“You will remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you are to take care and do these statutes. ‘You are to keep the Feast of Sukkot for seven days, after gathering in the produce from your threshing floor and winepress.’ So you will rejoice in your feast—you, your son and daughter, slave and maid, Levite and outsider, orphan and widow within your gates.
Seven days you will feast to Adonai your God in the place He chooses, because Adonai your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hand, and you will be completely filled with joy. Three times a year all your males are to appear before Adonai your God in the place He chooses—at the Feast of Matzot, the Feast of Shavuot, and the Feast of Sukkot. No one should appear before Adonai empty-handed—the gift of each man’s hand according to the blessing Adonai your God has given you.” Deuteronomy 16:12-17
Some may ask why it is important to remember the painful experiences of the past. It is understandable that people may prefer not to think of things that caused pain. But without remembering what went wrong it is easy to become compliant in our ways and risk repeating similar wrongs. I think God commanded Isreal to remember they were slaves so they wouldn’t be prone to abuse those they had power over. When we remember how we were treated we should use those bad memories to motivate us to avoid reproducing the same harms in the lives of others rather instead of rationalizing evil with the selfish attituded of “if I had to go through it so should you”. Also, if we don’t remember what has gone wrong in the past and how much things have improved, we can become ungrateful and unappreciative.
God wanted them to rejoice in the things that they have produced. Sometimes we can get so focused on our quest for improvement that we forget to celebrate the small wins. But as much as we want to focus on doing well in the future I think it is easier to avoid burnout and discouragement when we take breaks and allow ourselves to actually enjoy what we have already accomplished and be grateful for it. God may be presented by some people as someone who takes no joy in caring for people and doesn’t want anyone to have fun or be happy but that is not the case. God is not trying to be a killjoy in the sky and believers should not act like unhappiness is the goal of holiness. God wants happy lives for us and others. It is selfishness that makes things such as sharing and caring for others which would result in more people experiencing happiness seem unpleasant. It can be easy to mistake the path toward good as the cause of discomfort when often it may be more accurate to see it as a perception and priority issue. Sometimes we need to take breaks to clear our minds and remind ourselves of what really matters and that is what Sukkot can help us do.
