Shemini Atzeret - the Jewish holiday about nothing in particular
1. 9/25/13 Haaretz.Com
www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/shemini-atzeret-the-jewish-holiday-about-nothing-in-particular.premium-1.468638?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.208%2C2… 1/1
Shemini Atzeret - the Jewish holiday about nothing in particular
Jewish festivals are tied up with remembering the past, but Shemini Atzeret, tagged onto the end of Sukkot, is the exception to
the rule.
By Dr. Samuel Lebens / Jewish World blogger | 09:44 07.10.12 | 0
The vast majority of Jewish festivals follow the famous pattern: They tried to kill the Jews; we survived; let’s eat! Put that way, it is an
oversimplification, and yet it’s fair to say that the emotional timbres of Jewish festivals are tied up with our national memory.
On Pesach, we’re thankful that we were freed from Egypt. On Shavuot, we’re thankful that we received the commandments. On Purim and
Hanukkah, we’re thankful that we survived in the face of enemies who sought to destroy us. On Tisha B’Av we cry for the loss of our temple.
The festivals that we’ve just experienced – the High Holy Days and Sukkot – can also be squeezed into this pattern.
The complex emotions of awe, reflection and celebration on Rosh Hashanah are associated with it being the date of the creation of the world.
The somber tones of remorse that accompany us throughout Yom Kippur are rooted in the fact that God forgave us on that day for the sin of
the Golden Calf. Sukkot commemorates the miracles of the wilderness, the Divine protection that fed us and shielded us through forty years of
wandering.
All of the festivals, and their emotional landscape, have an historical peg. The emotions of our festivals are always tied up with what it is that we
are remembering from Jewish past on those occasions.
Shemini Atzeret is the exception to that rule. Despite being tagged on to the end of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret is its own independent festival. On
this day, we no longer dwell in the sukkah and we no longer gather and shake the four species. The distinctive symbols of Sukkot don’t
accompany us through Shemini Atzeret. It is its own day. But it doesn’t seem to have an historical peg. It’s a day about nothing.
The Talmud, in Tractate Sukkah 55b, envisages God at the end of Sukkot. He has had such a wonderful time with the Jewish people over these
festivals. We’ve crowned him King on Rosh Hashanah. He wiped our sins away on Yom Kippur. And over the seven days of Sukkot, we brought
offerings on behalf of all the nations of the world (for just as we were sustained by God through our forty years in the desert, all of the nations of
the world continually depend upon God for their sustenance). And now it’s time for the people to depart Jerusalem. God doesn’t want us to go.
Having brought offerings for all of the nations of the world, God now wants some time alone with His servants, the Jewish people. As if
beseeching us not to leave, God asks us, “Please make me a small feast, [before you go,] so that I can have some pleasure from you.”
That feast is Shemini Atzeret. Like a love-sick partner bidding farewell, this Talmudic image asks us to imagine God asking for one more
embrace before we depart.
Shemini Atzeret isn’t about anything. We weren’t saved from Egypt on this day. We weren’t given the commandments on this day. We don’t
commemorate the miracles of the wilderness years on this day. Even the celebrations of Simhat Torah were added to this day many years after
the writing of the Bible, once the yearly cycle of public Torah readings had been established. So, the day, in its essence, isn’t even about the
finishing of the Torah readings. On this day, we are happy just because we are.
Instead of saying, ‘They tried to kill us; we survived; let’s eat,’ Shemini Atzeret simply declares: Nothing particularly striking happened today,
but let’s eat anyway!
In our prayers, we refer to these days – Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret – as the time of our happiness. Happiness is difficult to achieve. But it
becomes a little bit easier when you realize that it doesn’t have to have a reason. I love my children because of the things they say, and the way
they look, and the things they do, and their eccentricities and their enthusiasm. I have lots of reasons for loving them. But beneath all of this,
there’s a love for them that has no reason at all – it’s a love for their very existence, irrespective of what they do. And that love – that’s the
strongest emotion I’ve ever known.
Shemini Atzeret calls upon us to spend one more day in the company of the Divine – not because God has done anything for us specifically on
this day, not because we have a specific reason, but because we love His very existence. We rejoice in the very existence of the unlikely
relationship that holds between our obstinate stiff-necked people and our unfathomable God. It’s a joy that knows no words, and I’m longing to
be immersed in it, if only for one day. I hope you find it too.
Dr. Samuel Lebens studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion, holds a PhD in metaphysics and logic from the University of London, and is the chair of the
Association for the Philosophy of Judaism.
