Are you willing to climb aboard ? Shemini Aseret

 Tonight, we begin shemini aseret which in Israel is a singleday. For us in Galut, we divide the two days of chutz la aretz into the twoparts of the holiday. We come to think of tomorrow as the day of tikun hageshemwhere we praise Hashem for bringing rain and Sunday, Simcha Torah, ascelebrating the Torah. But in reality,it’s a single 8th day of the holiday. And the question was asked, what’s it allabout?   We always attempt to connect the holidays of this month,which begin with Rosh Hashana and conclude with Simcha Torah.  Rosh Hashana relates to Adam. It is the day Adam was created.It is the day, he was commanded not to eat from the tree, It was the day hesinned and that was the day G-d mercifully pushed aside or forward the punishment,setting a precedent as a day of judgment where Hashem will hopefully, treat uswith mercy.  Now we always connect the Rosh Hashana with Yom Kippur as bookendsof Aseret Yemey Teshuba, but Yom Kippur follows Rosh Hashana 2449 years and 10days later. We left Egypt in Nisan or April and we sinned with a golden thegolden calf in Tammuz or July. Moses went back up a few more times begging forforgiveness. And it is on Yom Kippur that Moses returns and again we have somelevel of forgiveness or pushing off the punishment. We can suggest even thoughthere was no Yom Kippur in the beginning, Hashem created the world based on theblue print presented in the Torah. And what appears to be coincidence, isreally part of the big plan.   Now let’s look at Sukkot which falls five days after YomKippur with four intermediary days between the two. We can suggest that thatholiday should have fallen in April or Nissan, but the rabbis explain that thereason why it’s not as April because it would be natural to go camping or moveto an outdoor area when the sun comes out in the weather gets warm, and herewe’re doing it when the weather starts to change and people are returning backinside to their homes.  A possible answer is that when the people sinned with thegolden calf, they deserve to lose everything, Hashem mercifully refused to withholdfood and water, because they couldn’t survive without either of those, but Hashemcould take away the clouds. So, after they sin with the golden calf in Tammuzor July, the clouds are removed which must’ve been a rough time of year toremove the clouds and then what happens?  Moses returns on Yom Kippur with the second set of luchot ortablets and the next day he begins the fundraising campaign for the Mishkan. Mosescollects all he asks for and more over the next few days because the peoplewant to feel the presence of Hashem among them again to the point where he hasto tell them enough. And so they begin building the Mishkan on the first day ofSukkot and with that the clouds return. With that in mind, it makes sense tocelebrate this holiday, on the day that the clouds returned because Sukkot celebratesthe clouds of glory.