Shemini Aseret, as we know, is really not the holiday of Succot. Succot is 7 days. Shemini Aseret is a day later, on the eighth day. (Outside of Israel we celebrate 2 days of Yom Tov)
Shemini Aseret is called רגל בפני עצמו It is its own holiday. It gets its own Shehechiyanu, and in Israel they don’t sit in the Succah at all on Shemini Aseret.
The reason for this holiday is that G-d says קשה אלי פרידתכם -It’s hard to say goodbye.
We had a such a wonderful season together: Starting in Elul, going through Rosh Hashana, the Aseret Yeme Teshuva, Yom Kippur and Succot... it was beautiful. Then we had Hoshana Raba, (נא na is the numerical value of 51, as if to say “save us in the merit of these 51 days”). We banged the Aravot, and now, it should all be over.
But G-d says, “I can’t. I need one more day alone with My people.”
During the days of Succot, in the times of the Bet HaMikdash, there were many korbanot brought for the rest of the world. Therefore, after that, the Midrash says, it’s as if Hashem, as the father, is saying,
“My son was so busy serving others, I need some time alone with him now.”
That’s what Shemini Aseret is all about-One more day alone with my people.
Rav Chaim Palaggi, the chief rabbi of Turkey from 200 years ago, says something very powerful regarding Shemini Aseret. He says,
מאד מאד יזהר בתפילת שמיני עצרת אומרם בכונה גדול
Be very, very careful with the tefillot of Shemini Aseret. Have great concentration because,
כי כל תיקון של הימים, מיום ראש השנה עד שמיני עצרת הוא נשלם,
It’s the final day.
Furthermore, he continues,
אין בכל אלו הימים יום רצון לה' לשמוע ה' תפילתו בכל מה דבעי כיום הזה,
There is no day, of all of the days, that is a Day of Goodwill for G-d to listen to your prayers, for whatever you want, like this day.
He quotes the Zohar that says that G-d is alone with the Jewish people. It’s as if you’re in the room with the king.
And it says,
כל מה דבעי שאיל ויהיב ליה
Ask for whatever you want. You’ll get it! Therefore, he says, we should use this day properly.
If this is the case, the obvious question is- What do we do on Shemini Aseret? Maybe we should we lock ourselves in a room and finish tehilim three times.
But we don’t do that. We dance with the Sefer Torah. How does that fit? We do make requests after we dance, but how is it that dancing with the Torah is the best thing to do on this final day?
They explain with a very powerful Midrash that tells about a couple that was married for many years without children. They went to Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, who married them, to ask him what to do.
He advised them to get divorced. But, he said, “Just as you got married with a party, I want you to get divorced with a party. Have a lot of wine and liquor.” So, they followed the rabbi’s instructions and made a party for themselves. They drank and drank, and eventually, the husband conked out.
The wife went back to the rabbi, to ask what she should do next. The rabbi instructed her to bring her husband, in his bed, to her father’s house and,
“When he wakes up and is ready to negotiate the divorce, tell him “I only want you. That’s what I want.”
And that’s what she did. “I just want you, I want to stay married to you, and have children with you,” she told him when he woke.
Sure enough, they stayed married and ended up having children.
So, the Midrash says, one human being said to another, “All I want is you” and it made miracles happen. This is what we are telling G-d on Shemini Aseret, as we dance with the Torah, “All we want is You.” This is powerful.
As we know, for each of the seven days of Succot, we are visited in our Succah by the Ushpizin (Abraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef and David).
On Shemini Aseret, we are visited once more, this time in our homes. Who comes to visit?
Shelomo HaMelech, which is why we read the haftara of Shelomo HaMelech on this day. What gave Shelomo HaMelech his power? In a dream, G-d came to ask him what he wanted: wealth, honor or wisdom. Shelomo HaMelech chose wisdom, and with that, he acquired wealth and honor as well.
This is compared to a king asking a man what his request is, wealth, honor? And the man says, “I want your daughter.” By marrying the king’s daughter, the man gets all the rest.
So on Shemini Aseret, when we are alone with the King, we tell Hashem: All we want is You. We want You, and Your Torah. We want to be connected to You all year.
It’s like marrying the King’s daughter, you get it all.
On Shemini Aseret, we have to say goodbye, but we have the secret to keep this going. We say to G-d, “All I want is You,” we dance with the Torah, we connect with it, and that’s how we take it with us, so it will keep us going the rest of the year beH.
This is the end of a long, special holiday series.
BeH after Yom Tov, we will continue with Hovot HaLevavot.
Tizku Leshanim Rabot