one that decomposes the fastest is the ‘araba. Willow leaves last only a few days off their trees, hopefully, a week…

Our rabbis explain that at the end of Sukkot, the Heavenly Court issues the verdict on the rain that will fall this coming year (bachag niddonim ‘al hamayim). This is the main reason why, following a kabbalistic custom, it is customary to stay awake all night on Hoshanah Rabbah studying Tora).

“Rain” is the most critical element for our livelihood. And immediately after the end of Sukkot, the rainy season begins.

It is possible that the ‘araba also reminds us of our vulnerability and dependence on the rain that HaShem sends us. Furthermore, we internalize our fragility by hitting the ‘araba’s branches against the ground and seeing how the ‘araba is defoliating with each blow. Thus, we realize that we entirely depend on HaShem for sustenance and prosperity.



Moving Into A Roofless Home

This coming Friday night, September 29th, 2023, we will begin the celebration of the holiday of Sukkot.
The Tora says:
‘In Sukkot you shall dwell for seven days… so that your generations will know that I hosted [protected] the children of Israel in Sukkot, when I brought them forth from the land of Egypt…(Leviticus 23).
For seven days, we abandon our homes and sit in the Sukka. The Sukka is a ‘hut’ consisting of four walls and a fragile covering or ‘sekhakh’. We eat, study, and, weather permitting, sleep in the Sukka. We bring our furniture into the Sukka and make it as comfortable and beautiful as possible. Sukkot commemorates the forty years of our journey from Egypt en route to the Promised Land. During those years in the desert, HaShem provided us with food and water and satisfied all our needs. God also granted us special Divine Protection against desert weather inclemencies, wild animals, and other dangers.

By moving into the Sukka and leaving the safety and security of our solid homes, we are reenacting those glorious days when we were under His “direct protection”, which is ultimately the protection that matters the most.

There are many details and specifications as to how to build the Sukka.

The basic principles are:

WALLS: The walls, usually 3 or 4, must be built first before we place the sekhakh (covering). We could make the walls of any material capable of withstanding an average wind. This is why rabbi Obadia Yosef z”l recommends avoiding fabric for the walls and instructs to use wood or panels instead. See below.

SEKHAKH: We place the ‘sekhakh’ on top of the walls. For the sekhakh we can use all kinds of branches: bamboo branches, leafy branches, palm branches, etc. Special curtains made of reeds or bamboo can also be used for this purpose.

SHADOW vs. RAIN: The sekhakh /covering should be dense enough to provide a shadow that would cover most of the area of the Sukka at noon, but it has to be fragile enough to allow rain to come into the Sukka. An impermeable “hut” is not considered a temporary dwelling and therefore is not a valid Sukka (=pesula).

Most of the Halakhot of building a Sukka are identical for Sephardim and Ashkenazim. See this for a specific rule about the walls, by R. Obadia Yosef z”l.

LIVING IN THE SUKKA

The rabbis explained that to fulfill the Mitsva of dwelling in the Sukka we should leave our primary residence and settle in the Sukka. They said: “For the seven days of the festival, each person should turn the Sukka into his permanent residence and his house into the temporary one”. Living in the Sukka means that all regular activities we do at home should take place in the Sukka.

Some examples:

MEALS: Except when raining, we should have all our meals in the Sukka. According to Jewish Law, all formal meals -which are defined by the recitation of hamotzi and birkat hamazon– must take place in the sukka. That is why when having a formal meal, with bread, we recite the berakha: ….asher kiddeshanu bemitzvotav vetztivanu leesheb basukka.

MEZONOT: Pastries, cakes, cookies, etc. (mezonot) should also be eaten inside the sukka.

SNACKS: A light snack (a fruit, a salad, coffee) might be consumed outside the sukka. The rabbis praised those who, during the festival of Sukkot, would not eat or drink anything outside the Sukka.

SLEEPING: Sleeping in the sukka is part of the Mitsva of “settling” in the sukka. However, the fulfillment of this Mitsva depends on a few factors: weather conditions (cold temperatures and obviously rain); one’s physical condition (health, sensitivity to cold, age, etc.). In some areas, we should also be aware of safety concerns, like the possible presence of animals (raccoons, foxes, mosquitos, or other insects), etc. this could also be considered a factor to be excused from sleeping in the Sukka.

All regular activities we usually do at home, like studying, reading, napping, relaxing, etc., should also be done in the Sukka.

EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS 

1. Building a Solid Sukka (Hebrew)
2. Building a simple Sukka 

!בברכת שנה טובה ומבורכת



Why these four specific plants? (Audio)

Class on the meaning of the 4 species



Praying for a rainy day?

