The Way of G-d
Part 4: "Divine Service"
Ch. 7: "Intermittent Observances"
Paragraph 6
We do other things to celebrate the Holy Days besides sanctifying them the
ways we indicated. We also acknowledge the spiritual uniqueness of each
one. For
while G-d's light illumines each and every moment and day, a particular
cast
of it shines on each Holy Day specific to it.
For each Holy Day commemorates a monumental event in antiquity that still
resonates with our beings as Jews to this day, on a very deep and
recondite
level. For a special light shone upon our people from Heaven when each
Holy Day
appeared, and the world itself was rectified in a unique way right there
and
then. Thus we celebrate each anniversary of that cosmic event in order to
draw
from some of that light for our purposes *today*, and to experience a
measure of
rectification.
We observe all the rituals of Passover, for example, in order to
commemorate
and re-live the exodus, when our people enjoyed a great deal of
rectification.
A great light shines upon us then that parallels the one that shone upon
them
then, and we enjoy some of the rectification our ancestors did. In the
same
spirit we likewise celebrate Shavuot on the same calendar day that our
ancestors were granted the Torah, in order to experience some of the great
rectification they did; we observe the holy days of Sukkot to commemorate
and draw from
the revelation of the Clouds of Glory which our ancestors were surrounded
by in
the desert, that was such a great rectification; and we observe Chanukah
and
Purim for the same reasons. (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are observed for
somewhat different reasons, though, as we'll see.)
So let's now explain each of these Holy Days in more depth.
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman and Torah.org.
