To have so many holidays as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Succot in such close proximity implies that there is a central theme that runs through the holidays and connects them to each other. These yomim tovim weave a thread of unity within Bnei Yisroel that begins with Rosh Hashanah, goes through Yom Kippur, and culminates with the joy of Succot.
Rav Reiss develops this theme in Paamei Moed. On Rosh Hashanah we crown Hashem as our King and the King of the universe. However, this coronation can only be properly achieved when Israel is united. As the verse states: “vayehi biYeshurin Melech … Yachad shiftei Yisroel – When God will be King of Jeshurun [the name signifying united Israel] … when the tribes of Israel will be united.” It is this unity that empowers us to crown God as our King.
This concept is further developed on Yom Kippur when we begin the Kol Nidre liturgy by sanctioning prayer that includes transgressors. Even the avodah, the service of the priests in the Beit Hamikdosh on that holiest of days, echoed this theme; the incense offering was not limited to sweet smelling spices but included the chelbonah, an unpleasant smelling spice. Yet the incense would be incomplete and unacceptable if this spice were to be excluded, and Bnei Yisroel would be incomplete if we excised the sinners from the body of our people.
The theme is most prominent, however, on Succot with one of the main symbolic interpretations of the four species. Each of the species represents a different class within our people. The etrog, both beautiful and fragrant, symbolizes those whose actions are beautiful to God and pleasantly fragrant to men; the lulav is upright and beautiful to God, but is somewhat lacking in his actions toward his fellow man; the myrtle is fragrant only, while the willow contains neither quality. Yet we must hold all four together if we are to fulfill the mitzvah of “lulav”. Equally, we must embrace all members of our nation if we are to hasten our redemption.
This then is the theme of Tishrei, that the collective soul of Bnei Yisroel be reunited. After all, as Rav Reiss points out, we are all one soul, split into many parts and separated by our individual bodies. After we have crowned our King in unity on Rosh Hashanah, by immersing ourselves in spirituality on Yom Kippur, we strip away the barriers our bodies have created. Now on Succot we can come together as one and experience the joy of this unity.
Succot, as the name signifies, is further characterized by the temporary dwellings Hashem asks us to live in for seven days. How does this mitzvah contribute to the joy we are commanded to experience on this holiday? Rav Pam offers an interesting analogy to explain this phenomenon. He interprets dwelling places not so much as physical entities, but rather as the dwelling places of our minds. We are wired to think mostly about ourselves, our personal needs and wants.
Succot asks us to leave this mindset and think of others outside of ourselves, to think of their needs and how we can help them. When we stop focusing on ourselves, especially if we focus on what we do not have, and start focusing on others and how we can give to them, financially, emotionally or physically, we begin to emulate Hakodosh Boruch Hu. In this act of at least temporarily living in someone else’s reality, of giving to others as Hashem continuously gives to us, we put meaning into our lives and achieve a great degree of happiness.
Rabbi Schorr in Halekach Vehalebuv expands on this idea. We are the descendents of Abraham, he says. Just as Abraham was commanded lech lecha, go for yourself, for your own good, for your own pleasure, as Rashi interprets it, so too do we each have our own lech lecha. During Succot, we must also go forth from our own homes. On Rosh Hashanah we proclaimed God as Sovereign of the universe, just as Avraham had done in Haran. Then he was told to go out and spread the word and live his life according to the precepts he understood to be God’s way.
We must also go out and spread the word and share Hashem’s blessings with others. As Abraham’s tent was open, so should we open our tents, our succot to others, both family and to those less fortunate, to partake of the Succot holiday, for in the unity of sharing we achieve the greatest simcha.
Besides physical guests, we invite symbolic guests into our succot, the Ushpizin. Each family invites these special guests, one on each night, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David to join us. How is it possible, asks the Talelei Chaim, for these guests to simultaneously be in the succot of all Bnei Yisroel?
That is, responds the Talelei Chaim, because each individual succah is a spark of the Divine succah of peace that we ask Hashem to spread over us. We are all united under that succah, experiencing the joy of togetherness, culminating in Shemini Atzeret/ Simchat Torah when we dance together with Hashem’s Torah.
Rav Pincus approaches the simcha generated on Succot from another perspective on unity. He explains that there are three characteristics of the human mind, knowledge, (chochma) understanding (binah), and the integration of the two (daat) which he interprets as ruach hakodesh, the Divine spirit.
On Rosh Hashanah, he explains, we lay the foundation of knowledge of Hashem.
On Yom Kippur we increase our understanding of Hashem by making inferences and deductions from this knowledge – If God is King, then there are consequences to my actions, both good and bad.
