וְחַג שָׁבֻעֹת תַּעֲשֶׂה לְךָ בִּכּוּרֵי קְצִיר חִטִּים וְחַג הָאָסִיף תְּקוּפַת הַשָּׁנָה.
And a Festival of Weeks you shall make for yourself, the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and a Festival of Gathering at the cycle (end) of the year.
(יג) חַג הַסֻּכֹּת תַּעֲשֶׂה לְךָ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בְּאָסְפְּךָ מִגָּרְנְךָ וּמִיִּקְבֶךָ.
(יד) וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגֶּךָ אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבִתֶּךָ וְעַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתֶךָ וְהַלֵּוִי וְהַגֵּר וְהַיָּתוֹם וְהָאַלְמָנָה אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ.
(טו) שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תָּחֹג לַה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַר ה' כִּי יְבָרֶכְךָ ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּכֹל תְּבוּאָתְךָ וּבְכֹל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ וְהָיִיתָ אַךְ שָׂמֵחַ.
(13) A Festival of Huts you shall make for yourself for seven days, when you gather from your threshing floor and winery.
(14) And you shall rejoice in your festival: you, your son and your daughter, your servant and maidservant, and the Levi, the convert, the orphan and the widow in your midst.
(15) For seven days you shall celebrate for God your Lord in the place which God chose; for God your Lord has blessed you in all your produce and all your handiwork – and you shall be only happy.
Transience and Eternality
כי אתא רבין אמר ר' יוחנן: אמר קרא (דברים טז:יג) "באספך מגרנך ומיקבך" – בפסולת גורן ויקב הכתוב מדבר.
When Ravin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said that Rabbi Yochanan said that the verse states: “You shall prepare for you the festival of Sukkot for seven days as you gather from your threshing floor and from your winepress” (Deut. 16:13), – with regard to the waste of the threshing floor and of the winepress that the verse is speaking.
תנו רבנן: כל שבעת הימים, אדם עושה סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. כיצד? היו לו כלים נאים, מעלן לסוכה; מצעות נאות, מעלן לסוכה; אוכל ושותה ומטייל בסוכה.
מנא הני מילי? דתנו רבנן: "'תשבו' (ויקרא כג:מב) כעין תדורו. מכאן אמרו: כל שבעת הימים עושה אדם סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. כיצד? היו לו כלים נאים, מעלן לסוכה; מצעות נאות, מעלן לסוכה; אוכל ושותה ומטייל בסוכה, ומשנן בסוכה".
The Sages taught: All seven days of Sukkot, a person renders his sukka his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. How so? If he has beautiful vessels, he takes them up to the sukka, which was typically built on the roof. If he has beautiful bedding, he takes it up to the sukka. He eats and drinks and relaxes in the sukka. The Gemara asks: From where are these matters derived? The Gemara explains that it is as the Sages taught: “In sukkot shall you reside” (Lev. 23:42), and they interpreted: Reside as you dwell in your permanent home. From here they said: All seven days, a person renders his sukka his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. How so? If he has beautiful vessels, he takes them up to the sukka; if he has beautiful bedding, he takes it up to the sukka; he eats and drinks and relaxes in the sukka and studies Torah in the sukka.
רבי אלעזר חלש, על לגביה רבי יוחנן. חזא דהוה קא גני בבית אפל, גלייה לדרעיה ונפל נהורא. חזייה דהוה קא בכי רבי אלעזר, אמר ליה: "אמאי קא בכית? אי משום תורה דלא אפשת, שנינו: אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט, ובלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים. ואי משום מזוני, לא כל אדם זוכה לשתי שלחנות. ואי משום בני, דין גרמא דעשיראה ביר."
אמר ליה: "להאי שופרא דבלי בעפרא קא בכינא."
אמר ליה: "על דא ודאי קא בכית", ובכו תרוייהו.
