The haunting melodies, the Rabbi’s words, the shofar, the fasting, the praying. It’s hard not to be inspired during the holiday season. We find ourselves davening a little better, being more charitable, acting with more kindness, and performing mitzvot with more sincerity. We try to be the best we can be; the people we really are; living up to our soul’s unique potential.

This Shabbat is called “Shabbat Shuvah – The Sabbath of Return,” because of the Haftorah that is read, which begins: “Return Israel to Hashem your G-d…”

The Haftorah beseeches us to return, with verses from the prophets Hoshea, Yoel, and Michah. The second verse of the Haftorah begins with the words: “K’chu imachem devarim – Take for yourself words.” The Prophet is charging us “k’chu- take!” Take this message with you! Internalize it! Take the inspiration you feel in the synagogue during the Yomim Noraim and let it transform you. Let it inspire your service of God for the rest of the year.

My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Dovid Tendler, once shared a beautiful insight from his maternal grandfather R. Shalom Baumrind, z’l, known to the world as the Boyaner Mohel. He expounded upon a verse in Shir Hashirim (7:2): “How lovely are your steps in sandals…” One of the prohibitions on Yom Kippur is ne’ilat hasandal, wearing leather sandals or shoes. On Yom Kippur we stand in our sneakers, slippers, or stockinged feet and pray fervently. Asked the Boyaner Mohel, how will you pray after Yom Kippur? How will you behave when your shoes are back on? It is easy to be inspired on Yom Kippur but how much more beautiful is it if you continue with the same enthusiasm when your leather shoes are back on- days, weeks, and months later. Then Hashem can really say, “How lovely are your steps in sandals.”

There is a beautiful, if challenging, custom to build one’s Sukkah immediately after Yom Kippur. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Issreles, 1520-1572), records this minhag in two places in his glosses to the Shulchan Aruch. At the end of the Laws of Yom HaKippurim (Orach Chaim 624:5) he writes:

And the careful ones begin to to build the Sukkah immediately after Yom Kippur in order to go ‘from one mitzvah into another mitzvah.’

He repeats this at the very beginning of his comments to the Laws of the Sukkah (Orach Chaim 625:1), and writes:

And it is a mitzvah to build the Sukkah immediately after Yom Kippur for ‘when a mitzvah comes into your hand, you should not delay [lit. let it leaven].’

Any student of Jewish Law knows what a master editor the Rema was. His comments are concise and written with precision.

Why the repetition? And why place this custom in the Laws of Yom HaKippurim?

At first glance, the Rema himself gives two different reasons, two important values. Some suggest that perhaps the intention is that one start building right after the fast and then finish the following day. (See Magen Avraham, Be’er Heitev, Eshel Avraham and Mishnah Berurah ad loc.)

But perhaps the repetition suggests something deeper. Perhaps the Rema is reminding us to take the inspiration of Yom Kippur with us by transitioning from ‘one mitzvah into another mitzvah.’ That could explain why this practice is recorded at the end of the Laws of Yom HaKippurim.

Inspiration can fade away; these feelings are fleeting. This is the challenge of this season. The month of Tishrei is referred to as Yerech HaEitanim – the Month of Strength (Melachim I 8:2). With Rosh Hashanah, the ten days of Repentance, Yom Kippur, Succos, Hoshanah Rabbah, Shemini Atzeres and Simchat Torah, this month is jam packed. Perhaps one reason for the name is that these special days are to give “strength” to the rest of the year; to keep us inspired.

May we merit that this season inspires us but also transforms our service of God for the rest of the year. May we merit to always pray, study, and perform mitzvot with the same passion and intensity.