During Sukkot, we have the opportunity to complete three essential commandments.
To live in the Sukkah, shake the Lulav & Etrog, Hadas & Arava, and be happy during the days of Sukkot as a mandatory request.

The Torah demands it in three different repetitions.

What is the key to be happy? The answer is through observation!
Feelings come because of inner thinking and not just as an emotional outburst.
To be happy, an external setting of loud music, a dance floor, or just an outburst of joy is not enough. True and lasting joy comes from recognition and inner thinking.

On the way to happiness, we should think about one essential thing. That God is close to us. God stands and watches over each one in private supervision. God accompanies us in a fatherly way everywhere so that we are never alone in the battle. And when God is with you, this is an excellent reason to rejoice.

There is a Hassidic real story about a poor man, that there was no livelihood in his home. One year, on the eve of the Sukkot holiday, he couldn’t buy an Etrog & Lulav like he did every year. What did he do?

He sold his fancy tefillin that came to him as an inheritance from his grandfather, who was a great rabbi in Europe. With the money he received in exchange for them, he bought a fancy Etrog & Lulav. When returned to his home happy and kindhearted, his wife asked, “Why are you so happy if there isn’t a loaf of bread in the house”?!

Look here – he replied while presenting to his wife the elegant Etrog – “Because of the wonderful Etrog that God summoned me, I am so happy.”
“And where did you get the money to buy such a beautiful Etrog?” asked his wife.
“I sold the tefillin I inherited from my grandfather and with the money I bought the Etrog.”
What?! – His wife was amazed – did you sell the tefillin?! And for what? For an Etrog? Didn’t you think about your starving family??!

With a quick movement, his wife grabbed the etrog, angrily bit their stomach, and threw the etrog on the ground. The poor man immediately thought in his heart: “Well, I no longer have a tefillin, and I also don’t have an etrog, and very soon I might no longer have a wife…

What is my TIKUN- Personality improvement process? What should I gain if I am angry? No, no! I will not allow myself to be involved in anger.”

On the same night, his grandfather appeared to him in his dream and said to him:
“Now, my son, that when you sold the fancy tefillin to buy an Etrog, it made a significant impact in heaven. But when you conquered your anger, it made much more impact.”

Let’s understand everything comes from Hashem, control our upset feelings, and have a HAPPY HOLIDAY!

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen