Once again we find ourselves standing at the entrance way to the season of Sukkos – The feast of tabernacles. Have we ever taken the occasion to consider the meaning of a mitzvah – proclamation – that we literally step into and dwell within  for seven full days?

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

Just as we can observe dramatic changes within the creation, such as the transition of the relatively graceless dawdling caterpillar into a gracefully airborne butterfly, so also we at times observe quite dramatic changes in the course of our lives. Examples of these milestones our when we learned how to walk and talk, graduated, became engaged, began a new job or moved. However, when it comes to spiritual growth, unless we pay close attention to the subtle changes inside of ourselves, we can pass through the various stages of development and transformation without being fully aware of them.

The sukkah can serve as our spiritual cocoon

In order for us to begin dwelling in sukkah -dwelling for holiness and joy – consciousness we need to remove any “roofs” of perceptual limitation and replace them with the supernal lattice –s’chach -our  spirtutal covering –which allows us to widen our spiritual horizons. By understanding the connection between the halachas – proper configuration – of the s’chach and ourselves , we can begin to peer through the gaps and gaze into the supernal realms of our lives.

The Sukkah can be seen as a form of concertized prayer which contains all the components necessary for our spiritual metamorphosis. The mitzvah of sukkah is one of those divinely constructed conduits that enables us to make that smooth transition to the next level of our clossness with our Creator – Hashem. This transformation is made available to us through the halachas of the sukkah.

The sukkah in a metaphysical sense is like a human being with a body and a soul, as it is composed of both earthly and heavenly components.  This duality is reflected in the s’chach  which originated from a natural substance that was attached to the ground and is now uprooted from its soil ( even as Avraham Aveinu uprooted himself from his  cultural surroundings). The s’chack is then placed on high and becomes a  supernal quintessential covering that offers us Divine protection and Heavenly insights. The mitzvah of sukkah aids us to detach from any materialistic excesses as well as guides us through the Uzpizin to nourish from the eternal values of the Torah as will been explained.

How many of us have thought about the following dichotomy? We all have seen how parents begin prodding their toddlers to walk and talk as rapidly as they are able, yet as soon as these same children get a little bigger their parents and educators are constantly telling and teaching these children, often in futility, to sit down and be quite. For the children this mixed message might be quiet confusing but there lies within this moshal a profound message for all of us.

Indeed, in the first phases of life, our task is to learn how to walk and talk and use all of our efforts to “get up” on our own two feet and succeed in the world, however, if a person does not learn how to “sit down” introspectively and become “quietly” contemplative they will find themselves spending their entire adulthood trying to conquer the world instead submitting to their own inner spiritual calling. Perhaps one of the many invaluable lessons within the mitzvah of (leishev) to sit in sukkah is to teach us how to “sit down” in contemplation with our neshomos under the guidance of each days Ushpizin – celebrations – the supernal sublime guests that grace our sukkah..

Just as the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur awakens within us our awe of the Creator – Hashem, the seven days of Sukkas has the power to draw  from within us   expressions of ahavas – love and closness with our Creator – Hashem.

To aid us in this transition Chazal – our sages – teach that on each of the seven days of Sukkos one of our forefathers is invited to join us in the sukkah. They are our honored guests who educate us in perceiving our true purpose and potential that we can strive to attain throughout the year when we return back into our homes. This transition is best facilitated by opening our hearts and minds to the divine attributes that the seven Uspizin symbolize as the infra-structure of our spiritual stature.

Under the influence of our forefather Avraham Avinu – our patriarch –  we can reveal and refine the trait of – chesed – loving kindness –  for the sake of Heaven.  Under the guidance of our forefather Yitzchak Avinu we are aided in developing the attribute of discipline so that our chesed – Divine beneficence – can be constructively channeled.  Under the influence of Yaakov Avinu we are shown how to harmonize these seemingly disparate attributes of chesed and gavurah – spiritual strengths.

Moshe Rabbeinu – our guide and teacher – awakens the netzach Israel within us that links us with the eternal message of the Torah. Under the tutelage of Aaron HaKohan we learn to offer ourselves for service to the Creator thereby engendering greater peace in  the world.

