Rabbi Charles P. Sherman
Brad Dunitz Bar Mitzvah
October 6, 2001

The Puritans Didn't Really Get It

While the High Holydays are over, it is always appropriate in Judaism to confess our missed marks, our sins. I fear that I've been telling only a half truth for a number of years. I am fond of reminding Jews at this Sukkot Festival time that the American Thanksgiving holiday is based on Sukkot. The Pilgrims were Bible-believing Puritans who wanted to replicate the ancient Israelite fall thanksgiving festival in their new land. While that is true, I'm afraid I have been a little bit misleading if you think that the Pilgrim thanksgiving festival was the same as Sukkot.

Thanksgiving was actually a Puritanical re-invention of our Sukkot Festival. The Puritans thought of themselves as the new Children of Israel and believed that part of their calling involved the observance of Sukkot re-invented in their image. They were familiar with Deuteronomy 16: "You shall rejoice in your festival with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in your communities." That is why they invited the Indians. So far, so good. But you see the Puritans were unable or unwilling to duplicate the basic spirit of Sukkot.

We heard Brad read to us this morning "and you shall rejoice for seven days before the Eternal, your God." And in that sixteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, we read: v'samachta b'chagecha, you shall rejoice on your festive day; v'hayeeta ach sa-may-ach, and be altogether happy. By the very nature of who they were and what they believed, the severe Puritans could not rejoice. In their form of Protestantism, religion was stern. Man was sinful and could receive salvation only through God's grace. They were expected to be thrifty, hard-working and serious. Dancing and singing, except for hymns, were forbidden. I remind you that the Puritans even outlawed the celebration of Christmas. These were stern people and their religion was somber; being happy was trivial, unimportant and maybe even sinful.

We Jews, on the other hand, understood happiness to be one of the greatest gifts God can give. We're told in the Talmud that one of the first questions we'll be asked as a prerequisite to our entrance into Heaven will be: "Have you participated in all the permissible pleasures of life?" In other words, would you know happiness if it hit you in the face? .

While all the festivals of the Jewish year bring us opportunities for celebration and rejoicing, Sukkot has been singled out to represent and symbolize the importance of joy and happiness. Sukkot reminds us that God wants us to be happy, at least during special moments in our lives and on festive days in our year. Borrowing a title from Beethoven's music and Schiller's poetry: Sukkot is Judaism's Ode to Joy. Sukkot is the reminder that the natural things of life with which we have been blessed are not just the pumpkins or the apples or the leaves on the trees, but rather the ability we have to enjoy them.

Lose your tastebuds and you'll realize how much you've missed in your food all these years. Take away your ability to differentiate colors, and you'll understand what it means to appreciate what you've got. I believe that Sukkot comes around each year not just to remind us to say thank you for the big things in life, but for the little details as well; a lot of happiness is overlooked because it doesn't cost anything. But sometimes you really do have to wake up and smell the coffee and the etrog, and see the wonder and mystery that life can be when you notice it.

Too many of us are so busy doing our thing or constantly trying to get the things that we don't have yet, that we forget to stop and look at what we've done and appreciate the gifts we have. "What is happiness? To be allowed to do my best."

That is why the Mishnah teaches us azeh hu ashir, who is truly rich? Hasameach b'chelko, the person who is satisfied with his or her lot in life. Most people identify happiness as getting what you want; Judaism defines happiness as wanting what you already have.

According to Judaism, God created joy as an ideal state in human life, and we respond to God by experiencing that joy and thanking God for it. The Psalmist understood this when he wrote: Ivdu et Adonai b'simcha - serve God with gladness. Bo-u l'fanav birnana - enter God's presence with singing. Joy and song are an important form of religious expression in Judaism because they elevate the human spirit, connect us to the Godliness within us, and inspire us to transcend ourselves as we reach toward God beyond us. "Who lives with joy does God's will."

I am going to officiate at a wedding this evening. As the bride and groom stand together under the chupah, they dramatically symbolize this ideal state of happiness, and the wedding service includes a special bracha which reads: "Sameach t'samach re-im ha-ahuvim, k'samaychacha y'tsircha b'gan Eden mikedem. Bless these loving companions with great joy, as You blessed the first man and woman with joy in the Garden of Eden." Yes, joy is the ideal state ordained by God from the very beginning and made possible for each of us as recipients of that blessing. The Puritans didn't get it right.

Part of the purpose of our festivals is to enable us to create for ourselves, for our families and friends, for our congregation and community a sense of joyfulness. We feel at our best; we feel closer to our dear ones, and we become more aware of the presence of God when we achieve a joyful spirit. We use this special Prayerbook on Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah and Purim. Note its name - Gates of Joy.

A colleague/friend of mine in Detroit says that a very successful 30-some year old lawyer was in his office not long ago complaining about how unhappy she was. Sure, she was making a lot of money, but not as much as this one or that one yet. She thought she could be far more successful in New York or Chicago because there she would be able to have clients that she could really get the big bucks representing. There she could make it in the big time.

Her husband was a wonderful man and so loving; but every Sunday he just likes to watch football and doesn't leave the house; it really irks her. Her house is lovely, it's big, it's wonderful, but it is on the wrong side of the lake; it gets too much morning sun. Then there is her Mercedes. It is a wonderful car, but it's not a Lexus. Sukkot says that our happiness or unhappiness is not a matter of fortune or worldly possessions; it is a mental attitude. It comes from appreciating what you've got. Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

So what I am saying to you is that happiness is not a goal or an object to be pursued; it is a state of mind and of spirit to which we can all aspire if we'll only go about it the right way. Happiness cannot be purchased; it does not come through the acquisition of material belongings, and if we chase after it, we'll find that happiness always seems to elude us. It has been snoted that "the city of contentment is in the state of mind." Abraham Lincoln understood this when he said: "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Judaism has another wise insight regarding happiness as a state of mind. As Jews, we are taught to confront sadness with joy in order to ameliorate the bitterness of life and to help us live through hardships. At the seder table we mix the bitter maror with the sweet charoset. The Jewish way is to confront sorrow with song, sadness with simcha, and dreariness with dancing. That is why you'll see dancing Chassidim grab a morose neighbor and drag him into the circle. That is why when we leave a funeral, we address mourners and say auf simchas - meaning, let's see each other at happier occasions.

Sukkot teaches us the trick of making yourself really happy with what you have and who you are. Having a beautiful sukkah is no fun unless you let others in. One of the truly happiest people I have ever met once said that "happiness is like a lot of potato salad - share it with other people and you'll have a picnic." Ninety percent of our joy in life is sharing that joy with someone else.

So friends, I want to clarify what I've been teaching. Sukkot is not Thanksgiving and we are not Puritans. The Jewish faith teaches that Sukkot is a time for Jews to understand that a major component of our faith is a search for the joy within. It almost seems b'shert that Brad Dunitz should become a Bar Mitzvah during this festival and read this Torah portion for he is ben Simcha, son of Simcha. Scott's name in Hebrew and Yiddish means joy and happiness.

Let's understand - we will not be happy all of the time; that is not what life is all about. Rather, Sukkot is telling us that if you are enthusiastic about your life, if you look at the positive side of your world, if you appreciate the little details of your life, then you are participating in the Jewish quest of faith, the search for the joy within. When we find the enthusiasm that is life, we'll do our best, we'll be our best, we'll feel our best, and then we'll become more aware of the presence of God in our life. That is really the Jewish meaning of Sukkot. It's the holiday of finding the joy within. Try it! You'll enjoy it! Amen

In developing this message I've incorporated insights from the writings of
Richard J. Margolis and Dannel I. Schwartz.

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