A friend of mine told me the beautiful chassidic story of a man who was clapping and jumping up and down with joy on Yom Kippur while everyone around him was crying as the chazzan chanted, “Who will live and who will die…”
Finally someone asked this happy fellow, “How can you be so lighthearted when we all stand in judgment?”
Smiling, the man responded, “But the judge is my Father – and yours too!”
So lift your lulav high and show off your beautiful esrog. They symbolize our leaving the court, victorious, to sit in the shade of God’s holy Shechinah which we call the sukkah.
Chag sameach.
Dov Shurin is a popular radio personality and the composer and producer of several albums. He lives with his family in Israel and can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears in The Jewish Press every other week.