Days of Joy, Sukkos 5786 - First for the Reckoning of Sins, The Joy of Nisuch HaMayim

00:00 The Rebbe said: [unclear] Sukkos, Toras Tzaddik. [unclear] The Rebbe Rashab asked the chossid Reb Shmuel Betzalel, known as the Rashbatz. Reb Shmuel Betzalel was one of the elder chassidim; he had even been with the Tzemach Tzedek. And Rosh Hashanah was [unclear]. The Rebbe Rashab asked the Rashbatz, the chossid Reb Shmuel Betzalel: [unclear] What does this mean? The Rashbatz said that he had heard [unclear] from chassidim, disciples of the Baal Shem Tov and disciples of the Maggid of Mezritch. There is also an account involving the holy Rebbe of Berditchev and the Tzemach Tzedek. [unclear] As is known, he was there several times [unclear]. [unclear] the Alter Rebbe and the holy Rebbe of Berditchev. And consequently [unclear]. Present at the time was Reb Leiv, a son of the Tzemach Tzedek and brother of Rabbi Sholom; [unclear] Reb Sholom was the Tzemach Tzedek’s son-in-law. There they witnessed something [unclear] involving the holy Rebbe of Berditchev. He said: The Torah says, “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a beautiful tree, palm branches, a branch of a leafy tree, and willows of the brook.” The Midrash, Midrash Tanchuma, asks: What does “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day” mean?

02:31 “For yourselves on the first day.” Why does it specify “on the first day”? After all, Sukkos falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Why does it say “on the first day”? The Midrash says: “The first day for the reckoning of sins.” What does that mean? On Yom Kippur, Hakadosh Boruch Hu pardons and forgives the Jewish people for all their transgressions, and they remain clean, in complete holiness and purity. When the days after Yom Kippur arrive—the four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos—one person is busy with his sukkah and another with his lulav, and there is no time for transgressions. Transgressions begin only on the first day. These are the words of the Midrash: “The first day for the reckoning of sins.” We begin counting transgressions from Yom Tov onward; that is the meaning of “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day”—the first day for the reckoning of sins. The holy Rebbe of Berditchev asked: What does “the first day for the reckoning” mean? Surely, G-d forbid, it cannot mean that today, on Sukkos, one may already begin to sin! On the contrary. We know from the Gemara in tractate Yoma that when a person does teshuvah out of fear, deliberate sins become like unintentional ones. Because when a person feels fear and does teshuvah out of fear, his deliberate sins become like unintentional ones. But when one does teshuvah out of love, deliberate sins become merits. That is the power of teshuvah: things are transformed, and deliberate sins become merits. And since merits are merits, the holy Rebbe of Berditchev says: On Yom Kippur, the avodah was one of kabbolas ol and fear; consequently, deliberate sins became like unintentional ones. But when we leave Yom Kippur and enter Sukkos—and Sukkos is, after all, “the season of our rejoicing”—the teshuvah is teshuvah out of love, teshuvah born of joy. Teshuvah

04:37 out of love, and then deliberate sins become merits. Not only do they become [unclear], but they become merits. This is the meaning of “the first day for the reckoning of sins.” G-d forbid, it does not mean new sins. The sins committed over the days, the sins that became like unintentional ones through the avodah of teshuvah during the Ten Days of Teshuvah—those are the sins we now reckon. We now count those sins as merits. This is the meaning of “the first day for the reckoning of sins”: on the contrary, we reckon the sins in order to transform them. Through the avodah a person does with great joy—the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah, joy and love, teshuvah out of love—deliberate sins become merits. And this is the significance of the sukkah. The Tzemach Tzedek said something about this: This is the meaning of teshuvah on Sukkos, teshuvah filled with joy and love. That brings about the “first day for the reckoning”: the sins become merits. This is the meaning of “the reckoning of sins”: the sins become merits. The Tzemach Tzedek said that the Alter Rebbe had a question about this: The four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos—is this idea present not only on Sukkos, but already immediately after Yom Kippur? Regarding those four days, [unclear], he asked: Is it already the case during those four days, too, that deliberate sins become merits? How much more so

