And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period. (Vayikra 23:40)

 

My son, I already wrote to you several times about the preceding matter, that a person is affected by his habitual behavior, and his ideas and all his thoughts are led by his deeds, be they good or evil. And so the Omnipresent wanted to favor His chosen people Israel and gave them many commandments so that their souls would constantly be positively influenced by them. One of the commandments we were given in order to focus our thoughts on His service in purity is that of tefillin, for it is placed near those parts of the human body which are known to house the mind; these are the heart and the brain. By constantly performing this act, all of one's thoughts are directed towards the good, and one will remember and be careful constantly, all day long, to guide one's actions honestly and justly. Similarly, the commandment of the lulav and the three other species have this rationale: the festival days are days of great joy for Israel, for it is the season when the crops and the fruits of the trees are harvested and brought home, and then people are very joyful, and therefore it is called Hag Ha'asif - the harvest festival - and God commanded His people to make a festival before Him in that season, to grant them merit when the joy is principally in His honor. And since joy attracts the material [aspect of life] and draws the fear of God out of it in that season, God commanded us to take things in our hands to remind us that all our joy is for His sake. He wanted this reminder to be something that brings joy, just as the season is a season of joy, (for all His utterances are just) and it is known that these four species naturally bring joy to those who see them. These four species also resemble the dearest parts of man's body. The etrog is like the heart, which is the seat of the intellect; it tells us that one should worship God with one's intellect. The lulav is like the spine, which is the main part of man, to tell us that one should straighten one's body to His service, may He be blessed. The hadas is like the eyes, to tell us that one should not go astray after one's eyes on the day of one's joy. The arava is like lips, with which every person completes all his deeds with speech, to tell us that one should restrain one's mouth and direct one's words, and fear the Lord even during the season of joy.

(Sefer HaHinukh 224)

 

From a Real Place and an Imaginary Place

Moshe Meir

The Torah instructs us to dwell in a sukka on the festival which takes place on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. What is a sukka? The Torah does not say. Apparently, it was a term known to speakers of the language: a sukka is the structure which people call a "sukka." Everyone knows what a sukka is, and therefore everyone knows what kind of structure they must dwell in during the festival.

When the term "sukka" reached the Sages linguistic laboratory, it underwent analysis and reconstruction:

A sukka taller than twenty cubits is invalid; R. Yehuda accepts it. And one that does not reach a height of [at least] ten handbreadths, or does not have [at least] three walls, or which lets in more sunlight than it gives shade, is invalid. (Sukka 1;1)

As usual, the Mishnah uses cases to formulate a definition. The student must derive the concepts from the cases. Why is a sukka taller than twenty cubits invalid? The Talmud presents a series of explanations. According to the plain meaning of the Mishnah, a tall sukka constitutes a permanent rather than a temporary dwelling, and the sukka must be a temporary structure.

Why is a sukka less than ten handbreadths tall invalid? Why is it invalid if it has less than three walls? Why is it invalid if it lets in more sunlight than shade? One gets the impression that in all of these cases the structure is so impermanent that it does not even count as a structure. That is to say, the analysis of the concept "sukka" leads the Sages to decide that it is composed of two opposing concepts: "home" [bayit] and "impermanent" [ara'i]. Some laws derive from the concept "home" and the necessary conditions for its application; others derive from the concept "impermanent" and from the necessary conditions of its application.

This is only the beginning of the intellectual drama surrounding the term "sukka." Now the Mishnah - and in its wake, the Talmud - sets sail for abstract and fascinating regions of thought. Partially built walls are completed by the powers of the imagination in accordance with the dictum, "the partitions are deemed to be continued upward" [gud asik mehitzata]. This refers to the continuation of the walls in thought and imagination, making them - in the abstract rather than the real - complete. Parts of walls become whole walls through the principle of lavud ["compact"]. Through the power of the imagination, four boards become a wall, and walls grow upwards, taking over areas of invalid skhakh, transforming them into valid walls and leaving the valid areas to serve as valid skhakh. Thus develops the mixture of "home" and "impermanent" - the final balanced product of this process combines the real with complementary imagination.

What is going on here? What is the point of this bizarre trek through changing shapes and forms, creating abstract sukkot that rise beyond the tangible and flawed structures?

The sukka is an enclosed space. Space, area, place - these are all different names for a single basic phenomenon characterizing existence. The philosopher Kant taught us that space is a category, that is to say, it does not belong to that which exists but rather to our mind which organizes the existents. Our experiential "eyeglasses" cannot perceive existents without space. "Everything has its place."

