The seven-day festival of Sukkot comes following the Ten Days of Repentance. These ten days can be divided into three parts: The first two days of Rosh Hashana; seven days, and the last day,Yom Kippur.
What is the connection between the Ten Days of Repentance and Sukkot?
On Rosh Hashana we blow 100 sounds on the Shofar. The Sukkah is covered with Schach. The word Schach is spelled samech- chaf- chaf. The numerical value of these letters is 60-20-20. We blow the Tekiya 60 times, the Shevarim 20 times, and the Teru?a 20 times.
What is the connection between Yom Kippur and Sukkot? On Yom Kippur the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies with incense. The smoke from the incense is connected with the ?clouds of glory? that used to protect the Jewish people in the desert. On Sukkot we sit in the Sukkah to commemorate these clouds.
There are seven days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Each day gives us a chance to make up for any wrongdoing on that particular day of the week during the previous year. The Sunday during the 7 days is when we would repent for sins committed on all the Sundays throughout the past year, etc.
The reward for the repentance during the seven days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is seven days of JOY on Sukkot. According to halacha, one should start building his Sukkah right after Yom Kippur.
A Sukkah completely surrounds the person who sits in it. On Sukkot one is required to live in the Sukkah just as he lives in his own house. His entire being is involved in fulfilling the mitzvah. Yom Kippur is the time when we all decide to become better people. In order to help us make these changes a reality, we are commanded to get involved with the Sukkah. The Sukkah teaches us that our entire being should be focused on fulfilling Hashem?s will. One may think that by praying three times a day and studying Torah for several hours, he has given enough of his time to G-d and the remaining time can be used for personal matters. He may also assume that by using his hands to don tefillin and his feet to run to shul he has utilized his body sufficiently to serve Hashem. The Sukkah comes to teach us that the ENTIRE body should be used the ENTIRE day to fulfill its mission on earth. Even when involved in the mundane acts of eating or sleeping, still the focus is to regain strength in order to serve Hashem better!
We all know the story of the three angels who came to visit Avraham to notify him that he would have a child. Avraham, unaware that his guests were angels, treated them as regular guests. Before serving them their meal he insisted ?sit down under the tree?, (where they would be protected from the scorching sun). The Midrash comments that in the merit of these words his descendants merited the mitzvah of Sukkah. Another Midrash tells us that in the merit of our sitting in the Sukkah now, when Moshiach comes we will merit to sit in a giant Sukkah made from the skin of the Livyatan (big fish).
There are many laws in connection with the construction of a Sukkah. The Schach that covers the Sukkah is a plant that grows from the ground yet is to be disconnected from its source. If a Sukkah would be placed directly under the branches of a tree, the Sukkah would be deemed unkosher.
It is interesting to note that both the merit that GAVE us the Mitzvah of Sukkah as well as the reward we will RECEIVE for it, are connected with a non-Kosher Sukkah. Avraham offered his guests to sit UNDER a tree and the Sukkah we will sit in in the future will be made out of fish skin. This seems to pose a problem as earlier we mentioned that the Schach must be a) from a material that grows on the ground yet b) be disconnected from its source.
What is a Mitzvah?
Although the most recognized and literal translation of Mitzvah is ?commandment?, it can also suggest the idea of ?connection?. By doing a mitzvah, a Jew becomes connected to the One who gave him the Mitzvah, Hashem. The example is given of a simple man and distinguished professor sitting together in a room. The professor sits lost in thought, his mind constantly developing new theories. The simple man can but admire how this great mind is changing the future. There is no connection between the two men until the professor asks his companion for a cup of water. Here the connection is made as by bringing the water, the simple man becomes important in the eyes of the professor.
The distance between our creator and us is obviously much greater than the distance between two flesh and blood human beings. There is no physical way we can connect to Hashem until He asks us to do a simple action, such as a Mitzvah so that we can and have the opportunity to become connected.
Let?s delve further into the above-mentioned example. In order for the simple man to follow the professor?s instructions, he has to be prepared to listen. The PERSON has to be ready. He also must have the MEANS in which to fulfill the request. If there is no water in the area, the simple man could not supply it.
