Thank you
The book of Zohar teaches that every day of Sukkot is graced by the presence of “ushpizin” – the honored guests who come to visit us in our sukkot. The “Guest” of the sixth day of Sukkot is Yosef, and the “Chassidic Guest” is the Rebbe Maharash. What is similar about them?
The Rebbe explains:
– The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that a name of a person in the holy tongue expresses his essence. Yosef means ‘addition,’ teaching us that the joy of today must be greater than the preceding days.
Moreover, the Tzemach Tzedek explains that the verse “The L‑rd shall add to me another son” (explaining why Yosef was given his name) expresses the concept of Yosef – “to convert the ‘other’ (those removed from Judaism) to the level of ‘son’ (those who are close to Judaism).”
Not only to annul the concept of ‘other,’ and not only to convert it to the level of ‘servant,’ but to convert it to the level of ‘son’ — an infinitely great difference.
Accordingly, today’s joy must be infinitely greater than previously.
So too with the Rebbe Maharash. A famous dictum of the Rebbe Maharash is:
“The world maintains that [when faced by an obstacle] if we can not go under it, it must be gone over. I say that we must go over it in the first place.”
The difference between going under and over is infinitely great, similar to the difference between the level of ‘other’ and the level of ‘son.’ Hence we see the great joy of today’s Simchas Bais Hashoevah, consonant with the Rebbe Maharash’s dictum…
From the Rebbe’s talk on the 6th Night of Sukkot, 5742.