The Gemara relates that Rabbi Elazar fell ill. Rabbi Yochanan, his teacher, entered to visit him, and saw that he was lying in a dark room. Rabbi Yochanan exposed his arm, and light radiated from his flesh, filling the house. He saw that Rabbi Elazar was crying, and said to him: Why are you crying? Rabbi Yochanan attempted to comfort him: If you are weeping because you did not study as much Torah as you would have liked, we learned: One who brings a substantial sacrifice and one who brings a meager sacrifice have equal merit, as long as he directs his heart toward Heaven. If you are weeping because you lack sustenance and are unable to earn a livelihood, as Rabbi Elazar was, indeed, quite poor, not every person merits to eat off of two tables, one of wealth and one of Torah, so you need not bemoan the fact that you are not wealthy. If you are crying over children who have died, this is the bone of my tenth son.
Rabbi Elazar said to Rabbi Yochanan: I am crying over this beauty of yours that will decompose in the earth. Rabbi Yochanan said to him: Over this, it is certainly appropriate to weep. And they both cried over the fleeting nature of beauty in the world and death that eventually overcomes all.
רמב"ן, ספר תורת האדם, הקדמה
והנני אומר מה שלבי חושב ודעתי גומר. כי אחרי היות האדם מעותד למות, מעת היותו ראוי לרפוד יצועיו בגיא צלמות, למה יתגודדו על מת ולנוד ולבכות נאותו, כי החיים יודעים שימותו, ומן החמה על יודעי דבר ויהי, למה יקראו אכר אל אבל ומספד אל יודעי נהי? והתשובה בזה כי תולדות האדם לחיות לעולם, ומן החטא הקדמוני ירדו לטבח כולם, על כן יחרדו כי מטבעם יתפרדו.
Ramban, Torat HaAdam, Introduction
Q: Why do people mourn when people die; shouldn’t we be used to the normative fact of reality that humans die? Why are we always so shocked? Why does it shake us so deeply?
A: Humanity was supposed to live forever. It was only due to the Primal Choice of Adam and Chava that mortality entered the equation. Therefore, our natural sense is that Life should be eternal, and we are shocked anew each time a life comes to an end.
דָּבָר אַחֵר, "פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר", זֶה אַבְרָהָם שֶׁהִדְּרוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּשֵׂיבָה טוֹבָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית כד:א): וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים, וּכְתִיב (ויקרא יט:לב): וְהָדַרְתָּ פְּנֵי זָקֵן.
“Fruit of a beautiful tree” – This refers to Abraham, as the Holy One dignified him with fine old age, as it says, “And Abraham was old, come along in age” and it is further written, “honor the face of the old man.”
Lord Alfred Tennyson
(1809-1892) British poet during the reign of Queen Victoria
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Viktor E. Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”
(1905-1997) Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist; founder of logotherapy existential treatment
“In the past, nothing is irretrievably lost, but rather, on the contrary, everything is irrevocably stored and treasured. To be sure, people tend to see only the stubble fields of transitoriness but overlook and forget the full granaries of the past into which they have brought the harvest of their lives: the deeds done, the loves loved, and last but not least, the sufferings they have gone through with courage and dignity.
From this one may see that there is no reason to pity the old people. Instead, young people should envy them. It is true that the old have no opportunities, no possibilities in the future. But they have more than that: Instead of possibilities in the future, they have realities in the past – the potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled, the values they have realized – and nothing and nobody can ever remove these assets from the past.”
William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
(1757-1827), English poet and painter
To see the world in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour…
William Blake, Eternity
He who Binds Himself to a Joy
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.
Walt Whitman, “O Me! O Life!”
(1819-1892) American poet, essayist, and journalist
O' Me! O' Life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless — of cities fill'd with the foolish;
Of the poor results of all... Of the empty and the useless years of rest -- with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O' me! so sad, recurring — What good amid these, O' me, O' life?
Answer: That you are here, that Life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
What will your verse be?
Featured in “Dead Poet’s Society”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS1esgRV4Rc
On Transience
Dr. Sigmund Freud – Translation by James Strachey
Not long ago I went on a summer walk through a smiling countryside in the company of a taciturn friend and of a young but already famous poet. The poet admired the beauty of the scene around us but felt no joy in it. He was disturbed by the thought that all this beauty was fated to extinction, that it would vanish when winter came, like all human beauty and all the beauty and splendour that men have created or may create. All that he would otherwise have loved and admired seemed to him to be shorn of its worth by the transience which was its doom.