As we have previously explained, our rabbis introduced two prayers for the rain in the ‘amida. One is barekh ‘alenu (the ninth berakha of the ‘amida), which is the blessing for our livelihood (parnasa). We ask God for “rain” and not for “customers” for our business or for “money” because in ancient times, when Israel was an agricultural society, everyone’s economy depended entirely on rain.  We ask HaShem to bless us with dew and rain, which should come in a way of blessing (librakha). We request HaShem to give us rain in its time and in its proper measure. As it is written in the Shema’ Israel be’ito yore umalqosh, give us “in its proper time the yore, the strong rainfall which the early precipitation and helps to soften the land we need to plow) and then the soft rain, malqosh which is needed once the vegetation starts to grow (if we would get the mild rain at the beginning of the season, it will not be enough to soften the land.  And if we get the strong rainfall when the vegetation is growing, the rain will destroy the plants).The first time rain is mentioned in the ‘amida, is during the second berakha. In that blessing, we don’t ask or request rain or anything else from God. We praise Him. We state that God is Omnipotent (=infinitely powerful) and that He uses His powers to sustain, maintain, support, cure, deliver, nurture, and revive His creatures.  This is the context in which we say “the prayer of praise for the rain “mashib haruah, umorid haGeshem, “[HaShem, You are the One] who makes the wind to blow, and the rain to fall”. In this context we are not asking for rain, we are expressing our appreciation for the fact that HaShem created rain.  We perceive rain as part of tehiyat hametim, “God’s power to revive and restore life” , because thanks to the rain the dry-land revives, the plants grow again and the living creatures of the world stay alive.

Rain is critically important for our survival.  And praising God for “rain” should be nothing short of natural and spontaneous.  In our days, however, we do not really appreciate rain. In urban areas we have lost our appreciation for it… When it rains in New York city, for example, you don’t see people excited and thankful to HaShem about it.  On the contrary, 99% of people are actually annoyed by rain.

What kind of praise then, would one say for something that feels an annoyance more than a blessing?

In the coming days, B’H we will explore some of the wonders of the mechanism of precipitation, which should help us gaining a more profound and positive outlook at the miracle of rain, and hopefully help us to better praise HaShem for one of His main blessings to mankind.



For the first time since the destruction of the Second Temple…

The days of Sukkot were days of a special happiness in the Bet haMiqdash (Temple of Jerusalem). In addition to the Biblical commandment of taking the four species (ארבעת המינים), there were two other Mitsvot fulfilled in the Temple. These two practices are part of what is called “Halakha leMoshe miSinai”, religious traditions taught to Moses at Mount Sinai, with no explicit Scriptural source. One of them was nisukh hamayim (lit. water libation) also known as the ceremony of pouring water on the altar.

The Rabbis described the great joy of this ceremony:

“Whoever has not seen the celebration of the water libation has never experienced the feeling of true joy. Great lamps of gold were hoisted, with four golden bowls at the top of each lamp. Four young priests would climb to the top, carrying immense oil jugs with which they would fill the bowls. Once lighted, there was not a courtyard in all of Jerusalem that did not glow with the light that emanated from the celebration in the Temple. Special balconies were constructed to enable the righteous women of Israel to watch the wise men of the Sanhedrin as they danced. As the people sang, the righteous and pious men would dance before them while juggling flaming torches. The levites, standing on the fifteen steps that descend from the Court of Israel to the Women’s Court, played on lyres, harps, trumpets and many other instruments. Two priests who blew silver trumpets [these were real trumpets or חצוצרות not shofarot, as you will see in the video below]  stood at the top of the stairs on either side of the entrance to the great gate of the Court.

(Tractate Sukkah, Chapter 5)

All this was done to honor the commandment of the water libation. At dawn, the assembly proceeded with melody and song to the spring of Shiloach, at the foot of the walls of Jerusalem. One priest carried with him a special golden decanter and filled it with the sparkling spring water. Then the congregation ascended again to the Temple, led by the priest who bore the golden vessel. Arriving at the Temple, he brought the decanter up to the altar, and poured the water into the  silver cup at its corner.

This ceremony is connected to the rainfall of the coming year, and it was accompanied by prayers for blessing on the earth and its produce.

Adapted from “The Temple Institute” (see the complete article with illustrations  here)

For the first time since the destruction of the Second Temple, the ceremony of pouring of water was reenacted in Yerushalayim. This event took place in Jerusalem, yesterday, 18th of Tishri.