From Serious to Joy
by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen
There is a line in the Book of Psalms that reads “Rejoice in trembling” (Psalms 2:11) that troubled the rabbis trying to reconcile what seems to be two opposites. One way of reconciling it with the line from Kohelet, Ecclesiastes, “ There is a time for everything.” And that seems to apply to the world we live in. Yet Yom Kipur the Day of awe, the most serious day in our calendar was also a day of rejoicing at the thought of being able to turn a new leaf. And within days we are celebrating the festival of Sucot where the Torah commands us to rejoice more than at any other time of the year. It’s almost a recipe for schizophrenia.
It does seem incongruous that immediately after Yom Kipur comes Sukot. The Biblical festival most associated with joy and celebration. Too bad that so many accept Yom Kipur but then ignore Sucot. But we who are fortunate to survive must pick up and go forward with joy.
These are days of challenge, confusion, mixed messages, war and or peace. An alien world and on the other hand an inspiring, spiritual, Jewish one.
The great, last century, saintly Rav Eliyahu Dessler (1892-1953) with whom my father had studied, wrote “ Jewish law formulates the obligation, twice, to begin the building of the Sucah immediately when Yom Kipur ends, once in the laws of Yom Kipur and once in the laws of Sucot. The codes of law convey two interrelated perspectives. The building of the Sucah, symbolizing celebration , is a climax to and transition from Yom Kipur’s avodah me-yirah (service through awe), to initiate a period of intense avodah be-simhah ( service through joy).
And I cannot think of a more appropriate way of describing our present predicament and situation. On the one hand we are concerned with our fate. We are mourning for lost lives, cruel injuries and hatred. On the other we are celebrating survival, coming together to ensure that we go from darkness to light. And rejoicing religiously is an antidote, an effective way to overcome our sadness and realization of how difficult a position we are in.
One my favorite Talmudic sayings goes like this:
“The divine spirt does not come when one is sad, depressed, lazy but trough the joy of doing the right thing.” (Talmud Shabbat 30b).
In classical art it was common to find a human skull, or a tomb engraved "Et in Arcadia Ego Sum." Meaning "I too (death) am present in beauty." One always needs to be reminded of the negative. But not if it impairs your love for life.
I was always a fan of the film “ The Life of Brian” because no other offends both the pious and the woke. And that is probably why Netflix is taking it off its library at the end of this month. If you haven’t seen it, you must, even if it is typical of a certain kind of anti- establishment English humor. So in the spirit of Sucot, please indulge me my youthful folly.
Here is a censored part of the lyrics of the finale where Brian is hanging on a cross.
“Always look on the bright side of Life
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best
If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing
For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow
Forget about your sin
Give the audience a grin
Enjoy it, it's your last chance anyhow
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughin' as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you
I mean, what have you got to lose?
You know, you come from nothing
You're going back to nothing
What have you lost? Nothing
Always look on the right side of life"
PS. This week Israel has announced that there will be two memorial days for the disaster of last year. October the 7th for the secular, and the Day after Sucot for the religious. Just typical of Israel and emblematic of our mixed identities. Straddling two worlds. And why not?
Chag Sameach. Happy Festival.
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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.