The proneness to decay of all that is beautiful and perfect can, as we know, give rise to two different impulses in the mind. The one leads to the aching despondency felt by the young poet, while the other leads to rebellion against the fact asserted. No! it is impossible that all this loveliness of Nature and Art, of the world of our sensations and of the world outside, will really fade away into nothing. It would be too senseless and too presumptuous to believe it. Somehow or other this loveliness must be able to persist and to escape all the powers of destruction.
But this demand for immortality is a product of our wishes too unmistakable to lay claim to reality: what is painful may none the less be true. I could not see my way to dispute the transience of all things, nor could I insist upon an exception in favour of what is beautiful and perfect. But I did dispute the pessimistic poet’s view that the transience of what is beautiful involves any loss in its worth.
On the contrary, an increase! Transience value is scarcity value in time. Limitation in the possibility of an enjoyment raises the value of the enjoyment. It was incomprehensible, I declared, that the thought of the transience of beauty should interfere with our joy in it. As regards the beauty of Nature, each time it is destroyed by winter it comes again next year, so that in relation to the length of our lives it can in fact be regarded as eternal. The beauty of the human form and face vanish forever in the course of our own lives, but their evanescence only lends them a fresh charm. A flower that blossoms only for a single night does not seem to us on that account less lovely. Nor can I understand any better why the beauty and perfection of a work of art or of an intellectual achievement should lose its worth because of its temporal limitation. A time may indeed come when the pictures and statues which we admire to-day will crumble to dust, or a race of men may follow us who no longer understand the works of our poets and thinkers, or a geological epoch may even arrive when all animate life upon the earth ceases; but since the value of all this beauty and perfection is determined only by its significance for our own emotional lives, it has no need to survive us and is therefore independent of absolute duration…
The Mitzvah of Sukkah
הלכה ה
כֵּיצַד הִיא מִצְוַת הַיְשִׁיבָה בַּסֻּכָּה? שֶׁיִּהְיֶה אוֹכֵל וְשׁוֹתֶה וְדָר בַּסֻּכָּה כָּל שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים, בֵּין בַּיּוֹם וּבֵין בַּלַּיְלָה, כְּדֶרֶךְ שֶׁהוּא דָּר בְּבֵיתוֹ בִּשְׁאָר יְמוֹת הַשָּׁנָה. וְכָל שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים עוֹשֶׂה אָדָם אֶת בֵּיתוֹ עַרְאַי וְאֶת סֻכָּתוֹ קֶבַע שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ויקרא כג:מב) "בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים". כֵּיצַד: כֵּלִים הַנָּאִים וּמַצָּעוֹת הַנָּאוֹת בַּסֻּכָּה, וּכְלֵי שְׁתִיָּה כְּגוֹן אֲשִׁישׁוֹת וְכוֹסוֹת בַּסֻּכָּה. אֲבָל כְּלֵי אֲכִילָה כְּגוֹן קְדֵרוֹת וּקְעָרוֹת חוּץ לַסֻכָּה. הַמְּנוֹרָה בַּסֻּכָּה, וְאִם הָיְתָה סֻכָּה קְטַנָּה, מַנִּיחָהּ חוּץ לַסֻּכָּה.
הלכה ו
אוֹכְלִין וְשׁוֹתִין וִישֵׁנִים בַּסֻּכָּה כָּל שִׁבְעָה בֵּין בַּיּוֹם וּבֵין בַּלַּיְלָה. וְאָסוּר לֶאֱכל סְעֻדָּה חוּץ לַסֻכָּה כָּל שִׁבְעָה, אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן אָכַל אֲכִילַת עֲרַאי כַּבֵּיצָה אוֹ פָּחוֹת אוֹ יֶתֶר מְעַט. וְאֵין יְשֵׁנִים חוּץ לַסֻכָּה אֲפִלּוּ שְׁנַת עֲרַאי. וּמֻתָּר לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם וְלֶאֱכל פֵּרוֹת חוּץ לַסֻּכָּה. וּמִי שֶׁיַּחֲמִיר עַל עַצְמוֹ וְלֹא יִשְׁתֶּה חוּץ לַסֻכָּה אֲפִלּוּ מַיִם, הֲרֵי זֶה מְשֻׁבָּח.
