Kohelet., Amichai and Wisdom for this Simchat Torah
As soon as the shofar is blown after Neilah, there’s one thing I’m typically thinking about (in addition to my break-fast meal): Sukkot. After an intense month of selichot, teshuva, and literally praying for our lives, I look forward to the lighter holiday of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, which symbolize fall, family, feasting, and fun. But this year, like countless other people, I’m conflicted. How do we celebrate Sukkot — zman simchateinu — the holiday that is synonymous with unadulterated joy, when it is now connected to perhaps the darkest day in Israel’s history? It can be no coincidence that we find some guidance in the very megillah we read on Shabbat Chol Hamoed Sukkot, Kohelet, attributed to Shlomo HaMelech. Chapter 3 famously opens with: לַכֹּ֖ל זְמָ֑ן וְעֵ֥ת לְכׇל־חֵ֖פֶץ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם עֵ֤ת לִבְכּוֹת֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִשְׂח֔וֹק עֵ֥ת סְפ֖וֹד וְעֵ֥ת רְקֽוֹד׃ עֵ֤ת לֶֽאֱהֹב֙ וְעֵ֣ת לִשְׂנֹ֔א עֵ֥ת מִלְחָמָ֖ה וְעֵ֥ת שָׁלֽוֹם׃ There is a time and a season for everything, a time for