IN HUTS YOU ARE TO STAY FOR SEVEN DAYS,

EVERY NATIVE IN ISRAEL IS TO STAY IN HUTS-

IN ORDER THAT YOUR GENERATIONS MAY KNOW

THAT IN HUTS I HAD THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL STAY

WHEN I BROUGHT THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT,

I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD!

(Vayikra 23:42-43)

 

Transience and Lack of Acquisitiveness as Expressions of Faith

The mitzvah of Sukkah requires a temporary dwelling (Sukkah 2a). The author of the Baal Haakeida wrote that the simple reason [behind the command] is to suggest to man that he make do in this world with only that which is necessary, like a temporary dwelling capable of housing only his head, most of his body, and his table. For this world is a temporary dwelling; all the acquisitions of this world - houses, fields, vineyards - do not provide him with a dependable foundation, and all are eventually lost to him. This is the meaning of "And they journeyed from Rameses."

 

"An Easy Mitzvah Have I, and Sukkah Is Its Name": 'Socheh' is one who finds shelter in the name of God, and needs nothing, and makes do with a temporary dwelling for the hour, for he who worries about tomorrow is deficient in faith. A temporary dwelling for the moment is sufficient, and this is the opposite of envy.

(Kometza Hamincha, R' Tzakok HaCohen of Lublin, Part Two, 18)

 

 

And Spread Over Us the Sukkah of Your Peace,

the Sukkah of Mercy, Life, and Peace

 

THE SUKKOT FESTIVAL:

REMEMBRANCE, ATONEMENT AND JOY

Aviad Stollman

 

One of the brief and unique articles in the Shulchan Aruch is Section 725 in Orach Chayim, and it consists of only one clause. "In huts shall you dwell seven days, etc., for in huts I had the Children of Israel stay" - these are the clouds of glory with which He surrounded them, so that they not be hurt by desert wind and sun." One cannot but be puzzled by this clause; it has no practical halachic ramification whatever, being only a midrashic explication of a verse from the Bible. R' Yoel Sirkis, in his glosses to the Tur, "Bayit Chadash", explains that the exceptional concern with the mitzvah and its rationale derive from the Torah's unusual step of stating the purpose of the mitzvah; therefore, "one will not have performed the mitzvah properly unless he knows the intent of the Sukkoth mitzvah according to its plain reading, and therefore it [the Torah] explained - according to the plain reading - that the main purpose of the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah is so that one remember the exodus from Egypt..." From this we learn that it is incumbent upon us to bring into clear focus the rationale of the mitzvoth of the sukkah and of the festival in general.

In the Book of Vayikra (23:43), the Torah gives the reason for the command to sit in the sukkah for seven days: "In order that your generations know that in huts I had the Children of Israel dwell when I took them out of the land of Egypt." This rationale joins the agricultural rationale for the festival, which is also mentioned specifically in the same chapter (verse 39: "When you have gathered in the produce of the land"); in the Book of Devarim (16:13) the agricultural rationale is augmented by the mitzvah to rejoice on the Sukkoth festival: "The pilgrimage festival of Sukkoth you are to observe for yourself, for seven days, at your ingathering, from your threshing floor, from your vat. You are to rejoice on your festival, you, your son, and your daughter, your servant and your maid, the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan and the widow that are within your gates."

The Sukkoth festival is also perceived as a conclusion of the Days of Awe. A Sage from Ashkenaz summed it up succinctly: "If there is no atonement [for your sins] on Rosh Hashanah, there will be such on Yom Kippur, and if not, it will be on Hosannah Rabba" (Glosses to customs in Matteh Moshe 957 and glosses to Customs of Tirana 216). In Midrash Tehillim (Buber ed., 17:5) we find the conceptual continuity of the Tishrei festivals-which is mainly forgiveness, atonement, and even winning in judgment-portrayed as a legal encounter between Israel and the nations:

On Rosh Hashanah all those who have come into the world pass before Him like sheep; Israel, too, passes before Him along with all mankind. The ministers of the nations say we are victorious and have won in judgment, but no one knows who succeeded, Israel or the nations. After Rosh Hashanah, on Yom Kippur, all Israel come and afflict themselves, and they wear white and pleasant garments. Yom Kippur passes, and still no one knows who won, Israel or the nations. When the first day of the Sukkoth festival arrives, and all Israel, adults and minors, take the lulavim in their right hand, and their ethrogim in their left, immediately all know that Israel has won in judgment. And when the Day of Hoshanah Rabba arrives, they take willows of the brook, and make seven rounds, and the cantor stands like a messenger of the Lord, with the Torah scroll in his arms, and the nation circles him as with the altar... immediately all the ministering angels rejoice, saying "Israel has won! Israel has won!", and also "the Glory of Israel will not deceive nor change His mind.

