THE Festival

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

Amid its many definitions and lengthy discussion of the word “the” and its usage, the Oxford English Dictionary states that the definite article may be “Used emphatically, in the sense of ‘the pre-eminent’, ‘the typical’, or ‘the only… worth mentioning’; as ‘Caesar was the general of Rome’, i.e. the general par excellence; the being often stressed in speech and printed in italics.”

Similar emphasis and esteem are conveyed, in both Biblical and Rabbinic literature, by referring to the Festival of Succot simply as “Chag.”  That is, the Festival; the pre-eminent Festival; the Festival par excellence.

See, for example, I Kings 8:2 – “All the men of Israel gathered before Solomon at the Festival, during the month of Eitanim: that is, the seventh month (i.e., Tishri).”  See also Leviticus 23:29; Mishnah Succah 3:13-14, 4:2, etc.  In each case, Succot is called “Chag” – “THE Festival” – as if no further descriptor were required.

There are other festivals; whence the superior stature of Succot? Perhaps Succot is elevated by the Days of Awe which immediately precede it. Perhaps because Succot is the culmination of the cycle of all three pilgrimage festivals. Perhaps because Succot’s central observances of Succah and Lulav put us more intimately in touch with nature… and, therefore, with the Creator.

Or perhaps I should say, THE Creator.

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.”