Spiritual Reflection, October 2023

May Your Joy Be Complete

We have entered the year 5784 and the joy of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) radiates among our people around the world. Some Jews say V’hayita akh sameach (May you have only joy) when entering a sukkah. What is the connection between Sukkot and joy? The Torah tells us in Deuteronomy 16:14-15:

"Be joyful at your Feast…For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete (v’hayita akh sameach)."

V’hayita akh sameach refers to experiencing pure joy. This is why our rabbis refer to Sukkot as zeman simchatenu (the season of our joy). And it makes sense. During the Ten Days of Repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we deal with our sins. We humble ourselves before God and man and this naturally leads to joy. As Rabbi Nachman put it, “After a broken heart comes joy. The test of whether your heart was really broken is if afterwards you feel joy.”

But what if we still don’t feel joyful? What do we do then? Rabbi Nachman offers us another piece of wisdom, “Seeing the face of the Tzaddik (a holy, righteous one) can give you joy…” For Jewish disciples of Yeshua, our Tzaddik is Yeshua HaMashiach. If we need to fill our cup with joy, let us look to Yeshua who said, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16:24; cf. 15:1; 17:13). The light of the Messiah’s countenance, the Glorious One, the Lamp, will light us up with joy even as Yeshua said on Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day of Sukkot—Ani Or HaOlam (“I am the Light of the World”) (John 8:2, 12; cf. 7:37).

David Rudolph