הלכה ז
אֲכִילָה בְּלֵילֵי יוֹם טוֹב הָרִאשׁוֹן בַּסֻּכָּה חוֹבָה. אֲפִלּוּ אָכַל כְּזַיִת פַּת, יָצָא יְדֵי חוֹבָתוֹ. מִכָּאן וְאֵילָךְ, רְשׁוּת: רָצָה לֶאֱכל סְעֻדָּה, סוֹעֵד בַּסֻּכָּה. רָצָה, אֵינוֹ אוֹכֵל כָּל שִׁבְעָה אֶלָּא פֵּרוֹת אוֹ קְלָיוֹת חוּץ לַסֻּכָּה, אוֹכֵל, כְּדִין אֲכִילַת מַצָּה בְּפֶסַח.
Halacha 5
How is the commandment of dwelling in the Sukkah? That one eats, drinks and dwells in the Sukkah all of the seven days – both during the day and during the night – in the same way that he lives at home during the other days of the year. And all seven days of Sukkot, one renders his house temporary, and his Sukkah permanent; as it says (Lev. 23:42), "In huts shall you dwell seven days." How is that [done]? [If he has] beautiful vessels and beautiful bedding, [they are brought] into the Sukkah. And drinking vessels, such as jugs and cups, [are also brought] into the sukkah. But eating vessels such as pots and pans are [kept] out of the Sukkah. And a candelabra [is brought] into the sukkah. But if the Sukkah was small, he places it out of the Sukkah.
Halacha 6
We eat, drink and sleep in a Sukkah all seven [days] – whether during the day or during the night. And it forbidden to eat a meal outside the Sukkah all seven [days], unless it is an informal meal – an egg-volume or so (of bread). One may not sleep outside the Sukkah, even [for] a brief nap. But it is permissible to drink water and to eat fruits outside the Sukkah. However, one who is stringent upon himself and does not drink even water outside the Sukkah is praiseworthy.
Halacha 7
Eating on the night of the first holiday in the Sukkah is an obligation. Even if one ate an olive-volume of bread, he has fulfilled his obligation. From then on, it is optional: [If] he wants to eat a meal, he must dine in the Sukkah; [but if] he wants to just eat fruits or parched grain all seven [days] outside the Sukkah, he may eat – just like the law of eating Matza on Pesach.
Exemptions from Sukkah
הלכה א
נָּשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים וּקְטַנִּים פְּטוּרִים מִן הַסֻּכָּה... קָטָן שֶׁאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לְאִמּוֹ שְׁהוּא כְּבֶן חָמֵשׁ כְּבֶן שֵׁשׁ, חַיָּב בְּסֻכָּה מִדִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים, כְּדֵי לְחַנְּכוֹ בְּמִצְוֹת.
הלכה ב
חוֹלִים וּמְשַׁמְּשֵׁיהֶן פְּטוּרִים מִן הַסֻּכָּה. וְלֹא חוֹלֶה שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ סַכָּנָה אֶלָּא אֲפִלּוּ חָשׁ בְּרֹאשׁוֹ וַאֲפִלּוּ חָשׁ בְּעֵינָיו. מִצְטַעֵר, פָּטוּר מִן הַסֻּכָּה הוּא וְלֹא מְשַׁמְּשָׁיו. וְאֵיזֶהוּ מִצְטַעֵר? זֶה שֶׁאֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לִישֹׁן בַּסֻּכָּה מִפְּנֵי הָרוּחַ אוֹ מִפְּנֵי הַזְּבוּבִים וְהַפַּרְעוֹשִׁים וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶן אוֹ מִפְּנֵי הָרֵיחַ.
