A few weeks' ago, The Beatles' Abbey Road album returned to #1 in the pop album charts (UK) and one of the best songs on the album is "Here Comes the Sun" by George Harrison.
(א) סֻכָּה שֶׁהִיא גְבוֹהָה לְמַעְלָה מֵעֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה, פְּסוּלָה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַכְשִׁיר. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ גְּבוֹהָה עֲשָׂרָה טְפָחִים, וְשֶׁאֵין לָהּ שְׁלֹשָׁה דְּפָנוֹת, וְשֶׁחַמָּתָהּ מְרֻבָּה מִצִּלָּתָהּ, פְּסוּלָה. סֻכָּה יְשָׁנָה, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי פּוֹסְלִין, וּבֵית הִלֵּל מַכְשִׁירִין. וְאֵיזוֹ הִיא סֻכָּה יְשָׁנָה, כָּל שֶׁעֲשָׂאָהּ קֹדֶם לֶחָג שְׁלשִׁים יוֹם. אֲבָל אִם עֲשָׂאָהּ לְשֵׁם חָג, אֲפִלּוּ מִתְּחִלַּת הַשָּׁנָה, כְּשֵׁרָה:
(1) A sukkah which is more than twenty cubits high is not valid. Rabbi Judah validates it. One which is not ten handbreadths high, or which does not have three walls, or which has more sun than shade, is not valid....
The Gemara (Sukkah 22b) raises an interesting question - what if there equal amounts of sunshine and shade - will the Sukkah be kosher?
It replies with the answer, that it all depends on which angle you view both the sunlight and shade.
In the case where you look at the schach and see them being equal, then the sukkah would be pasul (i.e. non kosher) but if you look at the ratio on the ground, where the beams of sunlight have diffused through the cracks in the schach and therefore appear equal to the amount of shade, then we allow the sukkah and say that the schach is "sufficiently dense" and the shade therefore exceeds the sunlight.
I think this is an important lesson for all of us.
When we judge a situation, we need to take in all the points of view before making a decision about how to act. It would be easy to automatically disqualify the sukkah if you thought that there was an equal amount of shade - but look at the roof and then the ground and make your decision.
Rabbi Sacks in his Sukkot machzor writes that "The book of Kohelet - 'Ecclesiastes' that we read today is one of the most controversial in the entire Tanach. Its literal translation (from the Greek) is "one who addresses an assembly" - 'kehillah' and its inclusion as part of the canon was highly debated.
Kohelet was none other than Solomon, reputedly, the wisest of men.Yet, reading the book, the Rabbis were struck by what they perceived as being anything but wise, due to its contradictory statements
The Gemara relates that Rabbi Tanḥum delivered an entire homily touching upon both aggadic and halakhic materials surrounding this question. He began and said: You, King Solomon, where is your wisdom, where is your understanding? Not only do your statements contradict the statements of your father David, but your statements even contradict each other. Your father David said: “it is not the dead who praise the Lord....” (Psalms 115:17); and you said: “I thought the dead more fortunate, who have died already, than the living who yet live” - is it better to be alive than dead? Kohelet seems to answer both 'yes and no'!"
Reading through the book, one is initially struck by its depressing, bleak tone and "almost nihilistic" nature - written by a man in his twilight years who appears to be disillusioned and sceptical about the ability of people to change the world.
Yet - there is one word that appears no less than seventeen times in this book. A word that appears only once in each of the first four books of the Torah and 12 times in Devarim.
The word is Simcha - "joy".
Some examples:
(15) I therefore praised enjoyment. For the only good a man can have under the sun is to eat and drink and enjoy himself. That much can accompany him, in exchange for his wealth, through the days of life that God has granted him under the sun.
(7) Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy; for your action was long ago approved by God. (8) Let your clothes always be freshly washed, and your head never lack ointment. (9) Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun.
(7) How sweet is the light, what a delight for the eyes to behold the sun! (8) Even if a man lives many years, let him enjoy himself in all of them, remembering how many the days of darkness are going to be. The only future is nothingness!
Koheleth seems to be reminding us that, even when things look bleak and unremitting, joy can be found, somehow.
It is a challenging book to comprehend, which needs more than the few cursory words I have quoted here - but I think that the message it conveys is that, at this time, during the festival of Sukkot the only chag which is referred to as - Zman Simchateinu - the time of our joy - one should always take the time to look beyond the exterior, to understand the mechanics of what is taking place beneath - had the Rabbis not taken this point of view, it is very possible that the majesty and beauty of Kohelet would have been lost to us, in a similar way that the Book of Maccabees suffered as a result of not being included in the final canon of the Tanach.
I remember a TV advert for the Guardian where a skinhead ran towards a well dressed man and violently grabbed him. One's initial reaction was to automatically side with the hapless gentleman until you saw the rest of the ad where it showed how the skinhead" had pulled the man out of the way of some scaffolding which fell and shed its heavy load - the result of which would have probably killed him.
The narration read "an event seen from one point of view gives one impression. Seen from another point of view, it gives quite a different impression. But it's only when you get the whole picture, you can fully understand what's going on"
Coming from the Guardian, that's quite ironic. But nevertheless, its message has always stuck with me.
In conclusion, let us consider how fortunate we are to be able to celebrate these festivals together, here, in a country that has protected us for so many years.
In light of the terrible attacks that our people have been subjected to, over the last year - not least the latest in Germany just over a week ago - it is easy to become disallusioned and pessimistic - but we should also try to look at the big picture and remember how blessed we are to be able to worship freely, compared with the struggles our ancestors faced.
Sukkot, our Zman Simchateinu should remind us that, like the book of Kohelet, even when all seems lost - a chink of joy can pierce the gloom if we let it through.
As we leave our sukkot and enter into the spirit of Shmini Atzeret and ultimately Simchat Torah - we do so, with the hope that the joy we experienced together will light the long winter nights.
"Sun, sun, sun - here it comes".
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.