Succos - 5777

Succos - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

The holiday of Succos falls just a few days after Yom Kippur. Does this proximity have

any lessons for us?

What is Yom Kippur really about? The Sfas Emes says that it is a liberation, freeing

each of us from the baggage of human frailty. He says that we are a "​people shorn of

pride by Yom Kippur." We can say that G-d frees us from our sins, but actually, He merely

accepts us back, forgives and accepts our repentance. It is we who free ourselves through

the exercise of the true "free will" when we accept G-d as the True Master in our prayers

for forgiveness.

Just at the point that we are released from our sins, our human faults and pride, we

come immediately upon Succos. What is Succos about? Sfas Emes calls the succah

​"a refuge from a haughty world, yet it is also called a royal resting place for the Divine

Presence." What is this refuge? He explains that "The succah is indeed a humble dwelling."

How does a "humble dwelling" provide "refuge from a haughty world"? Through the same

kind of liberation from the human baggage that we perform on Yom Kippur. By entering

and dwelling in the succah on this holiday, we are choosing to leave behind the material

wealth of this world in favor of limiting ourselves to whatever G-d gives us directly as far

as weather and comforts. In other words, we free ourselves to accept Him as the True Master.

In both cases we are directed by the Torah itself to do no work. This is proof yet again

that we are to put ourselves in G-d's hands, to let go of what we thought we held, to free

ourselves of the bounds of this world.

Are there differences? Certainly. But even those differences tie the two events. Yom Kippur

is a fast day, the holiday on Succos is a feast day. Yom Kippur, along with Rosh Hashanah,

is the "birthday of the world", signifying the beginning of Creation. Succos comes at the

designated time of the war of Gog and Magog, what some refer to as Armageddon, the

final battle between evil and good in this world, in other words, the end of this world as

we know it. Thus, in a few days we go from nothing to everything, from beginning to end.

Why? Simply because our lesson of liberation can be learned directly from this close

proximity. If we free ourselves of the mundane, we will achieve greatness.