Succos - 5775

Succos - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall dwell in booths for seven days, every citizen of Israel is to

dwell in booths; so that your generations will know that I caused the

Children of Israel to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of

Egypt, I am the L-rd your G-d. [Vayikra 23:42-43]

What is the purpose of this holiday? There are so many interesting things

going on, so many objects, so many allusions. What is the basic reason?

In the Mishnah [Succah 2:9], we see "All seven days a man is obligated to

make his succah his permanent home, and to make his house his temporary home."

But we know that the succah is a temporary dwelling, with rules for how it is

to be constructed that ensure it is relocatable, and even that it will slowly

disintegrate as some of its materials must be made of dead plants. It does not

sound like much of a permanent home, yet we put much effort into decorating it

and making it a welcoming place.

One of the other big mitzvos of the holiday is the Lulav and Esrog, the Four

Species. We go to great lengths to select the very best combination of these

plants. Each of the four begins the week as fresh and beautiful as possible,

but decays as the week goes along.

Why do we put such emphasis on things that are so temporary? What do these

objects teach us?

Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov writes, "Since the mitzvah of the Four Species is so

greatly cherished by the Jewish people, and since its reward is great in this

world and the next, it is fitting that one be especially careful to perform

the mitzvah in the proper manner." All one has to do is go watch people

selecting esrogim to know that this is taken very seriously. They will say to

you "hadar mitzvah", meaning that they want to perform the command in the most

beautiful and enhanced way possible. This is, of course, always a good idea,

but there's a limit. We all know the stories of people using or losing their

life's savings on the best esrog, with their family going hungry. Rabbi Kitov

continues, "He should make sure that he is fulfilling the mitzvah for the sake

of G-d, and that he has no intent to use the mitzvah as a means of glorifying

himself in front of others...Let his etrog and lulav be less beautiful, but

let his intention be for the sake of the mitzvah alone." He argues that there

should be spiritual joy in the mitzvah rather than physical joy.

The Sfas Emes comes from the same viewpoint when discussing the succah. He says

"Israel needs to be sheltered from the arrogance of this world. The succah is

a refuge from a haughty world, yet it is also called a royal resting place for

the Divine Presence. This captures the succah's true essence." He notes that

when times are good, our regular home is probably much nicer from a material

standpoint, but that when things are not going well, the succah may be more

beautiful. The succah is constant, it is the dwelling of G-d. It is unaffected

by the material life we lead.

Both of these material objects beautify our lives, but both are expressly not

done for physical reasons. Hadar mitzvah does not mean the most expensive

esrog. It means the most welcoming succah and festive meal. It doesn't mean

the fanciest house, but the place where G-d Himself joins us to dwell and

celebrate. We do not need materialism for this, we need open hearts.

We also need humility. Showing off a beautiful esrog is not beauty, but

selfishness. There is nothing wrong with having a beautiful esrog, so long as

the reason is merely the enhancement of one's service to G-d and community. A

booth in the wilderness is not to brag about, but it is where G-d dwells. It

makes little difference to G-d whether the material things are expensive, so

long as they are used properly. The short lifespan of these items reminds us

that our longevity is also short, that we must make the best use of our time

as we can. Do what you can with what G-d has given you. That is hadar mitzvah.

That is the basic purpose of this holiday.