SUCCOS פרי החג

Towards the end of the sedra Pinchas, the Torah enumerates all the different sacrifices which are to be brought regularly each day, on Shabbos, and then on the Yomim Tovim. The final parshah concerns the קרבנות of Succos. Many of you will be aware that during the first seven days of Succos, there are, in total, 70 bulls to be sacrificed in descending order, that is, the first day 13, the second day 12 until on the seventh day 7 were sacrificed. Finally on the last day, שמיני עצרת, there was one bull offered.

חז''ל tell us that the 70 were offered for the 70 major nations of the world followed by the one for the Bnei Yisroel.

I believe that an introduction to the Dvar Torah below will help appreciate and clarify it fully.

In addition to the letters and words written in a Sefer Torah which are, of course, as given to Moshe by Hashem, there was also given to him as תורה של בעל פה the vocalisation of each word being by way of חולם, קמץ, פתח etc. This is not written into the Sefer Torah by there is a mesoirah as to exactly how to pronounce each word. This, of course, is printed in the Chumashim.

In addition, there is a mesoirah concerning the notes (trop), known as טעמי המקרא. These טעמי המקרא, roughly translated as reasons or interpretations of the verse, consist of a number of notes sung each in a different way. Again, this has come down to us as a mesoirah, a tradition.

There are high notes, the greatest of which being the שלשלת and there are a number of other high notes such as פזר, תלישא גדולה etc.

This is what we hear by the Baal Koreh read in tune every Shabbos and whenever a Sefer Torah is taken out and read in public.

These notes are not there haphazardly but have a definite purpose and not for nothing are they called טעמי המקרא. They help us to understand and give interpretations, albeit sometimes rather hidden, which enable us to understand better or give us fresh insights into the meaning of actual words in Torah.

If one looks carefully at the whole of the sedra Pinchas, which I believe is the second longest sedra at 168 verses, there is no פזר until the instruction concerning the sacrifices, קרבנות, to be brought on the second day of Succos. We find the words as followsומנחתם (their meal offering) ונסכיהם (their wine offerings) לפרים (for the bulls). On the middle word ונסכיהם there is a פזר, this is followed by לפרים with a תלישא גדולה on it. Both of these are known as very “high” notes in other words, ones to which great emphasis applies.

If we then proceed to the third day we find the same טעמי המקרא and strangely enough, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh day again, we have the same phenomenon of an ordinary note, a מונח, under the word ומנחתם but a פזר above the ונסכיהם and a תלישא גדולה above the word לפרים.

To add to this unusual phenomenon, if we go back to the first day of Succos, there is no פזר or תלישא גדולה at all when the sacrifices for the first day are mentioned, nor is there a פזר or תלישא גדולה on שמיני עצרת, which follows immediately on after the seventh day.

As I mentioned above these are known as טעמי המקרא, that is to give us an interpretation of the verses.

I would like to suggest that the reason why these particular טעמי המקרא, trop, are used is connected with a Halacha which we find concerning Yom Tov. There is a mitzvah of simcha on Yom Tov and especially on Succos where it is mentioned by the Torah twice specifically, at the end of Parshas ראה. The רמב''ם paskens אין שמחה אלא בבשר ויין . The way to fulfil the mitzvah of simcha is with meat and wine.

We find that people are always excited about an impending Yom Tov and when the first day arrives, especially of Succos, the excitement is great. However, by the second day and third, etc. this gradually subsides. What I am suggesting is that in order to ensure that the simcha is kept at a high level the Torah is hinting that one should eat and drink and therefore, be merry and in order to emphasise this, on the word ונסכיהם which is the wine libations, a פזר is intoned. On לפרים that is the best type of meat, one has a תלישא גדולה. פזר translates as to spread out or spend, in other words, spend money on the wine and, for meat, תלישא גדולה, exert great effort to obtain this and eat it. This is, therefore, emphasised from the second day to the seventh day inclusive.

When it comes to the last day, שמיני עצרת, the Gomora tells us that this was a רגל בפני עצמו, a Yom Tov for itself. Therefore, inherently, the simcha is there for the day itself and, of course, this is the day of Simchas Torah in Eretz Yisroel and leads into Simchas Torah for the rest of the Diaspora. There is, therefore, no need to create extra simcha by the consumption of wine and meat.

In respect of the word ומנחתם, which refers to the flour which was also brought at the same time with every sacrifice, there is no need for a “high” note because that did not add to the simcha. However, it is noteworthy to mention that if one takes all the measurements, עשרוניםof סלת, fine flour, which had to be brought during the whole of סוכות and שמיני עצרת, in respect of all the various קרבנות and add them together, they come to 348 esronim in total. This is the exact gemmatria of the word שמח.

Let us all enjoy ourselves with simcha on Succos, זמן שמחתנו.

ח' תשרי תשס''ט