Succot

Why is the holiday of Succot called “the time of our happiness”?

There is a convention for my favorite TV show that is taking place on Hoshana Raba in which I would have a chance to meet in person and greet the actors from the show. I am a big fan of them. It is a 2-hour drive from where I live. I can get home in plenty of time before the start of Yom Tov. That is not the issue. The problem is, to get there at the time the actors will be there, I would have to skip going to shul on Hoshana Raba morning, which I have never done in at least 24 years. There is enough time for me to daven by myself at home before going, but not to go to shul. I feel this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. But at the same time, I am feeling guilty about skipping shul over something like this. I am feeling really conflicted. I have nothing monetarily to benefit from doing this. The only thing I would gain is the joy of meeting them. This convention takes place in a different city every year, and this is the closest it has ever been to where I live.

We live in an apartment that requires sukkahs be taken down no later than Sunday October 23. We will be leaving town on the morning of Sunday October 16 and not returning until after the 23rd. I have understood that it is forbidden to take down a sukkah during Sukkos. But if I don’t take it down before I leave, the apartment management says they will dispose of it. Leaving it up longer could also jeopardize tenants being allowed to build sukkahs in the future. Under these circumstances, could I take down the sukkah during Chol Hamoed?

Dear Rabbi, Why is the holiday of Succot called “the time of our happiness”? Thank you

Dear Rabbi, can you please explain to me the mitzvah of the “four species” and what’s special about it? Thanks!

Shalom aleichem Rabbi Lauffer. Thank you for answering my last question. The Mishnah Berurah rules that in order to fulfill the mitzvah of lulav with someone else's lulav, and the owner of the lulav doesn't know that one has to own the lulav in order to fulfill the mitzvah the first two days of Sukkos, the owner must give it to you as a gift on condition that you return it. Once you are given the lulav as a gift on this condition, when you return it to the original owner, in order to put it back in the owner's reshus, do you also have to give it to him as a gift, as a gift on condition that it be returned, or do you just have to give it to him stam, without saying it is a gift. Thanks a lot.

Why do we take the Four Species – palm branch, citron, myrtle, and willow – a.k.a. Lulav, Etrog, Hadas, and Arava on the holiday of Succot?

Why do we bind together the four species that we have a mitzvah to take in our hands on Succot?