The word Hamakom ["the Place"] is used to refer to God in religious language but it is also a fundamental element in the picture presented by the Jewish sources. In contrast with other myths, the Torah does not grant us the privilege of being native to our place. Abram was born outside the place to which he went. We will always feel like strangers in our land because our roots are not here but rather there. And he saw the place from afar is said of him when he set forth to the foundational Akeda, and we too always see our place from afar. We go to it, reach it, but never completely. There is always a place beyond to which we must continue to travel.

The Sages sensitively felt that the sukka offers an opportunity to deal with the concept of space. They turn the building of the sukka into the shaping of space. They felt that this space involves a bizarre combination of opposites - "home" and "impermanent" - and they built their world of combinations around it. This world builds a space that is only partially tangible and which is completed by creative rational imagination.

What attitude towards life is expressed here? Is it narrowly related to the notion of sukka, or does it have wider application? Perhaps here they felt something about place more generally? Perhaps they felt that the place we seek for ourselves will always be composed of some tangible reality plus creative complementary imagination? Perhaps this is the continuation of the sources which established that our place is the both tangible place to which we are going as well as an imaginary place to which we are always going but which we will never reach.

The question of place is critical for the fate of the Jewish People. Zionism tipped the course of history, returning the people to the land from which it was exiled. Religious Zionism joined it, sure that this return is a voice calling out to us from our Jewish sources. The journey did not end with this return, rather it began with it. Since Zionism's earliest days we continue to be held in the grip of the question of place and are unsure how to answer it. More than sixty years have passed since the founding of our state, and we have yet to draw our place's borders. The disagreement between left and right concerns the question of place. Both sides - discounting a minority - recognize the gap between the place delineated for us by the sources - "the promised borders" - and the actual place that we can possess. Our place is like a sukka; it is partially real and partially completed through imagination and the sources. The Sages opened up a way for us to understand that the place we are building for ourselves will always be formed of these two elements - reality and creative imagination.

Perhaps it is not accidental that tradition created the phrase sukkat shalom. The place which brings tranquility to us - and perhaps to our neighbors as well - will always be a place composed of reality and of dreams. We will continue to argue about the relative proportions of those elements, but perhaps we will reach agreement concerning the basic recipe, the recipe of peace.

 

The seventy Bulls of the Festival for the Seventy Nations of the World

Just as this dove atones for sins, so does Israel atone for the nations, for all those seventy bulls which are sacrificed on the festival are on behalf of the seventy nations, so that the world not be bereft of them, as is written, They answer my love with accusation but I am all prayer (Psalms 109).

(Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1).

 

Seventy bulls. The bulls of the festival total 70, except for that of the eighth [day], given on behalf of the seventy nations, to atone for them so that rain will fall throughout the world, for on Sukkoth the world is judged for water.

(Rashi, Sukka 35b)

 

R. Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of R. Levi: Great is shalom, for all blessings conclude with peace. In the Kriyat Shema: "Who spreads the sukkah of shalom...," in the [Amidah] prayer: "Who creates shalom...," in the priestly benediction: "And give you shalom." This is true for benedictions, from where do we know that this is true regarding sacrifices? The Torah teaches: This is the Instruction concerning the offering-up... and concerning the slaughter-offering of shalom. Thus we have sources for this world, from where do learn about the next world? The Torah teaches, I will extend to her shalom like a stream. Our Sages taught: Great is peace, for when the Anointed King will arrive, he will begin with peace, as is written, How welcome on the mountain are the footsteps of the herald announcing shalom.

(Yalkut Shimoni, Bamidbar 6:711)

 

Clouds of Glory Point to Human Dependence on God and Encourage Humility

For a seven day period you shall live in sukkot - in parallel to the clouds of glory.

Every resident among the Israelites shall live in sukkot - the stranger does not have to be told this because he has no other home, but the residents and those settled in Israel must dwell in sukkot, even if they own houses and large palaces. This festival is set for the time that grain and grapes are harvested lest their hearts become haughty over their houses that are full of all good things, and they say our hands produced all of this wealth. Dwelling in the sukka will bring them to praise and thank He who gave them hereditary lands and houses full of all good things.

