Thoughts on Simchat Torah 5784
Why do we read the Book of Kohelet, the most ‘existentialist’ book of the Hebrew Bible, on Sukkot – the most joyous among the Jewish holidays? It seems to contradict the spirit of Sukkot! Did the rabbis want to put limits on our joy and happiness? Were they afraid that we might have become too happy? That’s exactly one of the (many) answers! Rabbi Azaryah Figo (1579-1647) in his Binah L’itim (published in Venice in 1648) connects the[…]