Halacha 1
Women, servants and minors are exempt from the Sukkah… A minor who no longer requires his mother – someone who is five or six years old – is obligated in the Sukkah by Rabbinic decree, in order [for the parent] to educate them in the Mitzvot.
Halacha 2
Sick people and those attending to them are exempt from the Sukkah – and not just a sick person in danger, but even one whose head feels unwell or even his eye feels unwell. One who is uncomfortable is exempt from the Sukkah – he, but not those serving him. And what constitutes “uncomfortable”? One who is unable to sleep in the Sukkah because either of the wind, or because of the flies and the fleas and such things, or because of the smell.
The Mitzvah of Simcha
הלכה יב
אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁכָּל הַמּוֹעֲדוֹת מִצְוָה לִשְׂמֹחַ בָּהֶן, בְּחַג הַסֻּכּוֹת הָיְתָה שָׁם בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ שִׂמְחָה יְתֵרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ויקרא כג:מ) "וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם לִפְנֵי ה' אֱלֹקֵיכֶם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים". כֵּיצַד הָיוּ עוֹשִׂין? עֶרֶב יוֹם טוֹב הָרִאשׁוֹן הָיוּ מְתַקְּנִין בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ מָקוֹם לַנָּשִׁים מִלְּמַעְלָה וְלָאֲנָשִׁים מִלְּמַטָּה כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִתְעָרְבוּ אֵלּוּ עִם אֵלּוּ. וּמַתְחִילִין לִשְׂמֹחַ מִמּוֹצָאֵי יוֹם טוֹב הָרִאשׁוֹן. וְכֵן בְּכָל יוֹם וְיוֹם מִימֵי חֻלּוֹ שֶׁל מוֹעֵד, מַתְחִילִין מֵאַחַר שֶׁיַּקְרִיבוּ תָּמִיד שֶׁל בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם לִשְׂמֹחַ שְׁאָר הַיּוֹם עִם כָּל הַלַּיְלָה.
הלכה יג
וְהֵיאַךְ הָיְתָה שִׂמְחָה זוֹ? הֶחָלִיל מַכֶּה וּמְנַגְּנִין בְּכִנּוֹר וּבִנְבָלִים וּבִמְצִלְתַּיִם וְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד בִּכְלֵי שִׁיר שֶׁהוּא יוֹדֵעַ לְנַגֵּן בּוֹ. וּמִי שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ בַּפֶּה, בַּפֶּה. וְרוֹקְדִין וּמְסַפְּקִין וּמְטַפְּחִין וּמְפַזְּזִין וּמְכַרְכְּרִין כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד כְּמוֹ שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ וְאוֹמְרִים דִּבְרֵי שִׁירוֹת וְתֻשְׁבָּחוֹת. וְשִׂמְחָה זוֹ אֵינָהּ דּוֹחָה לֹא אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת וְלֹא אֶת יוֹם טוֹב.
הלכה יד
מִצְוָה לְהַרְבּוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה זוֹ. וְלֹא הָיוּ עוֹשִׂין אוֹתָהּ עַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ וְכָל מִי שֶׁיִּרְצֶה. אֶלָּא גְּדוֹלֵי חַכְמֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְרָאשֵׁי הַיְשִׁיבוֹת וְהַסַּנְהֶדְרִין וְהַחֲסִידִים וְהַזְּקֵנִים וְאַנְשֵׁי מַעֲשֶׂה הֵם שֶׁהָיוּ מְרַקְּדִין וּמְסַפְּקִין וּמְנַגְּנִין וּשְׂמֵחִין בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ בִּימֵי חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת. אֲבָל כָּל הָעָם, הָאֲנָשִׁים וְהַנָּשִׁים כֻּלָּן, בָּאִין לִרְאוֹת וְלִשְׁמֹעַ.
