Komentaryo sa Deuteronomio 16:15: Rashi, Chizkuni, Da'at Zekenim & Ibn Ezra

והיית אך שמח ONLY BE REJOICED — According to its plain sense this is not the expression of a command but expresses an assurance: “thou will be rejoicing”. But according to the Halachic interpretation they (the Rabbis) derived from here that the night before the last day of the festival (that preceding the eighth day) is to be included in the obligation of rejoicing (Sukkah 48a; cf. Sifrei Devarim 142:4).

שבעת ימים תחוג, “you are to celebrate for seven days;” seeing that in the days before Passover you have been very preoccupied with its preparations, as well as the harvesting of the barley crop, and in the days preceding Pentecost you have been preoccupied with harvesting the wheat crop, I bothered you with an interruption of only one day. By the time Sukkot arrives, your harvests have all been brought safely under a roof so that you did not have much to distract you, you can afford to enjoy this festival for seven days without having concerns of a secular nature. An alternate interpretation: you have already gathered a lot in your house in preparation for the journey, including the Second Tithe which must be consumed in Jerusalem. It will take you seven days to consume all this, as opposed to Passover and Shavuot when you do not bring so much with you to Jerusalem. Still another interpretation: Seeing that the mussaph offerings are different each day, this festival is actually like seven festivals of one day each. This is why this festival is different from the seven days known as חג המצות, “the festival of unleavened breads.”

והיית אך שמח, “you shall have nothing but joy.” When discussing the festival of Sukkot, the Torah uses the expression שמחה, “joy,” three separate times, twice here and once in Leviticus 23,40. The word שמחה occurs only once in connection with the festival of Sh’vuot, and not at all in connection with the festival of Passover. Seeing that at Passover time no part of the harvest had been collected yet the time had not come to rejoice over the harvest. By the time of Sh’vuot the barley and wheat harvest had been collected, so that there was partial rejoicing. Sukkot signaled the end of the harvesting season, so that at that time the farmer’s heart was full of joy. This is reflected in the Torah using the word “joy” three times in connection with that festival.