A Thought On Parshas Emor

A Thought On Parshas Emor "...Atzeres hu..." "...It is an assembly..." (23:36) Following the seven days of Sukkos, the Torah commands us to observe an eighth day, Shemini Atzeres, which is a holy day independent of the prior week of Sukkos. The word atzeres can be translated as assembly or retreat. It has something to do with the root word atzor which means to stop or withhold. Rashi has immortalized the sages' explanation of how we can view this "added on" day as if HaShem has dismissed all of the other guests and visitors and is asking his dearest ones to tarry, to stay over one last day. I can remember the loving tone of my great rebbe Rav Simcha Wasserman zt'l as he would relate to us the image of HaShem's fondness for His people, as if beseeching us to delay our departure one more day just to commune with Him. The Bechor Shor, however, offers a very different perspective of "atzeres." He offers a somewhat different allegory. He compares it to a man whose children are coming to visit. On that visit, he asks them how soon they plan to visit again. They say it will be in fifty days. He then bids them goodbye. Following that next visit, he asks again when they plan to return, and they say in four months. He bids them goodbye. At their third visit, he inquires again as to their next trip home and they reply that they have a lot going on, and may not be back for six or seven months. The father reacts to this, saying "since it will be a long while until I see you again, please stay on one more day so that I can savor my time with you". This allegory plays out with our Torah calendar. After Pesach, HaShem says "you can leave and return to your homes" (Devarim 16:7) because He knows that we will be back (in Jerusalem and/or celebrating Shavuos) in fifty days. Not such a long wait. After Shavuos we also go back to our homes, since the time until Sukkos is only four months. But then, as our Sukkos visit ends, the rainy season starts. We would not be traveling up to Jerusalem again for half a year, on Pesach. It is six months until the next yom tov. Thus, the bid to tarry and stay on following Sukkos reflects more than HaShem wanting us to linger after the festival is over. It is HaShem wanting us to stay on in order to hold us close before the long, pending separation. It is not as a sequel to Sukkos, but as a precursor to next Pesach for which we stay back a little longer. Atzeres is the Torah encouraging us to savor the closeness a little longer so that we not let go, in mind or soul, of the attachment we feel for HaShem. It is a means of concretizing for us the knowledge that He seeks for us to know that He awaits us, longs for our return, and will remain close to us. Good Shabbos. D Fox