הלכה טו
שֶׁהַשִּׂמְחָה שֶׁיִּשְׂמַח אָדָם בַּעֲשִׂיַּת הַמִּצְווֹת וּבְאַהֲבַת הָאֵל שֶׁצִּוָּה בָּהֶן, עֲבוֹדָה גְּדוֹלָה הִיא. וְכָל הַמּוֹנֵעַ עַצְמוֹ מִשִּׂמְחָה זוֹ, רָאוּי לְהִפָּרַע מִמֶּנּוּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים כח:מז) "תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר לֹא עָבַדְתָּ אֶת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּשִׂמְחָה וּבְטוּב לֵבָב". וְכָל הַמֵּגִיס דַּעְתּוֹ וְחוֹלֵק כָּבוֹד לְעַצְמוֹ וּמִתְכַּבֵּד בְּעֵינָיו בִּמְקוֹמוֹת אֵלּוּ, חוֹטֵא וְשׁוֹטֶה. וְעַל זֶה הִזְהִיר שְׁלֹמֹה וְאָמַר (משלי כה:ו) "אַל תִּתְהַדַּר לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ".
הלכה טז
וְכָל הַמַּשְׁפִּיל עַצְמוֹ וּמֵקֵל גּוּפוֹ בִּמְקוֹמוֹת אֵלּוּ, הוּא הַגָּדוֹל הַמְכֻבָּד, הָעוֹבֵד מֵאַהֲבָה. וְכֵן דָּוִד מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמַר (שמואל ב ו:כב) "וּנְקַלֹּתִי עוֹד מִזֹּאת וְהָיִיתִי שָׁפָל בְּעֵינָי". וְאֵין הַגְּדֻלָּה וְהַכָּבוֹד אֶלָּא לִשְׂמֹחַ לִפְנֵי ה' שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמואל ב ו:טז) "וְהַמֶּלֶךְ דָּוִד מְפַזֵּז וּמְכַרְכֵּר לִפְנֵי ה'".
Halacha 12
Although we are required to rejoice on all festivals, there was special rejoicing in the Temple during the Sukkot festival, as it says (Lev. 23:40), “You shall rejoice before God your Lord for seven days”. How was this done? On the day preceding the first day of Sukkot, they would establish a raised section for women and a lower section for men in the Temple, so that they would not mix together. They began to celebrate at the conclusion of the first day of the festival. On each day of Chol HaMoed, the celebrations began after the daily afternoon sacrifice and continued for the rest of the day and the entire night.
Halacha 13
How was this celebration observed? Flutes were sounded, and harps, lyres and cymbals were played. Anyone who could play an instrument, played it; anyone who could sing, sang. They danced, clapping hands, spinning and leaping – each one as he knew how to – and said words of song and praise. And this celebration did not override Shabbat nor the first day of the festival.
Halacha 14
It is a Mitzvah to increase this celebration. [But] ignorant individuals, or anybody who wished [to participate], took no leading part in it. Only great wise men of Israel, heads of academies, members of the Sanhedrin, men of piety, elders and men of good deeds would be those who danced, clapped hands, made music and rejoiced in the Temple during the days of Sukkot. The entire nation, all men and women, came to watch and listen.
Halacha 15
For the happiness which a person must be joyous with in the performance of Mitzvot, and in the love of God Who has commanded us in them, is a tremendous work. And anyone who prevents himself from experiencing this joy deserves punishment, as it says (Deut. 28:47), “Because you did not serve God your Lord with happiness and a glad heart…”. And anyone who is arrogant, who attributes honor to himself, and who honors himself on such occasions, is both a sinner and a fool. King Shlomo cautioned about this when he said (Prov. 25:6), “Do not glorify yourself in the presence of the King”.
Halacha 16
And anyone who humbles himself and lightens his personal self (lit. body) on such occasions, it is he who is [truly] great and honorable, who serves [God] out of love. And such did David, King of Yisrael, say (II Samuel 6:22), “I will lighten myself even more than this, humbling myself in my own eyes”. True greatness and honor are only in rejoicing before God, as it says (II Samuel 6:16), “King David was leaping and dancing before God”.