Question:
Words on the upcoming holiday.
Answer:
Get a box of chocolates and send it to that one person that you can't stand—you want a real simchadika yom tov? Break those bad middos! Even more important than a shiny white kittel and everyone performing their part as planned is...did you get angry? How's the kinna taava kavod coming? How's the menuchas hanefesh and simchas hachaim? Do you feel loved by Hashem? Says the Gaon (Even Sheleima 1:2): Ikur chiyus ha'adam sheviros hamidos, v'im lav lama lo chaim! What's the point of life? The perfection of character! Breaking all of those staticky inner barriers that separate one from Hashem! This is the secret to true, inner happiness and fulfillment, and is really the concept of eimun baShem, trusting and relying on Hashem, which encompasses it all.
(Side note: Any minhagim and "stringencies" are only to be done if it is with a happy heart—menuchas hanefesh and simchas hachaim, being a happy Yid, comes first!)
