Miller's Musings for Shabbos Chol Hamoed Succos-A Battle Till The End

בס''ד  

 לאה בת אברהם נשמת לעילוי 

To understand Koheles on a superficial level is a virtual impossibility.  Although now read every Shabbos Chol Hamoed Succos, the sages at one point sought to hide it away for fear of it being misinterpreted and debased.  Yet the words of Shlomo Hamelech contain within them some of the most profound and life-altering messages of all of Tanach and to have concealed it would have been a tragedy and an immeasurable loss.  The beginning of the final Chapter reads “So remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and those years arrive in which you will say ‘I have no pleasure in them’”.  What is it that the wisest of all men is warning us about here?  What is it that will occur after the “days of our youth” that is so troubling and requires such cautionary words?    

                       

The path to sincere repentance, is beset on all sides by a beleaguering onslaught of attacks by the Yetzer Horah to stop us returning to Hashem.  The Evil Inclination employs every method at its disposal to dissuade a person from changing their ways and regretting their past.  It will use diversionary tactics to distract us from the mission at hand and it will use mind games to convince us that true Teshuva is an impossibility for us.  To defeat it takes all our energy and constant alertness to its schemes.  King Shlomo first pleads with us to attempt to vanquish it and repent in our youth, before the “evil days” of the negative consequences of our actions are given to us.  But if we are unable to do so, we must be aware that the Yetzer Horah will try another ruse once we have reached old age without atonement.  It will try to persuade us that since we no longer enjoy the pleasures of our youth and the gratification that we took from our former sins, there is no way that we can now genuinely repent.  It is at this time that Shlomo appeals to us to still “remember your Creator” for the road back to Him is never cut off and only awaits our arrival.

The journey through the past two months has been one of perpetual movement towards our loving father.  It may have begun as a return due to the fear of recriminations and repercussions, but the progression into Succos should be an evolution from repentance due to trepidation into repentance due to love.  Succos, a time of tremendous joy, is a time when we express our love for Hashem and appreciation of all He gives us.  The repentance here is because we value our relationship with Him so much that we cannot bear to allow anything to exist within us that might damage it.  Knowing that this love is entirely mutual is something that can defend us against any of the attacks of our Yetzer Horah.  There is nothing that can stand in the way of our Teshuva, because there is nothing that Hashem wants more than our coming back to Him.  No matter where we are, no matter what we have done, no matter how far we have sunk, there is always a way back because Hashem loves us no matter what.

  *May this Shabbos give us the power to defeat our enemy once and for all*

This week’s Miller’s Musing is sponsored: לעילוי נשמת משא בת יצחק and רשא בת לוי