“RABBI’S
MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)”
Erev Succos – Z’man
Simchaseinu
14 Tishrei 5776/ September
27, 2015
It doesn’t
matter which of the Jewish Magazines you pick up from any of the local
newsstands now before Succos, all of the Succos editions seem to have a similar
format. For starters they are all impressively large and the front cover
contains beautiful images about Succos which highlights of many of the classic
articles you will find inside.
Then, when
you open any of the magazines, you will notice the following basic sequence:
The first
eight pages contain advertisements for beautiful shaitels, stunning jewelry,
and magnificent vacation destinations that appeal to all of your senses. That
is followed with the Editor’s note in which the editor writes about the
importance of the message of Succos and how it teaches us to give up from the
physical world’s amenities and luxuries so that we can discover and achieve
true internal happiness. The editor then gives you a taste of the wonderful
articles you will find inside which are all basically centered around that
theme.
The next ten
pages are advertisements for restaurants, mouthwatering meats, exquisite
cheeses, and sumptuous desserts. Then there is a feature article which
describes the greatness of the Ushpizin, how they lived their lives with utter
simplicity, and never indulged in this world. True they may have been blessed
with wealth, but they used it solely to help others, and never sought to pamper
themselves in any way. They chose a path of service to Hashem in everything
they did.
The
following fifteen pages have beautiful ads for many exotic Pesach locations
throughout the world, and many other special dates with great deals that you
cannot afford(!) to miss – such as midwinter in Miami, Cancun, and LA, Shabbos
parshas Noach on Har Ararat in Turkey, Shabbos Lech Lecha in the footsteps of
Avrom in Aram Naharayim, etc. Then there is a feature article which describes
the timeless lesson of the Succah which teaches us that we need nothing more
from life other than to always feel we are in Hashem’s protective embrace. We
don’t need to travel to find fulfillment because all that matters is that we
are close to Hashem.
Then there are
another twenty pages of ads for your brand new state of the art kitchen with
five thousand dollar handles for the faucets, and many other features that will
make your home the talk of the block (until your neighbor constructs a nicer
kitchen). Then there will be a feature article about Koheles and why we read it
during ‘the season of our happiness’ when it seems so foreboding, depressing,
and hopeless. The article will explain that Koheles is really coming to uplift
us by reminding us that only if we live for this world and indulge too much in
it is everything futile and vain. But if we live for a higher purpose and train
ourselves to be happy with what we have than we can achieve true meaning and
happiness, even in this world.
I’m guessing
by now you get my point.
So basically
my advice is that if you want to gain some real appreciation of the greatness
of Succos from the wonderful literature that the magazines provide us with (and
I’m not being facetious about that), best is to read the articles and skip all
the ads in between. I’m guessing you won’t see this article posted in any of those
magazines, but at least you were lucky enough to read it here.
Good Yom Tov & Chag Sameach,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum