IY"H A BLESSED YEAR OF SIMCHOS, YESHUOS, TESHUVOS
25 September 2026
Former Hostage Yosef Chaim Ohana Buys His Own Arba Minim, Calls for Unity
Photo
A year after spending Sukkos in Hamas captivity, Yosef Chaim Ohana shared a video with his father, Avraham, showing the arba minim he purchased for himself this year. His father stood beside him holding a dried lulav he had kept from the time before Yosef Chaim was abducted.
The video also showed moments from their reunion after Yosef Chaim’s release and footage of him making a bracha on the arba minim beside his hospital bed. He said that last year, while he was still in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza, his father bought a lulav for him. He was able to make the bracha just half an hour before the Yom Tov ended.
“This year, what’s special is not only that I’ll be able to make the bracha, but that this is a lulav I bought myself,” Ohana said.
Ohana compared the four different species being held together to the unity he hopes to see among Yidden. He asked people to think of that unity when they daven and take the arba minim, and expressed his hope that the Yom Tov would bring “true freedom, redemption and peace of mind.”
His father answered, “Amen, kein yehi ratzon.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
住讜讻讛, 诇讜诇讘 讜诪讬诐 讞讬讬诐 - 讛讝诪谞讛 诇驻讬讜讟
住讜讻讛 讜诇讜诇讘
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Chag Sukkot Sameach!
Tishrei 14, 5787/September 25, 2026
"You shall make yourself the Festival of Sukkot for seven days, when you gather in the produce from your threshing floor and your vat. And you shall rejoice in your Festival - you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities. Seven days you shall celebrate the Festival to HaShem, your G-d, in the place which HaShem shall choose, because HaShem, your G-d, will bless you in all your produce, and in all the work of your hands, and you will only be happy." (Deuteronomy 16:13-15)
The Torah could not be more explicit: We are to be exceedingly happy on Sukkot! We have coronated HaShem as Sovereign over all creation on Rosh Hashana and stood in His judgment. We have stood naked before HaShem on Yom Kippur, confessing all our misdeeds and asking for atonement, and HaShem has welcomed us into the new year! And now, as an expression of His great love for us, HaShem is inviting us into our fragile sukkot for seven days of rest and festivities. Leaving the security of our well built houses equipped with air conditioning and king sized mattresses, we eat and sleep and host friends and family, including our prestigious ancestors, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef, Moshe, Aharon and David, the seven ushpizin, underneath a frail roof of reeds and palm fronds above us, secure in the knowledge that it is HaShem, and only HaShem Who keeps us safe and secure every day of our lives.
And if all this is not enough to kindle our sublime joy, there is also the tradition of the Simchat Beit HaShoeva nightly celebration once held in the Holy Temple courtyard and today a feature of every Jewish community. There is also the remembrance of the Water Libation Ceremony conducted every morning throughout the seven days of Sukkot, the arba minim, (four species), the hakafot, (encircling around the Temple altar/Sifrei Torah), and the sweet sound of chatter ans song as we walk by the sukkot of our neighbors.
Sukkot is also the time of the ingathering of the Gentiles, who, fulfilling the prophecy of Zecharia, ascend each Sukkot to partake in the Sukkot festivities in Jerusalem. Every facet of Sukkot is a joyful expression of gratitude and faith in HaShem, our Father who loves us all.
The Temple Institute extends our sincere wishes for all our friends and followers, our generous supporters and fellow travelers, and all who stand by the people of Israel and seek the blessings of the G-d of Israel, a very happy Chag Sukkot! Chag Sukkot Sameach!
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Rav Miller on Sukkos: Repenting in Happiness
Lecture E-160 in 54 carefully selected quotes — the Rav’s exact words, drawn from different points in the lecture and set in the order he said them. They can be read straight through, like a short version of the lecture:
How Great Was the Happiness of the Forefathers
The land was 讟讜ֹ讘ָ讛 讛ָ讗ָ专ֶ抓 诪ְ讗讜ֹ讚 诪ְ讗讜ֹ讚, not just me'od.
One cluster, eshkol anavim — "one cluster of grapes" was so big that eight men were needed to carry it.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu is a kindly father, and He wishes to give happiness to His chosen ones.
You must understand there was great purpose, a kavanah of immense proportions that was intended by the excellence of the land.
R' Yochanan with his Sanhedrin, with his chachamim, went out, especially, to eat the fruits of that place.
They were experimenting to feel not only in their yediah sichlis — "intellectual understanding," but yediah chushis — "their sensory perception," how great was the happiness of the forefathers when they came into the land.
One objective: to see what is meant by 讟讜ֹ讘ָ讛 讛ָ讗ָ专ֶ抓 诪ְ讗讜ֹ讚 诪ְ讗讜ֹ讚.
