LEV926 Desist from prohibited melachah on Rosh Hashanah. One of Hashem's kind acts is that once a year He reviews the deeds of each human being and on that basis issues a decree. Thereby, a person's sins do not accumulate to too great a degree and he can attain atonement. Since a person's sins over the course of only one year are relatively few in number, Hashem forgives and grants atonement for them. If grave sins have been committed so the guilty parties need purification, He extracts payment little by little. Were Hashem to wait and take the accounting of our sins only after a long period of time, our sins would accumulate to such a degree that the world would almost need to be destroyed, God forbid. It turns out that this special day--Rosh Hashanah, Judgment Day--is necessary so that the world can continue to exist. For this reason, it is fitting that it be a holiday. On the other hand, since it is Judgment Day for all creations, there should be more of a feeling of fear and trepidation, relative to the other holidays of the year. An illusion to this idea is found in the sound of the shofar, for the broken, shrill shofar blows instill fear in us and shake us to break our evil inclination, so that we will regret and repent from our sins.

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LEV927 Fast on the Tenth of Tishrei. One of Hashem's kind acts is that He sets aside one special day of the year when His creations can readily receive atonement for their sins if they repent for them. Therefore, on that day we are commanded to fast, because food, drink and other physical pleasures awaken the physical aspect of our beings to follow after mundane desires and be drawn to sin. Indulging in physical pleasures stops our intelligent soul from searching for truth—i.e., service of Hashem and the ethical teachings that are sweet to any intelligent being. On a day of judgment, it is inappropriate for a servant to appear before his Master with a soul darkened and polluted by thoughts of the physical due to indulgence in food and drink, for the servant is judged according to his deeds at that time. Rather, on this day, it behooves him to give prominence to his intelligent soul, subduing his physical side, letting his soul come forward and be worthy of atonement, without physical desires constituting an obstacle.

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LEV928 See [[LEV177]] Leviticus 16:29 afflict BLOCH 36-7

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LEV929 Animals, too, possess nefesh and ruach, for lust and anger are found in them as they are in men, but a human being possesses a neshamah in addition, which speaks and which distinguishes between truth and falsity. When the body dies, the nefesh of lust and the nefesh of ruach die, and there remains the form of the wise supernal neshamah which does not die with the death of the body. And (Koheleth 12:7): "And the ruach will return to God, Who gave it," refers to the ruach of wisdom. When a man sins, the neshamah of his nefesh and that of his ruach die, as it is written (Yechezkel 18:4): "The sinning nefesh will die," and Moshe our teacher, may peace be upon him, the man of God, said [this verse]: "And I will cause that nefesh to be excised from the midst of its people, and (Ibid 7:20): And that nefesh will be cut off from its people," indicating that that which dies is called nefesh. After the death of the wicked man, the wise neshama is hurled as from a sling for having hearkened to ruach and nefesh. But the neshama of the righteous man, in whom the wise supernal neshama predominated over ruach and nefesh, is bound up in the bond of life under the Throne of Glory. The fool, who hearkened to ruach and nefesh -- his neshama is cut off; and the wise man, who hearkened to the supernal neshamah inspired in him from the Throne of Glory -- his neshamah merits the abundance of the secreted good.

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LEV930 The body is morally neutral and potentially good. The body is neither bad nor good. Rather, its energies, like those of our mind, will, and emotions, are morally neutral. All our faculties can and should be used for divine purposes as defined by Jewish law and tradition. Within these constraints, the body's pleasures are God-given and not to be shunned, for to do so would be an act of ingratitude toward our Creator. The body, in other words, can and should give us pleasure to the extent that such pleasure enables us to live a life of holiness.… In these matters Judaism differs markedly from both the American secular review of the body, on the one hand, and from Christianity, on the other. Because of its view of the body and its central story of Jesus dying on the cross, pain plays a positive role in most Christian thought. The closest Judaism comes to that attitude are the rules governing Yom Kippur and historical fast days like Tisha b'Av, on which we are to "afflict our souls" through fasting, sexual abstinence, and other forms of physical self-denial. But in each case, such abstinence is restricted to that day alone and is designed to call attention to the spiritual theme of the day; deprivation itself is not expected to effect atonement or historical memory. In fact, if a person's life is medically endangered on Yom Kippur, the law not only permits but actually requires him or her to refrain from fasting and to take appropriate measures to ensure life and health. (See this verse,; M. Yoma, chap.8, and later rabbinic commentaries and codes based on that).