Before it becomes possible for a Jew to connect with G-d, he has to be prepared to listen. The patriarchs accomplished this ?preparation? for their descendents. They were completely devoted to fulfilling that which Hashem asked from them. This is the preparation. At that time, the world itself also needed preparation. The years of slavery in Egypt were necessary to enable the connection between heaven and earth that would later become possible after the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai.
?The reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah?.
The actual reward for doing a mitzvah is the connection we establish with Hashem. Only when Moshiach comes will we be able to see the complete unification with our creator that we accomplish through Mitzvot Being that the first Mitzvah we must fulfill after Yom Kippur is building a Sukkah, we can assume there is a general lesson to be learnt from it that applies to all the Mitzvot.
We can divide the Mitzvot into three stages: 1) The preparation 2) The actual mitzvah and 3) The reward, (i.e. the revelations in the future of all that transpired in the spiritual realm when we did the mitzvah.)
Avraham was responsible for the preparation of the Mitzvah. Today, we perform the actual mitzvah by sitting in our Sukkah, and when Moshiach comes we will receive the reward when we sit in the Sukkah made of Livyatan-skin Sukkah.
Water, by nature, never goes higher than its source unless it is actually forced, as well water might be pumped. Though our forefathers were very special and holy people it was still impossible for them to connect with something higher than themselves. They did not have the force of a "pump". They performed Mitzvot to the best of their ability for example, Avraham, who went out of his way to make his special guests comfortable. Until the Torah would be given, though, the Mitzvah itself could not connect to him any higher source and the act of Hachnasat Orchim would therefore only remain on the level of "preparation?.
In the merit of Avraham inviting his guests to ?sit down under the tree? we received the mitzvah of Sukkah. Avraham is compared to a tree as he grew very ?tall? in his divine service, all the while still connected to the ground.
The giving of the Torah made the above-mentioned "pump effect" possible. Today when doing a mitzvah we can actually connect with something higher! Thus the reason why the Schach has to be disconnected from the tree to symbolize we are no longer connected to the ground but connect with heaven.
This is connected to another Halacha as well. The Schach must be at least ten ?tefachim? (measurement) above the ground in order to be deemed Kosher. The Talmud says that Hashem never came down into this world lower than 10 tefachim because ?The heavens belong to Hashem and the earth was given to men.? Up to 10 tefachim remains the world?s domain, while higher space belongs to Hashem. Placing the Schach higher than 10 tefachim shows that we connect with Hashem by entering his "space".
Now, although the Schach must be disconnected from its source, it still must originate from the ground. We say three times a day: ?May my soul be like dust to everyone?. In order for Schach to be used for a mitzvah, it has to be connected to this ?dust? representing complete humility. Only after such a preparation it becomes possible to be ?disconnected? from this world and connect with a higher being.
If one were to take the plant and grind it, it would not be suitable for Schach anymore. Even after it is disconnected, it must be apparent to all that it originally was connected to the dust. If doing a mitzvah (disconnected schach) brings to pride (the former connection to dust is missing) it is not being done right.
Another law pertaining to Schach is that it has to be from something that cannot become ritually impure. (Certain materials can become impure when they come into contact with impurity; other materials never become impure, according to Halacha). The Sukkah comes right after Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur we are given a chance to start again as better people. However, we still remember the taste of sin from the year before. A recovered alcoholic should not walk past a bar for he might go back to his old habit. The week after Yom Kippur we still have to learn not to make the same mistakes as the year before. Therefore it is not enough that the Schach is not actually impure, it has to be from a material that CANNOT become impure. On Sukkot we are expected to be on a level where we distance ourselves from sin to such an extent that we CANNOT fall back into our old habits.
When Moshiach will come we will receive the final and ultimate reward where we will SEE and experience all the connections we made with Hashem through doing Mitzvot. Only then we will sit in the Sukkah made from the Livyatan whose root word comes from the word ?levi? which also means connection!
The Halacha is that all creatures living under the sea?s surface are always ritually pure as they are considered on entity with the (purifying powers of) water. That explains the connection between the Livyatan fish and the times of Moshiach on which it says that the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d like waters cover the bed of the ocean. Another interesting quality that fish have is that they always remain in water, and therefore are constantly connected with their source of life. When Moshiach comes we will be just like fish; completely united with our source of life i.e. Hashem.