Jewish Life Digital Edition September 2015 | Page 76

SUKKOT 5776
The many mitzvos which follow closely on the heels of Yom Kippur
are also an example of how Hashem tailors His mitzvos out of His
love for us. Yom Kippur amounts to a fresh slate; Hashem has wiped
our record clean and allows us to start a new reckoning. So what are
we meant to do with this fresh start? As soon as we’ve finished the
meal that serves to break our fast, the custom is to begin work on
constructing the sukkah. From Yom Kippur through Sukkos, the entire Jewish people are meant to busy themselves doing mitzvos:
building the sukkah and obtaining the arbah minim, the four species
– the esrog, lulav, hadassim and aravos, otherwise known as the citron, date palm branch, myrtle branches and willow branches.

Of all of our holidays, Sukkos is very special. It’s quite literally
known as z’man simchaseinu, the time of our rejoicing! So what’s
so special about this time of year? Historically, it’s connected to
Hashem forgiving us and beginning our relationship anew. Each
date in the Hebrew calendar is profoundly connected to that same
date in the past, regardless of the year, like a channel running
through time flowing with a singular spiritual energy. It’s our job
to tap into each of these time periods and make the most of it by
doing the particular avodah (service) that is unique to it.
It was on 15 Tishrei, the day on which Sukkos begins, that the
construction of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) began in the Midbar

(wilderness). But, perhaps even more than that, it was the day on
which the ananei hakavod, the clouds of glory which surrounded
and protected the Jewish people and which we actually commemorate with our sukkahs, returned to the Jewish people after having
been withdrawn following our sin with the golden calf, for which
we were forgiven on the very first Yom Kippur.9 Thereafter, the
clouds of glory remained with the Jewish people throughout the
rest of their 40 years in the wilderness. And we see that the clouds
of glory didn’t just return immediately following that first Yom
Kippur, but waited until we began the construction of the Mishkan (the Tabernacle), that is, until we had embarked on new mitzvos, mitzvos which would enable Hashem to dwell among us.
Sukkos also falls out at the time of year when crops are gathered; in fact, one of the names of Sukkos is “Chag Ha’Asif”, the
harvest festival. When a person reaps the fruits of his labour, he
experiences tremendous joy. And similar to the general mitzvah of
rejoicing on the festivals, G-d here gives us an opportunity not
only to rejoice, but to do so in a way by which we can earn merit.
Think about it for a moment: when did the Jewish people dwell
in sukkahs for the very first time? When we left Mitzrayim
(Egypt). And in what month did we go out from Egypt? Tishrei?
Nope! Nissan. And Tishrei is positively as far from Nissan as you
can get – check the calendar. In other words, G-d commanded that
we make a festival at this time when we’re experiencing happiness
in our lives, so we could take this natural reaction and channel it
into our service of Him, thereby earning merit for something that
we would naturally be doing anyway. And this is part and parcel of
how Hashem designed the mitzvos to work: to harness our existing desires and emotions and to enable us to choose to channel
those desires and emotions towards His service.

CHANNELLING OUR NATURAL INCLINATIONS TO
SERVE HASHEM

This concept is actually expressed in the well-known Mishnah10
that we often say at the end of a shiur in order that a congregant
can say Kaddish: “Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya said: Hashem
wanted to give merit to Israel, therefore he [made] abundant for
them Torah and mitzvos, as it’s said: ‘Hashem desired for the sake
of [Israel’s] righteousness that the Torah be made great and glorious.’” What does it mean that Hashem wanted to reward us, so He
made His Torah and mitzvos abundant, ie, larger as opposed to

PHOTOGRAPH: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

TIMING IS EVERYTHING