Shmini Aseret, as we know, is really not the holiday of Succot. Succot is 7
days. Shmini Aseret is a day later, on the eighth day. (Outside of Israel we
celebrate 2 days of Yom Tov)
Shmini Aseret is called
רגל בפני עצמו It’s it’s own holiday. It gets its own Shehechiyanu, and in Israel
they don’t sit in the Succah at all on Shmini 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, (na is 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 Shmini 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 Shmini Aseret. He says,
מאד מאד יזהר בתפילת שמיני עצרת אומרם בכונה גדול
Be very, very careful with the tefillot of Shmini Aseret. Have great
concentration because,
כי שכל 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 Shmini 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 rabbis 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. Thats 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 Shmini
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 Shmini Aseret, we are visited once more, this time in our homes. Who
comes to visit?
Shlomo HaMelech, which is why we read the haftara of Shlomo HaMelech
on this day. What gave Shlomo Hamelech his power? In a dream, G-d came
to ask him what he wanted: wealth, honor or wisdom. Shlomo 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 Shmini 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 Shmini 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