06:17 on Sukkos. And on Sukkos we find that the joy is greater than at any other time throughout the year. After all, regarding Sukkos it says, “And you shall rejoice on your festival,” and in the wording of the prayers, “the season of our rejoicing.” This differs from all the other Yomim Tovim. Of other Yomim Tovim we say, “the season of the giving of our Torah,” “the season of our freedom”—those are other themes; joy is not quite so prominent. Specifically on Sukkos, specifically here, we explicitly call it “the season of our rejoicing.” In other words, joy stands out here more than on other Yomim Tovim. We can also plainly see that the joy of Sukkos is greater than the joy of all the Yomim Tovim throughout the year. What is it about Sukkos in particular that makes its joy so great? This is the verse the Gemara cites: “You shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.” When they performed the water libation, “water with joy”—it had to be done with gladness and joy. “From the springs of salvation”—when they drew the water from the springs, in the avodah of Simchas Beis Hashoevah, it was done with gladness and joy. The joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah was so great that, as the Gemara says, “Whoever did not see the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah never saw joy in his life.” It was an immense joy—and not merely great, but an abundant joy surpassing every other joy throughout the year. The question is: Why was the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah so great? What is special about it? On the face of it, the water libation involved water—plain water. What can be so extraordinary about water that it gives rise to such great joy, the greatest joy,

08:05 incomparably greater than all the joys of the entire year? As they say, “Whoever did not see the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah never saw joy in his life.” What is so great about this joy? And what connection does it have to the idea we discussed, that this is [unclear] teshuvah filled with joy? Chassidus explains that the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah follows the avodah of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Teshuvah, Yom Kippur, and the entire months of Elul and Tishrei—all the avodah up to this point. When a Jew has gone through all these things and reaches Yom Kippur, the first day of teshuvah, and connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the initial bond, the soul’s first connection with malchus—then the greatest joy comes about, the joy of “the season of our rejoicing”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices with the Jewish people, and the Jewish people rejoice with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is a twofold joy. As explained in Chassidus, “the season of our rejoicing” refers to two kinds of rejoicing: the joy of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who rejoices with the Jewish people, and the joy of the Jewish people, who rejoice with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Chassidus gives an analogy of a father and son: There is a king, a great and mighty king, who is the father of an only son [unclear], and this is

09:34 the analogy for every Jew. As the Baal Shem Tov says, every Jew is like a child born to a father and mother in their old age; they love that child with all their heart, with all their might, with their very being and everything they have—the child born to them [unclear]. And that love is especially strong at Sukkos. After all the avodah of the bitterness and [unclear] of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Teshuvah, and Yom Kippur, the Jew is drawn to Hakadosh Boruch Hu in complete unity, and then true teshuvah comes about. Not only teshuvah for sins and transgressions, but true teshuvah, as Chassidus says: “And the spirit shall return to G-d who gave it.” When the child and father meet after being apart for a long time, there is great joy for G-d—the greatest joy, a joy doubled and redoubled. That is the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoevah. In other words: [unclear]. It brings Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is with me in joy. For regarding the service of Hashem, Likkutei Torah explains, in its section on Sukkos, as do the maamarim on Simchas Beis Hashoevah, from the Rebbe and [unclear] through to the Rebbe—in the maamarim on Simchas Beis Hashoevah in which the Rebbe explains—that the service of Hashem includes the avodah of the offerings. The avodah of the offerings is that a Jew refines and purifies his animal soul, and he feels particularly the idea

11:09 of burning: You take the animal, bring it up onto the altar, and burn it. This is the work of fire: burning, warmth, heat, a blaze. Through this, the fire in the G-dly soul is made to shine, to the point that it transforms [unclear], the desires, and all the burning passions for this world found in the animal soul, and turns them into holiness. But this is done throughout the year; for that, there must be the song of the wine libation. For wine, as explained in Chassidus and Kabbalah, alludes to the sefirah of Binah, whose concern is spiritual work and understanding. Wine reveals what is inward and hidden. That is the power of Binah: to take a point from Chochmah and give it form through spiritual work and understanding. In practice, this is the work of [unclear]. When a Jew stands up to daven, takes the siddur, and contemplates [unclear], [unclear] the teachings explained in Chassidus, [unclear] love of Hashem, “with all your heart and with all your soul.” And this is [unclear]. And the details of the wine libation, which [unclear]. When the wine is [unclear] libations, according to the size of the animal [unclear].