Serving Hashem with Joy
Yom Kippur is followed by Sukkos, and that, therefore, requires some explanation.
What's the connection?
It's a time of 注ִ讘ְ讚讜ּ 讗ֶ转 讛ַ砖ֵּׁ诐 讘ְּ砖ִׂ诪ְ讞ָ讛.
In order to gain some feeling of serving Hashem with joy, Sukkos follows that time of asif, when you know your granaries are full of grain, and your wine cellars are overflowing, and oil, shemen zayis, is plentiful, and you have enough and more than enough to cause you to have joy the ensuing year, that's the opportunity to serve Hashem in a different form than the avodah of the Yamim Nora'im.
On Rosh Hashanah, we proclaim Hashem Melech.
Yom Kippur is the dread day of judgment.
The World Was Made for Happiness
Mesillas Yesharim, he begins his sefer: 讗ָ讚ָ诐 诇ֹ讗 谞ִ讘ְ专ָ讗 讗ֶ诇ָּ讗 诇ְ讛ִ转ְ注ַ谞ֵּ讙.
A man was created only for the purpose of having happiness and pleasure.
The world was made for happiness.
Because happiness is the most effective, the most important of all the ways of serving Hashem.
Whatever you gain on the Rosh Hashanah or you gain on Yom Kippur is only a preface to the service of the Zman Simchaseinu.
When the world was created, everybody knows Adam and Chavah were in Gan Eden.
Fruit trees, [is] that's the way for ish hama'alah — "a person of the greatest intellect," to be made happy?
The answer is this: Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants that people should be happy from gashmiyus.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted Adam to eat peiros and to exclaim, "I love you, Hashem!"
If R' Yochanan and Reish Lakish became excited over peiros Ginosar, then Adam Harishon was a thousand times more excited.
And we see a red apple, not excited.
You look at that apple, you could almost faint with excitement and happiness at that beautiful gift.
Of course, we don't think that way, but we're a little distance away from Adam Harishon.
He was soaring up higher and higher, closer to Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
The Great Test Is the Test of Simchah
Did anything remain of Yom Kippur in you?
And the great test is the test of simchah.
And the way you rejoice, that's going to be the sign that you were successful on Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur.
If you see on Simchas Torah people acting up with leitzanus, you should know that Yom Kippur was wasted on them.
Now, when a person did spend Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur properly, and now comes Sukkos, Zman Simchaseinu.
And he is able to dance on Simchas Torah as he's dancing lifnei haMelech.
The actual fulfillment of the true service is 注ִ讘ְ讚讜ּ 讗ֶ转 讛ַ砖ֵּׁ诐 讘ְּ砖ִׂ诪ְ讞ָ讛. 讘ּ讜ֹ讗讜ּ 诇ְ驻ָ谞ָ讬讜 讘ִּ专ְ谞ָ谞ָ讛 — "with song and happiness."
That's the sign that you're really an oved Hashem.
You Should Eat in the Presence of Hashem
Kedoshim when they eat, it's kedushah.
That's the language of the Mesillas Yesharim.
The Torah emphasizes again and again, 讜ַ讗ֲ讻ַ诇ְ转ֶּ诐 诇ִ驻ְ谞ֵ讬 讛ַ砖ֵּׁ诐 讗ֱ诇ֹ拽ֵ讬讻ֶ诐 — "you should eat in the presence of Hashem."
Just as you do service before Hashem, eating is one of the very greatest forms of service to Hashem.
Even when you sit down to eat an ordinary meal, if you were able to think the great thoughts that Hakadosh Baruch Hu would wish us to utilize, the food would be to us a source of kedushah.
And you're enjoying it, and that is a form of sheleimus that's available to everybody even today.
And that's what R' Yochanan was thinking when he went out to peiros Ginosar.
He was serving Hakadosh Baruch Hu with happiness.
He didn't need those peiros. He had plenty to eat at home.
Profound Wisdom that Has No Bottom
In every small thing, there's 讞ָ讻ְ诪ָ讛 注ֲ诪讜ּ拽ָּ讛 砖ֶׁ讗ֵ讬谉 诇ָ讛ּ 拽ֵ抓.
Profound wisdom that has no bottom.
Adam Harishon saw that.
And he became wild with simchah when he saw that.
And that was the purpose of the simchah in Gan Eden.
And that's the purpose of Sukkos.
You Have to Learn How to Rejoice
You have to learn how to rejoice.
But when we do learn how to rejoice, we have to understand that the rejoicing is a means of sheleimus — "it's a perfection."
That's why it comes after Yom Kippur. It's a test.
Now, comes the great test. Are you ready for the avodas Hashem of simchah? That's Zman Simchaseinu.
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