Why does “the season of our joy” come right after the most serious day of the year?
Only a few days ago we cried, beat our chests, confessed, fasted and prayed. Suddenly the Torah commands: “You shall rejoice on your festival” and “you shall be only joyful” (Deuteronomy 16:14-15).
How do we move so quickly from awe and brokenheartedness to joy? Perhaps because repentance that cannot return a person to life and joy has not yet completed its work. If Yom Kippur leaves a person only hating himself more, something has been missed.
Maimonides writes of the penitent that yesterday he was distant, while today he is “beloved and desirable, close and a friend” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 7:6). Yom Kippur is not meant to leave us on the floor. It is meant to help us rise from it.
Sukkot tests whether we really believe in the forgiveness for which we prayed. It is easy to say that God forgives. It is harder to stop dragging guilt behind us as if continuing to punish ourselves were proof of sincerity.
Yom Kippur teaches us to take responsibility for who we were. Sukkot teaches that, after taking responsibility, we are also allowed to rejoice in the person we can still become.