The Sukkoth festival fits in with the distinguishing aspect of the other Tishrei festivals-repentance, forgiveness, and atonement. In the coming lines I should like to examine two different conceptual directions which seek to integrate the Biblical rationales for the Sukkoth mitzvah with the overall ideas of the Tishrei festivals.

In the Pesikta of Rav Kahanah (addenda to Parasha 2, Mandelbaum ed. p. 457), the following is written:

Said R' El'azar bar Maryom: Why do we make a sukkah after Yom Kippur? To teach you that on Rosh Hashanah The Holy One, Blessed Be He, sits in judgment on all mankind, and on Yom Kippur He signs the verdict. Perhaps Israel's sentence is exile; therefore they make a sukkah and exile themselves from their homes to their sukkah, and The Holy One, Blessed Be He, considers this as though they had been exiled to Egypt, as is written "Writhe and scream, Fair Zion, like a woman in travail! For now you must leave the city and dwell in the country-and you will reach Babylon. There you shall be saved, there the Lord will redeem you from the hands of your foes (Micah 4:10).

The darshan wishes to explain the juxtaposition of the Yom Kippur to Sukkoth, and in the process he adds another rationale (not an alternative rationale) to the Sukkoth mitzvah. In the darshan's view, the dwelling in the sukkah is a kind of mini-Galut, and The Holy One, Blessed Be He, in his kindness reckons it as though the Children of Israel had exiled from their land. Thus the Sukkoth festival completes the atonement function of the Tishrei festivals, headed by Yom Kippur. A similar note, more detailed, is found in Rambam's Guide for the Perplexed (Part III, Chap. 43, Schwartz ed., p. 598). Following his short treatment of the joy dimension revealed in this festival (inspired by a paragraph from Aristotle's Ethics), Rambam proceeds to deal with the ethical aspect of the Sukkoth festival:

Both these festivals, I mean Sukkoth and Pessach, inculcate both an opinion and a moral quality. In the case of Pesach, the opinion consists in the commemoration of the miracles of Egypt and in the perpetuation of their memory throughout the periods of time. In the case of Sukkoth, the opinion consists in the perpetuation of the memory of the miracles of the desert throughout the periods of time. As for the moral quality, it consists in man's always remembering the days of stress in the days of prosperity, so that his gratitude to God should become great and so that he should achieve humility and submission. Accordingly unleavened bread and bitter herbs must be eaten on Pesach in commemoration of what happened to us. Similarly one must leave the house [during Sukkoth] and dwell in tabernacles, as is done by the wretched inhabitants of deserts and wastelands, in order that the fact be commemorated that such was our state in ancient times: That I made the Children of Israel dwell in tabernacles, and so on". From this we went over to dwell in richly ornamented houses in the best and most fertile place on earth, thanks to the benefaction of God and His promises to our fathers, inasmuch as they were perfect people in their opinions and in their moral character-I mean Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. For this too is one of the pivots of the Torah, I mean the belief that every benefit that will be or has been granted is due to the merit of the Fathers, since they kept the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment. (Translation by S. Pines)

In this paragraph, Rambam links the Biblical reason "for in tabernacles I had the Children of Israel dwell" to the ethical-educational rationale expressed through the Tishrei festivals. Considering the dwelling in the sukkah as part of an educational process continues the path begun by R' El'azar bar Maryom. According to R' El'azar, the 'exile' to the sukkah atones for sin, whereas Rambam adds that the atonement is effected by the educational influence of the exile. Rambam also incorporated into these words the obligation to do righteousness, justice, and judgment, which characterized the Fathers. This is a constant obligation, felt intensely during these days of economic recession. We feel and hear those 'wretched inhabitants' who dwell in huts even not on Sukkoth; we are charged to utilize the festival to contribute more to institutions of charity and good deeds that work towards the diminishing of the deep economic gaps.

Another aspect which stresses the tie between Sukkoth and Yom Kippur and the act of repentance is to be found in the words of Rav Kook, zt"l, in his commentary on the siddur (Olat R''iyah II, pp. 367-368):

Repentance, with all its practical stages, with the overall atmosphere which prevails primarily in the days set aside for repentance, with its great benefit of purifying the souls. To refine the spirit and to cleanse acts of their ugliness, it must hide within itself a weakness from which even the most heroic of heroes cannot escape. When we diminish the strength of the will, when we bend the strength of life, through inner revulsion and the inclination to repent of all sin, the desire of good also diminishes, the power of the pure life also is lessened. We find that one suffers from his moral purification a weakness similar to that of the patient who is cured by radiation-the treatment expelled the disease's poison, but it also weakened his living, healthy power. Therefore, days of holy joy, of spiritual elation, come to rejuvenate the positive will and the strength of the pure life. Then will repentance be complete.

