Joy is... An open roof, an open door, an open heart - Succot / Shemini Atzeret 5772

I don't know about you but when I sit in a Sukkah I think to myself: that is how our ancestors lived. Not just in the desert in the days of Moses, but for most of the twenty centuries of exile, not knowing from one year to the next whether they'd still be there, or whether they'd be forced to move on, as Jews were so often. Between 1290 when they were expelled from England and 1492 when they were expelled from Spain, Jews knew what it was like to have no fixed home: to know that the place you were living was just a temporary dwelling, which is what a sukkah is. Yet what did they call Sukkot? That is the strange thing. They called it zeman simchtenu, the time of our rejoicing. Somehow Sukkot decodes for us the secret of joy. Joy doesn't come from great houses of brick or stone; it doesn't come from what we shut out but from what we let in. Joy comes from a roof open to heaven, a door open to guests, and a heart open to thanksgiving. Ben Zoma was right when he said: who is rich? Not one who has everything he wants but one who celebrates what he has. Sukkot is one of the world's great seminars in happiness, because it shows us that you can sit in a shack with only leaves for a roof, exposed to all the hazards of the cold, wind and rain and yet still rejoice, when you are surrounded by God and the people you love. Have that and you have everything. Chag sameach.