Today we have a post-Succot, Ahavat Yisrael thought. Shemini Aseret is called the Eighth Day because it's a continuation of Succot, but really, it's its own holiday. We don't sit in the Succah (in Eretz Yisrael) and we say Shehechiyanu because it's a separate holiday.
What is the purpose behind the holiday? Rashi brings down that it’s like a king that invited his children to a meal for a certain amount of time, and when came time to leave,
He said, “My children stay one more day.” קשה עלי פרידתכם
literally,
It's hard for Me, your separation.” Simply, this means the king has difficulty separating from his children. But the Sefer Ahavat Shalom (and many others) say the difficulty of the separation is not regarding the the father and the children, but rather that it hurts the father to see his children separate. What does that mean? A father wants his children to get along. That's every father and mother's dream- that their children get along with true unity and true family love.
But if, heaven forbid, there is some kind of divisiveness, what does the father do? It pains him greatly. He wants nothing more than have love and unity among his children.
So he decides to bring them all together, to have a family meal together. And he talks to them about the negatives of arguments and divisiveness.
He brings the family back together again. And through the meals as it says,
ועל כל פשעים תכסה אהבה
On all faults, love covers.
They're in a good mood.
They're eating, they're drinking.
And if that's what a regular father does, how much more so with Hashem, who wants nothing more than bringing His children together.
That's the purpose of Succot. The purpose of the holiday of Succot was to get us together- whether with the four species that unite us, or the Succah, as we discussed.
And now God says, As Succot is over, it’s hard for Me to see you separate. You're leaving the Succah. There are no more Arba Minim.
It hurts Me. I want another day, and we're just going to devote this day to staying together.
What do we do on that day? That day is Simchat Torah That's the day that we dance with the Torah, because there's nothing that unifies people more than the Torah unifies. People who learn together are united. Torah is a powerful force to unite. One of the sources is, as Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky said, that the 12 flags were placed specially around the Mishkan, with the Torah in the center, because what unifies everyone is the Sefer Torah.
So that's what we do. It’s the thing that can keep us going. The Simchat Torah that we have, the learning that we do together will keep us together. And that's why God made an additional day.
So now, post-holiday season, let's not forget how much our Father invested in making sure that His children get along.
Have a wonderful day.