12:44 The work [unclear] the animal soul, and makes room for Hashem. And the joy [unclear] the greatness of Hashem. This is the great joy, the joy of “You shall rejoice on your festival.” This is joy, rejoicing with meat and wine, [unclear]. It comes after Yom Kippur; Sukkos, after all, follows Yom Kippur. And this is true joy, [unclear]. It is an inner, essential joy, [unclear] Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and it cannot be contained in limited vessels. What is it? [unclear]. But specifically water—as the Mishnah says—“There is no joy except with water” [unclear]. For this is “water for the thirsty.” It expresses a great thirst. And when you feel that stirring of thirst, it actually increases the thirst. This thirst is the soul’s thirst, and it comes from an inner sense of distance. The entire period of the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Yom Kippur, when one feels so distant from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, awakens the thirst for “water for the thirsty,” the thirst that cries out, “My soul thirsts for You.” [unclear] And specifically with the water libation, it comes from the soul pouring itself out. The wine libation comes from the power of Binah, from comprehension and understanding; it is connected to reason and knowledge. Therefore [unclear] it is a matter of limited vessels, and consequently [unclear].

14:35 Mesirus nefesh comes specifically from the essence of the soul, [unclear], and consequently [unclear] from above. And that is the point. When this great, holy season arrives, when Sukkos begins—the season of our rejoicing—it is a joy of [unclear] the Jewish people. A Jew rejoices with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices with a Jew. The joy comes from a deep, inner love and closeness between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people. And this awakens an intense thirst within him: he wants [unclear] Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is the foundation of the water libation: that we pour water. One might ask: Why specifically something so simple? But within simplicity itself lies the deepest and loftiest dimension of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And this comes about specifically through water. Water—already at the very beginning of Creation, the whole world was water: “And the spirit of G-d hovered over the face of the waters.” Water has existed since the beginning of Creation, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu separated the waters from the waters, the upper waters from the lower waters; the firmament divides between the waters. And here there is a great cry. The Midrash says that when the upper waters remained above, the lower waters cried out: “We want to be before the King.” What does “We want to be before the King” mean? Why do we want to stand before the King? Why do we want to reach the King and serve Him? To this the Rebbe answered that a time would come when Jews would take water from the

16:27 lower waters for the water libation, and then the waters would be healed. This would resolve the waters’ complaint. From this we understand that the entire point of the water libation is [unclear]: it rectifies the beginning of Creation, the first separation, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu separated the waters from the waters. That gave rise to the complaint and the challenge: the lower waters cry and say, “We want to be before the King.” And the answer is that specifically through the work of teshuvah, one rises to a far higher level, even higher than that of the upper waters. That itself is the great elevation. In other words, through serving Hashem, through serving Hashem with true joy and doing teshuvah with true joy, one reaches a deeper dimension in serving Hashem. This is what is meant by the hint to joy, the hint to bittul, in “You shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation”: these are the waters that bring true joy, inner joy, simplicity, sincerity and purity—joy in purity. These pure waters give expression to [unclear] the bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And so the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoeivah is a great joy: “Whoever did not see the joy of Simchas Beis Hashoeivah never saw joy in his life.” Because water has the quality of Chochmah, which is higher than Binah, as explained in Chassidus, it has the power of bittul.

17:51 And this creates a vessel for us to carry the strength of Simchas Beis Hashoeivah into the entire year: that it be a joyful year, a healthy year, with the joy of a mitzvah, the joy of purity; that the joy truly be genuine joy; and that this truly be a year of light, a year of blessing, a year of Geulah, a year of joy, a year of gladness, a year of prayer, purity, teshuvah and praise, [unclear], with the true and complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach. May we indeed carry the joy of these happy days into the entire year.