On Succot we take this knowledge and understanding and integrate them so that our entire lives become changed through this reality. This interpretation is bolstered by the other well known symbolism of the four species taken together during Succot: The lulav represents the spine, the willows the eyes, the myrtle the lips, and the etrog the heart. We take them all together in our service to Hashem. If we are to be truly happy, we must not keep knowledge of Hashem as a purely intellectual pursuit, but we must involve our entire being in the process.
We must live our lives knowing that we are always in His succah. Even when we do not see Him, when His presence is hidden, we must live with the reality that the Lord of the universe Whom we serve is the Same as the Creator of the universe, Who constantly recreates the world from nothingness. Both these names are alluded to in two parallel names by which we most often refer to Him, A-do-n-ai and Y-K-V-K. We can divide the word S-U-K-aH into two components, each adding up numerically to one of these names. S-H=65, the same numerical value as A-Do-N-aI, while U-K=26, the numerical value of the four lettered name of Y-K-V-K. The two names are really one and the same, and we symbolize this belief by dwelling in the succah.
Rabbi Roberts in Timeless Seasons cites the Shem Mishmuel and begins his discussion of this season along a similar path as did Rabbi Pincus. Rosh Hashanah, he posits, is the day of knowledge, we are the people Yodei teruah, who know the blasts of the shofar. The blasts arouse us intellectually. Yom Kippur, however, is emotional. We cry for forgiveness. We say Yizkor and remember our departed loved ones. Both the intellectual and emotional approaches to a relationship with Hakodosh Boruch Hu are valid, but neither can create a lasting relationship on its own.
There needs to be a balance between the two so that it can lead to action. Otherwise we are frozen in place. The emotional memory of the loss of our loved ones must be tempered with the awareness that we can continue their legacy by emulating those characteristics we admired about them. This is integrating the knowledge with the emotion, the head with the heart, and leads to action in our lives.
Succot is the holiday that actualizes this integration of intellect and emotion. The water libation ceremony during the time of the Temple, continues Rabbi Roberts, was a concrete symbol of this integration. Our Sages have said that he who has not seen the water libation ceremony has not experienced true joy in his life. What was this joy all about? The libations at the altar were generally wine libations.
Only on Succot were both water and wine poured over the altar. According to Rabbi Roberts, the water and the wine represent the two contrasting components of our psyche, the intellectual component and the emotional component. During Succot, these two components were in balance as the water and wine were each poured over the altar, symbolizing the synchronicity of the mind and the heart in our service to Hashem. The realization that we can achieve this balance generated this great joy.
There is another beautiful approach to the joy Succot generates. It is the inner joy we have when our entire being is suffused with the faith that we take continuous refuge under the shade and protection of His wings. This is the approach of Sichot Hitchazkut. The turbulence around us cannot frighten us if we have this inner faith, for we know that we are secure, even though this world is just a temporary world as the succah is just a temporary home.
At one’s funeral, Psalm 91 containing these verses is recited. At the moment of death, the deceased recognizes this truth and the impact of this recognition elicits a primal scream from his soul. He sees clearly what he could have achieved had he realized that he was always under God’s protective wings. The chasm between his potential and his actual achievement is unbearable. Don’t wait until death, cautions the Sichot, for we have the opportunity to feel the protection of His wings every time we enter the succah. Rav Reiss reassures us: We have pounded on the gates of heaven in our attempts at Teshuvah, and Hashem has opened wide His succah to embrace us.
Rav Lugassi reminds us that the succah is the ultimate symbol of this faith, for it commemorates our forty years in the desert when Hashem provided all our needs. What the succah helps us internalize is that all our needs continue to be met by Hashem whether our food comes in the form of manna or from the supermarket, whether the water comes from Miriam’s well or from the kitchen spigot. If we live with this reality, we will have the ability to transform our character as we change our reactions to the world around us.
If everything comes from Hashem, we will not get angry at someone who hit us, for he is only a tool in Hashem’s hand, no more than a branch that might have fallen from a tree and bruised us. We pray that the doctor we go to be His messenger for healing and the medicine he prescribes be efficacious, because it is all under His guidance and providence, and all He does is ultimately for our good. If the medicine heals or fails is not the doctor’s success or failure, but the result of God’s will.
This acceptance and clarity is the true acceptance of God as our King, a process that begins on Rosh Hashanah and culminates with Succot. It helps us accept and love every Jew as our brother. The integration of this knowledge with the love for Hashem that this knowledge generates is the support that helps us reach our potential and live with inner joy and peace.