Serve Hashem With Joy

The Rabbi teaches that a person should strive to become a true Eved Hashem. Every mitzvah we do with love, joy, and sincerity brings us closer to that. Serving Hashem is not only about what we do, but about the heart and happiness we bring into it.

This is the reason we are here in this world. The neshama is eternal, and if a person spends life focused only on eating, drinking, and chasing physical pleasures, he is missing the entire tachlit, the true purpose of life. Rabbi Elbaz teaches us that food, travel, and all the so-called physical pleasures of this world are not real pleasure. When the neshama is pulled only toward the ta’avot, the desires of this world, it experiences tza’ar, deep sorrow, because that is not what it was created for.

Some people spend their entire lives chasing physical pleasures, convinced that the next experience, purchase, meal, or success will finally make them happy. But that kind of pleasure fades almost as quickly as it comes. It feels good for a moment, and then we are searching for the next thing.

The Torah offers us something much deeper. It does not ask us to run away from this world, but to elevate it. Through Torah and mitzvot, even the physical parts of life can become meaningful, holy, and genuinely joyful. We are able to enjoy this world in the best possible way, not by being controlled by it, but by using it to come closer to Hashem. And ultimately, there is no greater joy than that closeness to Hashem.

And what is that purpose? To merit one mitzvah, and then another mitzvah, and then another. Every mitzvah matters. Every mitzvah becomes part of something eternal. The body is here to enable us to live, act, grow, and ultimately merit chayei netzach, eternal life. Our purpose is to become true servants of Hashem. 

Think about Yom Kippur. You spent an entire day doing mitzvot, praying, fasting, and connecting to Hashem. You should feel so happy about that. You gained something that can never be taken away from your neshama. You gained something eternal!

Of course, we eat, drink, rest, and enjoy life, and we are meant to enjoy the good that Hashem gives us. But all of these things also give us the strength to keep going, to keep growing, and to continue doing mitzvot. Physical pleasures pass. A mitzvah stays with us forever.

That is where real happiness comes from.

We are not meant to serve Hashem with heaviness. We are meant to be Ovdei Hashem b’simcha, to serve Hashem with genuine joy, knowing that every mitzvah we do is building something eternal. 

Living in the Sukkah

Sleeping in the sukkah is even more important than eating in it. There are certain foods that may be eaten outside the sukkah, whereas eating bread as part of a seudah requires us to eat in the sukkah.

If one eats a kezayit of bread, it is preferable to eat 54 grams, then the blessing of leishev basukkah is recited. This applies to men only.

The sukkah is not just a place where we eat. It carries us back to one of the greatest miracles in our history: the Clouds of Glory that surrounded and protected Bnei Yisrael in the desert. These miraculous clouds even laundered their clothing, and their clothing grew together with them. On Sukkot, we step into the sukkah and remember that same Divine protection and care.

Make the Sukkah Your Home

Rabbi Elbaz reminds us: never cut back on expenses for a mitzvah.

Make your sukkah beautiful. Put in good lighting. If needed, have air conditioning. Make the sukkah  your permanent dwelling. For these days, this is your home.

And if the sukkah becomes your home, treat it like a holy one. Don’t fill it with nonsense. No politics. Fill it with holiness, learning, singing, meaningful conversation, and words of Torah. Let the atmosphere itself remind you that you are sitting in a place of a mitzvah.

And above all: be happy on Sukkot. This is the ikar.

The Message of the Arba’at HaMinim

The Arba’at HaMinim, the Four Species, carries so many deep secrets, hidden within this mitzvah. One of them being that even if we have distanced ourselves from Hashem a little, we can always come closer again. 

Sukkot is a time to reconnect. To come closer to Hashem. To serve Him with love. To remember that every mitzvah we do has eternal value, even if it seems small in the moment.

Remember Ya’aleh VeYavo

We say Ya’aleh VeYavo throughout all eight days, until Motzaei Simchat Torah.

And once again, the message of the holiday comes back to something simple and powerful:

Be happy. Serve Hashem with simcha. Let the joy of Sukkot stay with you long after the holiday is over.

Chag Sameach!!