Z’man Simchateinu

Tonight we will usher in Chag HaSuccot, Zman Simchateinu. I would like to share a thought of Rav Yehoshua Trunk MiKutna, (19th Century) who deals with three synonyms we have for happiness: Simcha, Sason & Chedva, and the distinctions between them.

Simcha is a new joy that someone experiences, with Sason being a joyous re-experience of something, but what’s unique about Chedva? (The English translation of Chedva is mirth, but no-one knows what that means).

One often finds himself in dire straights, holding back tears of despair.

We have the ability for, and experience of, happiness, even though in that situation we should otherwise be experiencing feeling of despair, and should perhaps be crying more than being happy. These situations are when Chedva comes in. Rav Yehoshua shows an example from the book of Nechemiah, when Ezra read the Torah after the Jews returned for the second Beit Hamikdash. It was on Rosh Hashanah, and the Jews were crying heavily. Ezra said to them כי חדות ה׳ היא מעזכם – the Chedva… the joy of Hashem is your strength. Don’t be sad today, it’s a happy day, have meals and send Mishloach Manot to eachother.

Their sadness was a reaction hearing the Torah on Rosh Hashanah, and it was a big chastisement. Some may have also been upset by the fact that the second Beis Hamikdash was much smaller than the first. Nonetheless, they were told to be happy.

The Gemara has a drasha from this very Posuk. That if someone is very poor, and doesn’t have provisions for Shabbat, he should borrow money, and Hashem says He’ll help you pay back. This man may be poor, and should naturally be saddened that he can’t afford anything for Shabbat. Nonetheless, חדות ה׳ היא מעזכם, one should remain happy.

We see another example of this with Yisro. Rashi brings down a drasha from ויחד יתרו… Yisro was happy after finding out about the Exodus. Rashi explains that Chiddudim, prickles, reflects a sense of discomfort, as many non-Jews were killed. Yisro was a bit unnerved, but remained happy – another example for Chedva being a case where even though someone had an inclination to be sad, they overcame it, and were still very much joyous in the situation.

This year gave us a lot of reasons to cry, and there have been lots of tears. Despite this, as we enter into Succos, we must fulfil חדות ה׳ היא מעזכם, with zman simchaseinu, in face of all challenges, sadness, death and antisemitism over the past year. We are in the Succas Shalom, we’re with Hashem, and Boruch Hashem there have been alot of miracles and good too.

Be’ezrat Hashem, we will go from Chedva, to Simcha, to Sason with the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash, במהרה בימינו.