Ask the Rabbi: The Mitzvah of Succah. By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried
![Ask the Rabbi: The Mitzvah of Succah. By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried](https://www.dojlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/group-634020335137d08c4caab139-1024x1024.png)
Ask the Rabbi: The Mitzvah of Succah. By Rabbi Yerachmiel D. Fried
Dear Rabbi Fried,
Could you please explain what is accomplished by sitting and eating in a succah. We
understand it is a mitzvah to do so and the kids love it, but, truth be told, it is sometimes quite a
schlep, both building it, taking the food in and out, and sitting in the sometimes not ideal
weather. Could you provide some insight which would perhaps add some meaning?
Bart & Kimberly W.
Dear Bart and Kimberly,
The holiday of Succos, some refer to it as Sukkot, which begins this Monday night, Oct.
10th, is referred to as “our time of joy”. Although there is a mitzvah of joy on every holiday, as
the Torah says “vesamachta bechagecha”; “be joyous on Succos”. Succos has something unique
about it as a time of joy which transcends that of any other time in the Jewish year.
Let’s consider for a moment what brings us happiness. Most people would say that they
feel happy and comfortable in their homes, where they have their nice furniture, creature
comforts and familiar surroundings. If that was truly the source of joy, that joy is quite
vulnerable and transient. What if one suddenly lost their home in a hurricane? What if someone
lost their job and had to foreclose on their home? As tragic and unsettling as that would be,
Jewishly one would still need to find a way to be joyous in life. In order to do so, we must find a
deeper source of joy than our physical surroundings. We have been “wandering Jews” for
thousands of years, uprooted from homes and communities with barely the clothes on our backs,
but have somehow never lost our joy for life.
The true source of Jewish joy is our timeless connection to a higher Essence. Our
connection to the Almighty has no relation to time and place. We had a special connection in
Israel with the holy Temple, but even when we lost that we retained our connection through
Torah and mitzvos. For millennia Jews lived an interconnected, yet separate, existence with our
Diaspora neighbors. The “place” we live in is our Jewish world, with its own language, customs,
and loving relationship to G-d.
We bring that relationship alive on Succos. On Rosh Hashanah we “coronated” the King
and entered His palace. On Yom Kippur we purify ourselves, transcending food and drink and
forge a new, even deeper connection. This bond is not of a transient nature; it becomes part of
our very existence. Succos is the time we celebrate that eternal bond. By the very nature of the
celebration, it’s not sufficient to simply “do something”; we need to “live” that bond.
Hence the mitzvah of Succos is to build a spiritual place to live, to live our lives outside
of our usual physical surroundings. In that way we can focus on our real, grounded existence, our
loving connection to G-d. This brings us to a unique state of joy, as we know that this is the one
thing that no foreclosure or flood can ever take away from us. We are that connection!
After solidifying that relationship with joy for an entire week we can then transition it
back to our regular homes and lives. Although we return to our familiar places after Succos,
somehow something seems different. What’s changed is that it’s not all about the house anymore
– we’ve learned that our joy is linked to something much larger and higher. We can then use our
homes and everything in them as vehicles to take us even higher. This cycle spirals us upwards
higher and higher every year!
A very joyous Succos holiday to you and all the readers!
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