The time of Sukkot is also called "The Season of Our Rejoicing." There are three Festivals a year — Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. On each one we are commanded to "rejoice on your holidays." So why is Sukkot especially singled out as a time of joy — more than all of the other holidays?
The answer is that on Sukkot when we get inside of the Sukkah, we are actually enveloped in a mitzvah! And when we look around, what do we see? A bunch of other people we know. Because the Sukkah embraces every one of us equally, it allows us all inside.
Sukkot is about group unity, about sharing space with others, and about being in harmony with the people around you. And that's why — more than any other holiday — Sukkot brings us such joy. That’s because the Sukkah won't allow you to isolate. You've got to leave your home and go into the Sukkah. You've got to be in that space with everyone that the Sukkah takes inside.
Such a formula for happiness is no secret to the recovering addict. We know that the worst place to be is locked up inside our own head. To find joy, we need to get outside of ourselves and connect to others. We’ve got to stop feeling "apart from" and start feeling "a part of."
This Sukkot we have eight wonderful days to experience the holiness of this special mitzvah time. This experience forces us to get outside of ourselves and enter into an experience of being interconnected with others.