Home News Diplomacy and Defense
![9/25/13 Haaretz.Com
www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/shemini-atzeret-the-jewish-holiday-about-nothing-in-particular.premium-1.468638?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.208%2C2… 1/1
Shemini Atzeret - the Jewish holiday about nothing in particular
Jewish festivals are tied up with remembering the past, but Shemini Atzeret, tagged onto the end of Sukkot, is the exception to
the rule.
By Dr. Samuel Lebens / Jewish World blogger | 09:44 07.10.12 | 0
The vast majority of Jewish festivals follow the famous pattern: They tried to kill the Jews; we survived; let’s eat! Put that way, it is an
oversimplification, and yet it’s fair to say that the emotional timbres of Jewish festivals are tied up with our national memory.
On Pesach, we’re thankful that we were freed from Egypt. On Shavuot, we’re thankful that we received the commandments. On Purim and
Hanukkah, we’re thankful that we survived in the face of enemies who sought to destroy us. On Tisha B’Av we cry for the loss of our temple.
The festivals that we’ve just experienced – the High Holy Days and Sukkot – can also be squeezed into this pattern.
The complex emotions of awe, reflection and celebration on Rosh Hashanah are associated with it being the date of the creation of the world.
The somber tones of remorse that accompany us throughout Yom Kippur are rooted in the fact that God forgave us on that day for the sin of
the Golden Calf. Sukkot commemorates the miracles of the wilderness, the Divine protection that fed us and shielded us through forty years of
wandering.
All of the festivals, and their emotional landscape, have an historical peg. The emotions of our festivals are always tied up with what it is that we
are remembering from Jewish past on those occasions.
Shemini Atzeret is the exception to that rule. Despite being tagged on to the end of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret is its own independent festival. On
this day, we no longer dwell in the sukkah and we no longer gather and shake the four species. The distinctive symbols of Sukkot don’t
accompany us through Shemini Atzeret. It is its own day. But it doesn’t seem to have an historical peg. It’s a day about nothing.
The Talmud, in Tractate Sukkah 55b, envisages God at the end of Sukkot. He has had such a wonderful time with the Jewish people over these
festivals. We’ve crowned him King on Rosh Hashanah. He wiped our sins away on Yom Kippur. And over the seven days of Sukkot, we brought
offerings on behalf of all the nations of the world (for just as we were sustained by God through our forty years in the desert, all of the nations of
the world continually depend upon God for their sustenance). And now it’s time for the people to depart Jerusalem. God doesn’t want us to go.
Having brought offerings for all of the nations of the world, God now wants some time alone with His servants, the Jewish people. As if
beseeching us not to leave, God asks us, “Please make me a small feast, [before you go,] so that I can have some pleasure from you.”
That feast is Shemini Atzeret. Like a love-sick partner bidding farewell, this Talmudic image asks us to imagine God asking for one more
embrace before we depart.
Shemini Atzeret isn’t about anything. We weren’t saved from Egypt on this day. We weren’t given the commandments on this day. We don’t
commemorate the miracles of the wilderness years on this day. Even the celebrations of Simhat Torah were added to this day many years after
the writing of the Bible, once the yearly cycle of public Torah readings had been established. So, the day, in its essence, isn’t even about the
finishing of the Torah readings. On this day, we are happy just because we are.
Instead of saying, ‘They tried to kill us; we survived; let’s eat,’ Shemini Atzeret simply declares: Nothing particularly striking happened today,
but let’s eat anyway!
In our prayers, we refer to these days – Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret – as the time of our happiness. Happiness is difficult to achieve. But it
becomes a little bit easier when you realize that it doesn’t have to have a reason. I love my children because of the things they say, and the way
they look, and the things they do, and their eccentricities and their enthusiasm. I have lots of reasons for loving them. But beneath all of this,
there’s a love for them that has no reason at all – it’s a love for their very existence, irrespective of what they do. And that love – that’s the
strongest emotion I’ve ever known.
Shemini Atzeret calls upon us to spend one more day in the company of the Divine – not because God has done anything for us specifically on
this day, not because we have a specific reason, but because we love His very existence. We rejoice in the very existence of the unlikely
relationship that holds between our obstinate stiff-necked people and our unfathomable God. It’s a joy that knows no words, and I’m longing to
be immersed in it, if only for one day. I hope you find it too.
Dr. Samuel Lebens studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion, holds a PhD in metaphysics and logic from the University of London, and is the chair of the
Association for the Philosophy of Judaism.
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