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Welcome to Emotional Wellness Daily. The greatest psychologist is none other than Hashem Himself, Who created the psyche. I once heard Rav Wolbe discuss the concept of Torah psychoanalysis. We see how the Torah understands Korach, how what was driving him was his jealousy of his cousin; what was driving the spies was the need for honor, and so on. Hashem knows what we need and He built in to the system that if we keep it properly, we have a healthy system.
After we go through Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we need the next level, which is the Succah. What exactly does the Succah do? The Ramchal explains in his sefer Derech Hashem (section 5, chapter 8, letter 2), that the clouds of glory surrounded the Jewish people, and aside from the physical benefit that it protected them from the outside, external forces ( keep that in mind) the clouds of glory had a tremendous spiritual impact on them. It separated them and lifted them up and they had a certain light upon them, that lifted them up and they were so to say, like walking on a cloud.
He adds that every year, when Sukkot comes, this light reappears and we are surrounded and uplifted, and this concept repeats itself, in every Jew.
It lifts you up.
Getting back to psychology, one of the difficulties some people have is something called approval seeking behaviors. People need the approval of outside sources.
People seek approval but they might never get it. There are people that suffer for years after their parents are no longer here, because they never got approval from them. Approval seeking behaviors also cause difficulties in making decisions, because they always need to weigh in with others, to make sure everyone else is happy. They're always impacted by external factors, and it's difficult.
So how do we fix that? How do we stop needing that constant outside approval?
If you look at the psychology books, they say you have to be happy with yourself. You have to be comfortable with yourself. You have to do what feels right for you. You have to do what's good for you. But the difficulty with that is, Who decides what's right and who decides what's good?
Once again, we see what a beautiful thing it is that we have a Torah, so that we know what's right and what's good.
When I get up in the morning, I put on my tefilin, I put on my talit,
I do Netilat Yadayim…. or whatever it may be.. I know I just did what's right. Sometimes we have to to know what's right for us, more specifically, as individuals. We need to learn mussar… etc.
But ultimately, when a person is learning and they have a religious map, they know what's right for them. That's the work of a person that's working on his internal self. He has to know what's right for him. There are certain times that you commit yourself to something that might be right for you (or not right for you, if you're copying somebody). We have the tools to know what's right for us. And after the high holiday season, Hashem gives us an added spiritual boost.
We sit in the Succah- in God's approval of us, and He lifts us up. We feel something after Yom Kippur. Everyone feels it. You did a good job. You went through a Yom Kippur; you feel a sense of self-esteem. You’re getting ready for Zman Simhatenu, the time to be happy. You found an inner peace. You did the right thing. You went through Yom Kippur and you're guaranteed. You did Teshuva, you connected to the day. You feel uplifted. This feeling is God's approval, so to say, after Yom Kippur. There's no better approval than that. It’s an internal approval. You don't need to come on to outsiders. You feel God lift you up.
Hopefully, we'll all feel that uplift on the holiday of Sukkot.
Have a wonderful day.