The Rama (429,2) mentions the idea of issru chag. What is issru chag? Issru chag is the day after yom tov. What does issru mean? Tied up. Issru chag means the day that is bound to yom tov, the day after yom tov. You have more food on issru chag, you don’t fast. It is a special day.

What is striking about this Rama is the placement. Why does the Rama mention issru chag at the beginning of hilchos pesach? Issru chag is the day after yom tov. It should be at the end of hilchos yom tov. Rav Sorotzkin zt”l (former Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe) offers the following beautiful p’shat[i]. I will present his approach in the context of Rav Hirsch’s explanation of atzeres.

Rav Hirsch (Vayikra 23,36) explains the concept of atzeres as follows. The last day of both Succos[ii] and Pesach is called atzeres. Atzeres means to hold on, stop, maintain your position. Rav Hirsch writes that when yom tov is ending, you should stop and hold on to what you gained during the yom tov. Rav Hirsch says as follows:

Atzeres designates a day which is not fixed to bring new lessons and new truths..., but which has the mission to keep us still before the Presence of Hashem…, and to strengthen and solidify the impressions and knowledge we have already gained so they remain with us permanently, and do not become lost in the hurly-burly of life.

The atzeres day is not set aside to learn new lessons, but rather it is a time to stop, think, and absorb all that you have learned and gained during yom tov.

Rav Sorotzkin’s explains issru chag in a similar way. He says as follows. For many people, after yom tov ends, life returns to ‘normal’. One achieves a certain level of avodas Hashem, and then on yom tov you have more mitzvos and achieve greater ruchniyos, and then afterwards one returns to ‘normal’. No! That is not the way religious life should be. The whole purpose of yom tov is for it to impact on you as a person. Then, you should be a different, better person when yom tov is over. Your religious life should be at a higher level than it used to be. The purpose of the yom tov is that your entire chol life is affected by the yom tov. What halacha reflects this? Issru chag. Yom tov is over; however, the first post-yom tov day is still a special day. You are trying to bring yom tov with you into your regular life. The way you show this is that the first day after yom tov is special. Issru chag captures the theme of what yom tov is supposed to be. You want to symbolically show yourself that you are taking yom tov with you. The first day after yom tov you have a seudah and do not fast. Your life is not back to ‘normal’. You act in a special way on the first day after yom tov. It is a bridge between yom tov and chol. It is supposed to help bump up your level of your daily avodas Hashem.

Many businesses and organizations often develop a mission plan which describes the goals of the organization. If you know what your goal is, you have a better chance of achieving it because you plan better. Issru chag is like having a mission plan before yom tov. Learning hilchos issru chag puts us in the proper frame of mind of how to approach the yom tov. You should approach yom tov in a way that when it is over, you will take it with you. That is why issru chag is mentioned at the beginning of hilchos pesach because issru chag is supposed to act as our mission plan of what yom tov is all about. Since issru chag captures exactly the theme of your entire goal for yom tov, therefore it makes sense that we use hilchos issru chag as a mission plan- here is your goal! So, as you are entering the rest of hilchos pesach remember what your goal is- when yom tov is over, take it with you.

This is also one of the themes of Shmini Atzeres specifically. We are trying to bring the ruchniyos of the Succah back into our homes. Therefore, we have a yom tov in the home immediately after Succos. We want to bring the kedushah and simchah of Succos into the home[iii].

We are coming to the end of the very special first three weeks of Tishrei. We will soon be reentering ordinary, daily life. As we are davening on Shmini Atzes and dancing on Simchas Torah, we should be thinking about how all of these special days will impact on our ordinary lives as Ovdei Hashem. It is a very good idea to make specific kabbalos for bettering our spiritual lives after the Yomim Tovim are over.

[i] This pshat is quoted in the Riv’vos Ephraim, vol. 3 siman 442.

[ii] Shmini Atzeres is not actually part of Succos, but it is clearly linked to Succos. That is why it is called Shmini, the ‘Eighth’. See the Dvar Torah 06 on Shmini Atzeres.

[iii] In chutz la’aretz this point is sometimes overlooked. Due to the sfeikah d’yoma, we sit in the Succah on Shmini Atzeres in chutz la’aretz (the brocho of leishev b’succah is not recited). Shmini Atzeres does have some connection to Succos; however, fundamentally, Shmini Atzeres is not part of Succos. It is an ‘in the house’ yom tov.