In speaking of "days of holy joy, of spiritual elation", the Rav is referring to the Sukkoth festival. Davka in respect to Sukkoth does the Torah (Devarim 16) mention the mitzvah of rejoicing. He sees Sukkoth in general as a time of healing after the spiritual struggle and the suffering which characterize the "the overall atmosphere which prevails primarily in the days set aside for repentance". In Rav Kook's teaching, the Sukkoth festival has a constructive function in the teshuva process. Perhaps his words here are a continuation of his discussion in the eighth chapter of Orot HaTeshuva, "The Pains of Sin, and the Agony of Teshuva, and the Healing Effect of Its Illumination." There the Rav deals with the extensive importance of finding the suitable proportion between feelings of sadness and feelings of joy; the proper relationship between these contradictory emotions grants man the proper spiritual platform for personal repair.

We have seen, then, two different approaches to the role of Sukkoth in the web of individual and national purification which characterizes the Tishrei festivals. The words of Rambam (and the darshan) stress the negative aspect of the impermanent sukkah, which leads to humility and subjugation, as the first step in the process of self-purification. The words of Rav Kook, on the other hand, emphasize the positive aspect of Sukkoth, the spiritual delight and the joy of holiness, which revive the vigor of life, completing teshuva... the final step in the process of repentance.

Aviad A. Stollman lives in Gush Etzion, and is a doctoral candidate in the Talmud department of Bar-Ilan Univ.

 

 

The Seventy Bulls of the Festival for the Seventy Nations of the World

Just as this dove atones for sins, so does Israel atone for the nations, for all those seventy bulls which are sacrificed on the festival are on behalf of the seventy nations, so that the world not be bereft of them, as is written (Psalms 109) "They answer my love with accusation but I am all prayer"

 (Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabba 1).

 

Seventy bulls. The bulls of the festival total 70, except for that of the eighth [day], on behalf of the seventy nations, to atone for them so that rain fall throughout the world, for on Sukkoth the world is judged for water.

(Rashi, Tractate Sukkah, 35b)

 

Said R' Yehoshua of Sikhnin in the name of R' Levi: Great is shalom, for all blessings conclude with peace, in the Kriyat Shema 'who spreads the sukkah of shalom, in the benediction 'who creates shalom, in the priestly benediction 'and give you shalom. This is true for benedictions, from where do we know that this is true regarding sacrifices? The Torah teaches: "This is the Instruction concerning the offering-up... and concerning the slaughter-offering of shalom". Thus we have sources for this world, from where do learn about the next world? The Torah teaches "I will extend to her shalom like a stream". Our Sages taught: Great is peace, for when the Anointed King will arrive, he will begin with peace, as is written, "How welcome on the mountain are the footsteps of the herald announcing shalom.

 (Yalkut Shimoni, Bemidbar 6:711)

 

Kohellet and Sukkoth

It appears to me that a connection between the custom of reading Kohellet on Sukkoth is to be found in the words of R' Yonathan in Yalkut Kohellet: "R' Yonathan said, first 'Shir Hashirim' (Song of Songs) was composed, followed by 'Mishlei' (Proverbs) and then 'Kohellet'. R' Yonathan derived this from the way of the world: in one's youth he sings songs, when he matures he recites parables, and in old age, he speaks of vanities..."  

 (Yalkut Shimoni, Kohellet, 1:965)

 

The three pilgrimage festivals signify this cycle in the seasons of the year: In spring-which parallels youth-on Pesach we read "Shir Hashirim" ("the time of singing has come" ); in the season of harvest and the ripening of first fruits, we read the Scroll of Ruth, which makes mention of the wheat harvest; and in the [produce] gathering, we read Kohellet, which makes reference to man's last days, ending with "The sum of the matter".

 (Mordecai Zer-Kavod, from his preface to his commentary on Kohellet in "Daat Mikra")

 

Good for the Just - Justice is the Good

"For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous and for the wicked, for the good and the pure, and for the impure, for him who sacrifices, and for him who does not... and for him who swears and for him who shuns oaths" (Kohellet 8:2) - "It will not be well with the wicked and-like a shadow-he will not live long, because he does not revere God".

 (Kohellet 8:13)

 

In Kohellet, the Tzaddik-Wicked issue is repeated. The author declares that one fate lies in store for both, who are in equal degree exposed to life's changes and nature's scourges. But along with this we read; "For I am aware that it will be well with those who revere God since they revere Him; and it will not be well with the wicked."

The obvious question is, 'good' in what sense?

Regarding the wicked it does not say that that he will be punished; punishment is not mentioned at all, for Kohellet has already declared that "One fate for the righteous and for the wicked" . He is talking about denial of good from the wicked. This again teaches us that the good which is the portion of those who revere God, will be denied the wicked who will remain with his foolishness/wickedness.

 (Y. Leibowitz: Discussions on Israel's Festivals and Appointed Times, p. 206)

 

What's Happening in the Movement

 

 

 

 

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