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LEV931 The greatest sacrifice is told of a certain Rabbi who used to save the whole of the year enough money to enable him to buy an Ethrog for the Feast of Tabernacles [this verse]. When he was in possession of six rubles he made a special journey from his village to Brody, to buy the Ethrog. But on the way he met a poor man who made a livelihood by means of his horse-cart, on which he carried water for the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the horse died on the way. There upon the Rabbi gave him six rubles to buy another beast, saying, "What is the difference? Ethrog is a command of God, and to help this poor man is also a command of God." Naturally, a miracle happened afterwards. The Rabbi was presented by some rich man with a fine Ethrog for the feast. I will only remark that charity belongs, according to the mystics, to the Commandments that work a certain rebirth in man, or rather give a new soul to those who make strenuous efforts to fulfill them.

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LEV932 The mitzvah of taking a lulav on Sukkos. A person is most strongly influenced by the actions that he does on a regular basis. If his actions are virtuous, his thoughts will be the same. Since Hashem wants to bestow merit on His nation, He gives us many mitzvos, so that we are fulfilling His Will at all times and our thoughts and souls are constantly turned to good and virtue. Included in the mitzvos that Hashem commands us to help us to focus our thoughts on serving Him in purity, is the mitzvah of tefillin. They are worn next to the heart and brain, and when putting them on every day we dedicate our hearts and minds to His service. Thus, we are helped to remember and be sure that all day long we weigh our every deed according to the scales of justice and truth. This is the key concept of the Four Species. Sukkos is a time of great joy for the Jewish nation, for it is the time for bringing in our harvest of grain and fruits. Therefore, Hashem commands us to celebrate a festival at this time so that the primary joy in our hearts is in His Blessed Honor. Reaping one’s harvest tends to lead a person towards materialism and the joy at harvest time therefore can lead us to forget fear of God. Therefore, He commands us that on Sukkos we take in hand visible reminders that all of our joy is in His Blessed Honor. He commands us to take these four species because there these are species that give joy to all who see them. Another concept of the mitzvah is that the four species allude to four primary components of the human body. The esrog alludes to the heart--where human intelligence resides. By taking an esrog in hand on Sukkos, we are taught that in order to serve our Maker properly, we must use our intelligence. The lulav alludes to the spinal cord, which has central importance for all that we do, and taking it in hand teaches us to bring all of limbs in line with Hashem's Will. The hadas is shaped like the human eye, and we take it in hand on Sukkos in order to impress upon ourselves that during joyful days we must be particularly careful to not stray after our eyes. The willow leaf is shaped like our lips, which we use for speech, and taking it in hand teaches us to consider our words carefully so that we say nothing improper, for even during times of joy we must retain our fear of God. As to waiving the four species in all six directions, this serves to remind us that everything is from Hashem--what is above, what is below, and whatever is found in the north, south, east or west. This is how these matters appear according to the simple understanding. The cap Kabbalists expound many wondrous and more profound explanations for the mitzvah of the Four Species.

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LEV933 Today, the average person is wealthier by far than at any other time in human history. Inventions have made life easier and more convenient than ever before. Man is able to control his environment and has more options in life than previous generations ever dreamed of. People enjoy more leisure time than ever before. And yet, many, if not most, people do not perceive themselves as happy. Seminars to teach unhappy people how to be happy proliferate and hundreds of books that have sold millions of copies have been written about achieving happiness. Why, then, are people not happy? What is happiness--can it be defined? And, once defined, how is it obtained? People usually associate happiness with "fun" and "having a good time." But these particular concepts are alien to Jewish thought. There is no word for fun in modern or ancient Hebrew. Thus, Israelis have borrowed an Arabic word, "kef," to express fun. Even the term "having a good time" is unheard of in Hebrew. Thus, Israelis use an idiom, "laasot chaim--to make a life" to express this idea because no expression exist. Obviously, these concepts cannot be the definition of Jewish happiness. There is another Hebrew word often mistranslated as the Hebrew equivalent of happy, simchah. While this may be a close approximation, this is really not the true definition of Jewish happiness. The mitzvah to be same'ach on a Jewish holiday is only referred to in the Torah by the holiday of Sukkoth [this verse and Deut. 16:14-15]. This cannot possibly be a commandment to be happy only on Sukkoth. First, how can a person be commanded to feel an abstract emotion such as happiness? Secondly, why was the holiday of Sukkoth, of all the other Jewish holidays, singled out for happiness? Therefore, this Hebrew term cannot mean happy either. What, then, is the meaning of the word same'ach? The well-known dictum from Ethics of the Fathers (Avot 4:1) says that a person who is truly rich is he who is same'ach with whatever he possesses. Many mistranslate this as he who is happy with what he has, but it is clear that it really means he who is satisfied with whatever he possesses. Therefore, the word same'ach translates (most of the time) as a term of satisfaction or appreciation. This is something God can command: to appreciate what you have, to be satisfied with what God has given to you. The truly rich person, in Jewish terms, is the person who appreciates what he has, no matter how much or how little it is.

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LEV934 See [[EXOD407]] Exodus 20:11 sabbath DORFFDRAG 3-4

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LEV935 See [[LEV795]] Leviticus 19:34 love OXFORD 46-7

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