"Fortunate is he who did not sin!
One who did should return
And will be forgiven"

This is the song that was taught at the annual "Simchas Beis Hashoeva" festivities in the Beis Hamikdash (1)

Which sin are they referring to? And why was the the song of choice?

They were hinting to Lust, and fantasies of the heart. This is symbolized by lighting up the sanctuary with massive candelabras full of wicks made from worn out trousers and belts of the kohanim, which illuminated the entire city of Yerushalayim (2), and we know that those articles of clothing are designed to atone (3) for גילוי עריות and הרהורי הלב.

We also find that the building code in the Beis Hamikdash did not allow any additions or extensions, yet permission was granted to allow construction to separate women from men at the time of "Simchas Beis Hashoeva".
This acted as a safeguard, but may have served primarily to highlight what the festivity represented - the joy of being in control of our Taavos and the ability to connect to our Neshama

What was the goal?
The Gemara continues to tell us that "Beis Hashoeva" was actually a wellspring of Ruach Hakodesh.
Explains the Satmar Rebbe z"l (4) - Our sages teach us (5) that "אין אדם עובר עבירה אא״כ נכנס בו רוח שטות. So long as one is beholden and overtaken by their base desires they are disconnected from the spirit. But one who never sinned or has repented, is now able to return and tap into "ונחה עליו רוח השם".
Alternately the construction of separation between genders was the key to the door of Ruach Hakodesh, as the Midrash says "כל מקום שאתה מוצא גדר ערוה אתה מוצא קדושה"

Fortunate is he who did not sin!
One who did should return thru GYE,
And will be forgiven if he follows the steps provided ;-)

I am forever grateful to GYE for showing me the light - Yaacov and all my brothers. May we all share in it together b'ezras Hashem and dance together with Moshiach bb"a!

Mark

1) Succah 53a:
2) Succah 51a
3) Based on Zevachim 88b See בן יהוידע
4) Moadim 1 pg 392
5) Sotah 3a

Sukkos is a time of Simcha.

The Chassidic Rebbe of Karlin once said that with Simcha Shel Mitzva a Yid can break down all barriers! The Yetzer Hara just flees when Jews rejoice with Hashem's Mitzvos.

Have a Simchadik Yom-Tov!

Chaza"l say that the Schach should be from "Pesoles Goren Ve'Yakev". Why do Chazal use the Lashon of "Pesoles", couldn't they have found a nicer way to describe the material we use for this holy Mitzva?

Says the Alter Sadigerer Rebbe (son in law of the Beis Ahron of Karlin), that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are times of Teshuva Me'Yira - Repentance from Fear, and Chazal say that when we repent from fear our sins becomes like "mistakes" (zedonos na'asin ki'shgagos). However, Sukkos is a time of Teshuvah Me'Ahava - Repentance through love and rejoicing. This is a much higher level of Teshuva, and Chazal say that the sins become like merits!

This, says the Sadigerer, is the secret of the Schach. We davka take the "Pesoles"; the spoiled - the sins of our past; and through Teshuvah Me'Ahava on Sukkos, we uplift them into merits. Hashem's divine presence hovers over us in the Sukka davka in the form of our past sins, which we have merited to uplift through our repentance with love!

Whenever faced with a struggle, remember this important saying:

"LET GO AND LET G-D"

This idea can be found in Tehhilim (37) as well:

Roll your ways on G-d, trust in him and he shall do.

Someone sent us a piece from the Husiaterner Rebbe, Reb Ya'akov zy'a from Rhizin. He writes that the time between Yom-Kippur and Sukkos is a time of Teshuvah Me'ahavah (Repentance through Love). And he brings the Gemarah (in Yummah 86b) that says that when a Jew does Teshuvah through Love, his past sins become merits. It says in the Torah about the first day of Sukkos: "Take for yourself on the first day" - and Chaza"l write: "Rishon Le'cheshbon Avonos" - "The first day of the accounting on one's sins". Why would we want to make an accounting of our sins, and what does this have to do with Sukkos? This cryptic Chaza"l can now be understood in a new light. Since a Jew does Teshuvah through Love during these days, on Sukkos he can start to count all of his PAST sins as MERITS!

Dear GYE Family,

I hope everyone had an easy fast and a meaningful and uplifting Yom Kippur. Now as we move from the Yemei HaDin (which were also Yemei HaSimcha) into the days of Z'man Simchaseinu, I'd like to share a few thoughts with the chevra, which have special significance in our personal shared struggles with sobriety and lust.

"Noorah" posted on the forum:

I find that the more holy the day or season, any time we are enjoined to be happy, the Yetzer Hara will go to great lengths to pull me down. The seforim all say that when we say that a Tom Tov is a "zman" for something, it means that this time is segulah from Heaven to acquire that specific item.

Sukkos is called "a time for our rejoicing" - meaning, that this is when they hand out out joy/simcha. The question that I ask myself is, why do I feel that I'm missing the ability to acquire this tremendous Heavenly gift?

Why am I mired in the petty worries of the solvency of my bank account? Why can't I internalize all the lofty concepts of the Sukkka?

Why am I stuck with all the petty resentments of my day to day life? What happened to all the lofty ideas that I read and learn about in the holy seforim?

I can read all these noble lofty thoughts of bitachon, I can even teach them convincingly to others, yet when it comes time to "putting the rubber to the road", why am I left face to face with little ol' me?

WHY? WHY? WHY?

I know that Dov who works the 12-Steps, said recently that "Life gets good in a hurry when we are living for the right reasons, even if we are not doing it perfectly". But how in the world is the 12 steps going to meet my payroll?? ...The Big Book don't talk about the aforementioned banks, suppliers and customers!

Dov replies:

I'm would like to share with you, Noorah, that there is not much written in the AA "Big Book" about not drinking, not much in the 12-Steps about not lusting, and b"H there is not much space in my head given to how not be'simcha I am feeling this Sukkos so far.

It's ALL about the resentments, ALL about the horrible customers, ALL about the fears, worries, and nuttiness of life. That is what the steps are ONLY about. Finding sanity in a beis medrash (or a test tube) is not going to do me much good in real life if I'm out of the beis medrash.

Living the "good life" isn't about having it "good", it is about really having it - whatever it really is, then owning it, and learning how to let Hashem work with us to live it right. Then, it gets "good" in a hurry.

And, by the way, "being left with little ol' me" is actually huge. You are not running into fantasy (which is something I have done hundreds, maybe thousands, of times). It may not be pretty, but it is the only game in town. Now play it.

- Dov

P.S. All the brocha of the years and years that Hashem loved us in the desert with those clouds, the mon and the sukkas; that huge older generation was dying-out slowly under the heavy gezeira of the cheit haeygel and meraglim. That was the setting for the training-period of the next generation. It was not pleasant, and not idyllic, to be sure. But the love of Hashem was still there. They were surrounded by the clouds of glory and getting the mon each morning! So they just focused on the positive, did their jobs, and grew.

P.P.S. My apologies if what I wrote did not sound loving, but it is the best I have for you, chaver, and I do love you.

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