SPIRIT
TORAH PORTION
Finding Simple Joys
I
n the times of the Temple, one of the highlights of the holiday of Sukkot was the dancing and rejoicing. Each night there would be celebrations that would last throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning. The joy was so great that the Talmud goes so far as to say that one that never saw a Simchat Beit HaSho’evah at the Temple, never saw true joy. What is it that they were celebrating to such a great degree of unmatched intensity? What was the impetus, the motivation for such an unleashing of positive emotion and energy? It was water. Usually, wine was used in the service of the Temple, but on Sukkot water was used. The drawing of the water to be used in the service was the
source of their great happiness. times find myself losing sight For me, this is a very integral of life’s simple beauties. From and vital lesson. The simplicity pausing to appreciate a sunset to of water. enjoying the fall breeze, to The difference between pausing to ask a neighbor wine and water is that how their mother is doing, wine is taking someto complimenting the thing separate from the cashier for their professioninherent experience and alism and customer service, adding to it to make that Rabbi Yarden there is beauty in it all. Blumstein experience better. Water Thinking about the concept of simplicity and does not add anything Parshat the joy it can unlock, I am separate to the actual Sukkot Chol reminded to show gratitude experience at hand; in HaMoed: for the simple things in other words, it doesn’t Exodus add any “taste” of its own. 33:12-34:26; my life that are right. I’m Numbers simplifying my relationWater is the highlighting 29:23-28; ships by focusing on what’s of simplicity within the experience itself. And that Ezekiel 38:18- important. From my rela39:11. tionships with coworkers brings about a different type of fulfillment and inner joy. and friends, to family and to my Higher Power, focusing on what’s In the complexity, busyness important will create beautiful and noise of the world, I some-
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simplicity. Just like on the days that I drink a good amount of water I feel healthier, the days that I keep it simple and focus on the positive in my life I feel fuller. This, to me, is the message of the dancing at the Temple. The simple acts of singing and dancing remind us that everyone is truly equal and we all belong. This leads to a happiness that, to quote the Talmud, if you never saw it then you never saw true joy. Hopefully, this Sukkot, we can celebrate the abundance of water that is all around us as we unlock the hidden depths of simplistic joy. Rabbi Yarden Blumstein is the teen director at Friendship Circle in West Bloomfield.
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SEPTEMBER 23 • 2021
Sunday, October 3 at 3 pm EDT Virtual Program Learn about her wartime childhood during the siege of Sarajevo. Info at holocaustcenter.org/upcoming. Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus (248) 533-2400
