With the High Holidays and even most of Sukkot behind us, we are left with two major tasks. The first one is to be happy. In some ways it is one of the stranger commandments that we come across. Why should we have to be commanded by the Torah to rejoice? In reality, the answer is that we find it all too easy to be caught up in the negative aspects of life. So pervasive is this tendency that even thousands of years ago the Torah had to demonstrate its wisdom by commanding us to rejoice in the harvest. In so doing, it tells us that there are in fact times when we should not only allow ourselves the freedom to be happy, but we should actually demand it of ourselves.

And so it is that on Simchat Torah we will figuratively, if not literally, count our blessings, because we were given the gift of Torah. The Torah has guided us, and kept us together for thousands of years. Even though we may argue about the text and its ultimate meaning in our lives, we have never ceased to consider the Torah to be sacred. So, on Simchat Torah we dance with the Torah, we rejoice with the Torah, and in so doing we commit ourselves to the sacred task of passing Torah from generation to generation. Just as it was passed to us, so must we pass it to those who follow us.

The second major task which is left to us at this time of year is to take the lessons we have learned on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and put them into place in our lives. Having gone through the ordeal of repentance, prayer and charity, we are now free and should be ready to live our lives following the better paths that we have chosen. As I have been known to say on more than one occasion, Judaism is not really what goes on in this sanctuary. Our rituals and liturgy are merely the foundation upon which we build our Judaism. That Judaism takes its shape and form in the living of our lives outside these walls. All of the rejoicing, all of the admissions of missing the mark, all of the requests for forgiveness of the High Holydays are meaningless, unless they lead us to change our lives.

The real task before us is that of living a life filled with meaning. It is incumbent upon us to live a life filled with blessings: blessings we create, blessings we bestow, and blessings we receive. It is for the purpose of guiding us on this path of leading our lives well that Judaism exists. May the rest of this year of 5768 see you claim the best of the heritage which is yours and, having claimed it, may it bring blessings to you and those you love.