Did you ever wonder what Sukkos is all about? In comparison with the other two of the Shalosh Regalim, Pesach and Shavuos, it would seem that the message of Sukkos is less clear.
Take Pesach, for example. We all know that Pesach is the celebration of Klal Yisroel becoming a nation. It is observed as the time when we were taken out of Mitzrayim, rescued from being slaves to Paroh and granted the freedom to serve Hashem. That is why we eat matzah on Pesach: to recall both the slavery and our redemption from servitude.
Shavuos is similarly straightforward. Why? It is wonderful that we were freed from bondage, but what value does freedom have without the Torah? Was freedom granted so that we could indulge in steaks and shakes? Obviously not. The purpose of our liberation from Mitzrayim, our release from Paroh, was so that we could serve Hashem. Hashem gave us the Torah because it guides us in how to serve Him. That is why we celebrate Shavuos: to commemorate the time when we received the Torah.
The question is: What about Sukkos? Why is it celebrated at this season and what exactly does it represent?
The Purpose of Sukkos
The meforshim offer many explanations, but let us focus on the approach of the Rashbam. The Rashbam teaches that Sukkos is the Yom Tov celebrated at the time of the harvest. In other words, it is a season of joy, the time when parnassah arrives. Wheat is harvested, and generations ago, Yidden could rejoice in knowing that they had food for the year. Grapes were pressed into wine, allowing them to rejoice again, knowing that they had drink for the coming months. It was also the season for gathering fruits.
But what happens when someone lacks true belief that Hashem governs everything? That person might say, “I am such a skilled farmer, and that is why I am wealthy and have so much produce…” Or, like others today say, “I am such a talented businessman, and that is why I own so many buildings and collect such high rents…”
The reality is that Hashem designed the world to appear to operate according to teva, nature. Because of that, people can mistakenly believe that their success is the result of their own abilities.
What is teva? A person plants and the crop grows. A person negotiates and saves money. A person buys a building cheaply, renovates it, and sells it for a profit. And then he declares, “I did it! It is me—my skills, my brilliance, my business sense! I am an amazing farmer! I know how to cultivate fertile land! I am an amazing entrepreneur! That is why I am wealthy.”
That, the Rashbam explains, is why Hashem gave us Sukkos precisely during harvest time, during the parnassah season, reminding us of how we dwelled in sukkos in the midbar with nothing. To remind us that it was Hashem Who sheltered us with sukkos. It was Hashem Who provided our food and sustenance. That reminder awakens us to recognize that it is not we who provide parnassah, but Him.
That is why we leave our houses, with all their comforts, to live in the sukkah for seven days—to remember that everything that we have comes from Hashem and only because of Hashem.
Temporary Huts…or Ananei Hakavod?
The Sefas Emes develops this concept further, giving it practical application in our daily lives. He notes that there is a debate in the Gemara whether the word sukkos refers to the actual huts that the Bnei Yisroel constructed in the midbar or the Ananei Hakavod, the clouds with which Hashem enveloped and protected us.
According to the opinion that the Yidden built actual sukkos—huts—the message is clear. Hashem is instructing us to leave our permanent homes and live in fragile sukkos to demonstrate that whatever we possess in Olam Hazeh is only temporary. A Yid is not bound by nature. He is not enslaved to his gashmiyus, to material possessions and comforts. A Yid is capable of leaving it all—his fine home and amenities—behind and living in a simple hut, a simple sukkah, for seven days.
In this way, the Sefas Emes explains, we are showing Hashem that our guf, our gashmiyus, is secondary to our ruchniyus. Furthermore, this is also the message of the Ananei Hakavod. What were the Ananei Hakavod? They were spiritual clouds, a protective shield. By entering the sukkah and internalizing its message, we demonstrate that Olam Hazeh is subordinate to Olam Haba. At that moment, when the truth of the sukkah penetrates into the deepest chambers of our hearts, the Sheim Shomayim rests upon us, and it is as though we are surrounded by the Ananei Hakavod of Hashem.
Yes, the message is that when we go into the sukkah and absorb its lesson—that Hashem directs the world despite the disguise of nature—we are wrapping ourselves in Ananei Hakavod, a covering of pure ruchniyus.
Do We Really?
Of course, these ideas sound inspiring in theory. Yes, we sit in the sukkah and profess to detach from Olam Hazeh. But do we truly? Are we not still preoccupied with clothing, food, money, honor, and countless other earthly concerns?
That is an excellent question. The Sefas Emes explains that this is precisely why Sukkos follows immediately after Yom Kippur.
On Yom Kippur, Hashem forgave all our aveiros. We begin with a clean slate. Do you realize what that means? We are pure—pure like a newborn child, untouched by sin. We believe with absolute emunah that Hashem has granted us forgiveness.
The Gemara teaches that Sukkos is the first day of the new reckoning of aveiros. When a person is free from sin, when one’s neshomah is untainted by the scars of aveiros, he can truly rise above his guf and its pull toward Olam Hazeh.
The challenge is that we are so accustomed to that pull toward Olam Hazeh that we fail to realize how different we have become. We do not understand that with the cleansing of Yom Kippur, we now possess the ability to rise above the material mindset and enter the Ananei Hakavod of Sukkos.
So what should you do this Sukkos? Take a Chol Hamoed trip—or better yet, a Yom Tov trip—to the clouds! To the Ananei Hakavod! Step outside the Olam Hazeh mentality and taste the sweetness of dwelling b’tzila demehemnusa, in Hashem’s shadow of emunah.
Try it!
