A few weeks ago, our family joined our yeshivah, Heichal HaTorah, for a “yeshivah Shabbos” on the grounds of Camp Nageela in Fallsburg, New York. After a beautiful Shabbos, we headed to the nearby pizza shop for a m’laveh malkah before heading home.
While we were there, the store was relatively quiet, with only a handful of other customers coming in to pick up orders. I struck up a conversation with the frum worker who was managing the store. He noted that only a few weeks earlier, the store was packed on Motza’ei Shabbos. But now that the summer season had come to an end, most of the summer frequenters had returned to their communities, and business was much slower. Although there were occasional holiday weekends during the coming months when business picked up, for the most part it remained relatively quiet during the winter. Essentially, the store generated sufficient revenue during the summer months to make it worth staying open all year.
When I asked the manager if it was worth it, he replied, “We’ll see!” He added that this is the fourth year that they have remained open, so it seems that it has been worth it so far.
Every Yom Tov, we daven, “V’hasi’einu Hashem Elokeinu es birkas moadecha – Load us up Hashem, our G-d, with the blessing of Your festival (lit., set meeting).” Every Yom Tov has its own spiritual focus and blessing. Yom Tov is not merely a break from our regular routines. Rather, it is meant to be a time of investment when we can “stock up” on the endemic blessing of the holiday so that its spiritual revenue remains with us all year.
Rav Yechezkel Sarna zt”l would say that when reciting Aleinu at the end of davening daily, he would mentally connect with the sanctity of the Yamim Nora’im, when Aleinu is recited during the sublime moments of Musaf.
A friend related that, throughout the year, whenever the Torah is being taken out, as he recites the words “Ki miTziyon teitzei Torah,” in his mind he sings the words in the tune jubilantly sung on Simchas Torah. He does the same with the p’sukim recited as the Torah is being returned. It gives him a momentary throwback to the intense joy of Simchas Torah.
In addition, throughout the year, whenever we reference the mitzvah of remembering Y’tzias Mitzrayim at the end of Sh’ma, it should spark within us a feeling of connection to the august nostalgia of the Seder night.
Rav Yitzchak Hutner zt”l was legendary for his incredible maamarim, deep and penetrating constructs of Torah outlook and thought, masterfully developed and elucidated. The maamarim were long and deep, and required constant focus and understanding. (They have been recorded for posterity in the s’farim of Pachad Yitzchak.) Each maamar provides its own foray into a nuanced explanation of the meaning, essence, and depth of one component of each Yom Tov. If one was able to comprehend the profundity of a maamar, his understanding of the holiday was revolutionized and galvanized forever.
Rav Hutner would convey those fundamental thoughts specifically during the Yamim Tovim of the year. He felt that such depth of thought could only be appreciated and internalized when one is in a heightened state of spiritual joy, romemus ha’nefesh. That state could only be achieved on Yom Tov, including on Chanukah and Purim.
Our Yamim Tovim themselves demonstrate the greatness and uniqueness of klal Yisrael and the Torah. I convey to my students that there will never be a Pachad Yitzchak about Thanksgiving or Labor Day. One can relate the history of turkey on Thanksgiving, but there isn’t much to say about the deeper symbolic meaning of how eating turkey connects Americans to their ultimate mission and purpose.
In short, secular holidays are days off; Yamim Tovim are days on!
We ask Hashem to please help us lock in the blessings of the beautiful chag. We hope we can maintain a spark of the spiritual elevation we feel, so that it continues to inspire us and elevate us throughout the year.
Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW, a rebbe at Heichal HaTorah in Teaneck, New Jersey, is a parenting consultant and maintains a private practice for adolescents and adults. He is also a member of the administration of Camp Dora Golding for over two decades. Rabbi Staum was a community rabbi for ten years, and has been involved in education as a principal, guidance counselor, and teacher in various yeshivos. Rabbi Staum is a noted author and sought-after lecturer, with hundreds of lectures posted on torahanytime.com. He has published articles and books about education, parenting, and Torah living in contemporary society. Rabbi Staum can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. His website containing archives of his writings is www.stamTorah.info.
