A Thought on Parshas Re'eh

"...v'somachta lifnei HaShem..." "...and you shall rejoice before HaShem..." (16:11) We are familiar with the Torah's instruction to rejoice during the three festivals. The Torah emphasizes this with regard to Shavuos and Sukkos. However, this is not referenced with regard to Pesach. This is puzzling, because we have a lot to rejoice over during the yom tov of Pesach. Why is there no instruction to rejoice, as there is on the other two holy days? Rabbeinu Avigdor suggests that the theme of Pesach is remembering our departure from Egypt. Whereas the exodus is a cause of joy in our collective memory, the harsh exile which preceded our exodus also requires commemoration on Pesach. This means that full simcha cannot take place during that festival. We recall the joy of exodus yet we also relive the trauma of exile. Hence, there is no specific instruction to be purely joyful. In turn, the Torah references the commemoration of exodus with regard to Pesach and also Shavuos. It does not mention the exodus with reference to Sukkos. Rabbeinu Avigdor suggests that since Sukkos is meant to a time of great joy and abject simcha, it is not fitting to introduce the exodus nuance in that it is accompanied with sadder memories of exile and bondage. Rabbeinu Avigdor goes on the note that Sukkos and Pesach are seven-day festivals, whereas Shavuos is only one day. He suggests that the latter two coincide with the end of the planting season and the end of the growing season. Neither require any ongoing labor on our part, so we are "free" to extend our festivals for a full week of pilgrimage and celebration. Shavuos, in contrast, is the beginning of the harvest season. We have much to do. The Torah summons us for a single day because we have much else to attend to. In instructing us to observe the festivals, the Torah says that we should be "ach sameach". This is usually meant to mean "only happy" yet we have a principle that the word "ach" also implies a limitation or a diminution. How does that principle apply to rejoicing on yom tov? How is it that we are commanded to celebrate yet the Torah alludes to a constrained simcha? Rabbeinu Avigdor writes that the Torah is hinting at a reality: we strive for spiritual heights in this existence yet we all face the existential dilemma that our experience in this world, in this life, is transitory and often reveals our failings to actualize our selves and our society. With this in mind, a spiritually ascendant person is also sobered by his mortality and his strife in trying to achieve his or her life purpose. Hence, the Torah subtly hints that we should work towards being joyful yet HaShem knows fully that our finest efforts therein may feel constrained by the travail and pressures that are part of existence in olam ha'zeh. Good Shabbos. D Fox