Sparks Everywhere - Bereshit 5786

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One of the descriptions in the Torah for Sukkot, the holiday we just celebrated, is “Chag Ha’asif” - the Harvest Festival. The literal translation of the words is “holiday of ingathering.“ Another verse says: “Make for you a holiday of Sukkot when you gather in [the produce of] your granary and your wine press.” As the Midrash tells us: Although it is a Mitzvah to be joyous on all the festivals, the Torah does not tell us explicitly to be joyous on Pesach, it says once “you shall be joyous” on Shavuot, and three times “you shall be joyous” on Sukkot.  This is because on Pesach the crops are still in the fields and we don’t know yet what the harvest will be like. By Shavuot we are celebrating the successful grain harvest but the fruits are not yet ripe. On Sukkot, however, the Torah tells us three times to be joyous, because now all the fruits have been harvested and we can enjoy all the produce. 


(Jews around the world celebrated this holiday the ingathering of the remaining living hostages. I pray that this will be the first step toward a true and lasting peace, with our enemies no longer able to perpetrate their evil plans and our people living in safety and without fear.)


In addition to the physical harvest, there is also the spiritual harvest that we are enjoying on Sukkot. We did a lot of work of Teshuva throughout the month of Elul, we accepted of Hashem’s kingship on Rosh Hashana,  followed by the ten days of repentance, and then the essential bond between us and Hashem was  revealed on the holy day of Yom Kippur. All of this spiritual work creates great holiness in the world and brings new Divine energy. Kabbalah describes is as “elevating Divine sparks.”  On Sukkot we harvest all those sparks, all that Divine energy.  


The Sukkah represents the great encompassing light of Hashem, and when we wave the Four Species in all directions and bring it back to our heart, that represents the gathering in of that light in a way that we allows us to relate to it and bring it into our lives. The joy of this holiday permeates us and helps us carry it through for the rest of the year, just as the harvest gives us the ability to use the produce. 


I was reading a Chassidic discourse taught by the Rebbe on this subject. He mentioned that these sparks of holiness are scattered around the world, and when Jews around the world celebrate the festival, we collectively gather this “harvest” and bring the world closer to redemption. 


The way he said it was “when Jews all over, including in a far-flung corner of the world, observe the Mitzvot of the festival.”  This really spoke to be personally, since we spent Sukkot in Hawaii where our new grandson was born and the Bris was held on Wednesday, Simchat Torah. 


A few people came together for the holiday, but the spirit was high and we danced with the Torah as if there was a huge crowd. No question that this small group on a dot of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean raised many holy sparks and did our part to complete the harvest. 


Immediately after Simchat Torah we start to read the Torah from the beginning, the story of Creation. One of the messages is that the harvest of all this holiness should not remain just spiritual. Our mission is to transform the physical world to a place of holiness by going about our day-to-day activities in a way consistent with Torah, and using the world and everything in it to make a home for Hashem. This includes dealing honestly in business and the workplace, giving charity, observing Shabbat, starting the work day with prayer and Torah study, and incorporating Torah values in all our regular dealings. 


May we carry the inspiration and joy of all these holidays into every aspect of our lives, and may we see the revelation of those up to now hidden sparks throughout the world, and the final ingathering of the entire people to the rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

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