(Hizkuni Vayikra 23:42)

 

Kohellet and Sukkot 

It appears to me that a connection between the custom of reading Kohellet on Sukkoth is to be found in the words of R. Yonatan in Yalkut Kohellet: "R. Yonatan said, first the Song of Songs was composed, followed by Proverbs, and then Kohellet. R. Yonatan derived this from the way of the world: when young he sings songs; when mature, he recites parables; when old, he speaks of vanities..."

(Yalkut Shimoni, Kohellet, 1:965)

 

The three pilgrimage festivals signify this cycle in the seasons of the year: In spring-which parallels youth-on Pesach we read the Song of Songs (the time of singing has come); in the season of harvest and the ripening of first fruits, we read the Scroll of Ruth, which makes mention of the wheat harvest; and in the [produce] gathering, we read Kohellet, which makes reference to man's last days, ending with The sum of the matter.

(Mordecai Zer-Kavod, from his preface to his commentary on Kohellet in "Daat Mikra")

 

Good for the Just - Justice is the Good 

For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous and for the wicked, for the good and the pure, and for the impure, for him who sacrifices, and for him who does not... and for him who swears and for him who shuns oaths" (Kohellet 8:2) - "It will not be well with the wicked and-like a shadow-he will not live long, because he does not revere God.

(Kohellet 8:13)

 

The Righteous-Wicked issue is repeated in Kohellet. The author declares that one fate lies in store for both, who are in equal degree exposed to life's changes and nature's scourges. But along with this we read; For I am aware that it will be well with those who revere God since they revere Him; and it will not be well with the wicked.

The obvious question is, "good" in what sense?

Regarding the wicked it does not say that that he will be punished; punishment is not mentioned at all, for Kohellet has already declared that there is One fate for the righteous and for the wicked. He is talking about denial of good from the wicked. This again teaches us that the good which is the portion of those who revere God, will be denied the wicked who will remain with his foolishness/wickedness.

(Y. Leibowitz: Sihot al Haggei Yisrael Umo'adav, pg. 206)

 

What is Good for Man?

The antithesis between the constantly repeated question - what is good for man? (and nothing is discovered which actually is good for man) - and the final verse, which does not say what is good for man but rather what is the totality of man - that is to say, what is the significance of human existence in a world in which nothing is good for man? - this antithesis proves that the final verse is not an addendum tacked on by a God-fearing Jew who had been shocked by the skepticism and heresy found in the author's words. It is rather quite the opposite: that verse expresses the author's own main intention. Kohelet does not say fear God and observe His commandments, for that is good for man. Rather, he says in a demonstrative and blatant fashion: for that is the totality of man. Here faith and the service of God are seen as independent values, not as means for the gain of benefit.

(From Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz z"l's He'arot le'Parashiyot Ha'Shavu'a pg. 137.)

 

What is occurring occurred long since, and what is to occur occurred long since; and God seek the pursued.

(Kohelet 3:15)

 

In connection with that which is written, and God seeks the pursued -

Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Yosef: In the future, God will exact the blood of the pursued from their pursuers:

A righteous man pursues a righteous man - and God seeks the pursued,

A wicked man pursues a wicked man, or a wicked man pursues a righteous man - and God seeks the pursued.

You are found implying: Even if a righteous man pursues a wicked man, in any case: and God seeks the pursued.

Know that it is such, for Abel was pursued by Cain, and therefore the Lord paid heed to Abel and his offering, but to Cain and his offering He paid no heed (Bereishit 4:4-5). Noah was pursued by [the people of] his generation, and it is written that Noah found favor with the Lord (4:8). Abraham was pursued by Nimrod, and it is written, You are the Lord God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Nehemiah 9:7). Isaac was pursued by the Philistines, and it is written, and they said, "We have plainly seen that the Lord has been with you, and we thought: Let there be a sworn treaty between our two parties, between you and us (Bereishit 26:28). Jacob was pursued by Esau, and it is written, for the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel, as His treasured possession (Psalms 135:4). Joseph was pursued by his brother, and it is written, the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he stayed in the house of his Egyptian master (Bereishit 39:2). Moses was pursued by Pharaoh, and it is written, had not Moses His chosen one confronted Him in the breach to avert His destructive wrath (Psalms 106:23). Israel is pursued by idolaters, and it is written, the Lord chose you to be His treasured people (Devarim 14:2). Rabbi Yehudah ben Simon says in the name of Rabbi Nehorai: The ox is chased by the lion, the lamb by the wolf, the goat by the leopard - God said: Bring only the pursued before Me as offerings - the ox, or the lamb, or the goat.

 (Tanhuma Emor, 9)

 

 

 

 

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