Yosef HaTzadik inspires us in our strivings towards righteousness through acts of purity. Finally the attribute of malchus, which is expressed through the kingdom of David HaMelech, is the power within us to orchestrate and combine all of these attributes  so as to harmonize our potential to reveal the will of the Creator in this world. This means that each day of Succos we each have been blessed with our own private supernal “tutors” who join us while we are enveloped within the mitzvah thereby aiding us to elicit from deep within us the seven divine attributes.

Through following this spiritual prescription may we see to take the inner message of the sukkah back into our homes the whole year, thereby meriting to dance (stand up) and sing (speak) words of praise and gratefulness for each moment throughout our lives thereby meriting to soon dwell in the long awaited Sukkos David.

These puzzling and profound statements warrant further attention but before we look into the spiritual molecular structure of this “dust,” we will add one more dimension and that is the element of time. Our holy Zohar (Vayikra 100b) implies that our tikun of that battle takes place on the evening of Yom Kippur. It is also well known in our holy Sarfim that in every interaction there are always three components of: person (nefesh), place (makom) and time (zman).   Yaakov Aveinu and Eisav represent the two diametrically opposed aspects of nefesh – moral extremes of good and bad.  The gid hanasheh corresponds to mokom – place since it is the mechanism which allows us to position ourselves in the physical and moral planes. [In the Tikuni Zohar it is written that the gid hanasha corresponds to media of tzadik which corresponds to the attribute of yesod – (tikun 18 duf 32b)]. The third component is Yom Kippur which is separate and apart from the rest of the calendar year [that Rashi brings from one pashot in the Tana devay Eliahu – Raba – perek alef on Tehillim (139 pusack 16) indicating that Yom Kippur is a uniquely sanctified day. [also see the Sefer Likutey Moharan – simon 179].                 One of the most famous confrontations in history has an interesting “footnote”.  We are informed by the Midrash that the battle between the angel of Eisav and Yaakov was so intense that the “dust” it raised reached the Kisei Ha-Kavod., and then we are told wondrously that all the successes of Yaakov Avinu, in business ventures and in battle (challenge) as well as the success of all of his descendants throughout the ages comes in the merit of this “dust of contention”. (Shir Hashirim Raba: 3:6:2)

To the above we could ask a few obvious questions. Are all bracas for parnosa and success in overcoming challenges pre-ordained “gifts” than we do nothing to deserve them? Also what is the significance that this “soul battle” took place specifically on evening of Yom Kippur? Also what is the deeper meaning of this “dust” that guarantees these blessings of parnoasa and success throughout the generations?

We begin our analysis with the understanding that every human being is a composite of soul and body, intellect and emotions, the spiritual and the physical. When we make choices in our everyday activities – those choices can either align us with Hashem’s purpose for us or send us floundering in the opposite direction. It is through seeing and living life through “soul perspective”, which is “cosmic view” of the world, that allows us to traverse safely the occasional bumpy “terrain” of life’s challenges.

As is well known, Esau, who came with four hundred men to confront Ya’akov, symbolizes the yetzer hora’s efforts to try to upset this synergistic balance. That night Yaakov returned over the Yabuk to collect – pachim ketanim – small vessels and had a dramatic encounter with the angel of Esau. Near the end of the battle, Yaakov’s gid hanasheh, the cord/sinew that coordinates balance and movement and allows us to effect a change in physical position, was dislocated. Perhaps we can say that the gid hanasha not only represents the pivotal point for movement but also symbolizes the moral direction we choose.

Interestingly, the exact size army that Esau came with is the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word for straw (KaSh) spelled  – Kuf Shin. The nature of straw is that each strand itself is easily broken, but when many strands of straw are bound together they become strong and resilient. So to in life, each individual small incident, like a piece of straw, can be seen as relatively insignificant and be easily torn (discarded), however if one allows themselves to “bundle up issues” until the some total of them looks and feels as strong as the army of Esav then even these minor but now bundled confrontations within daily life can seen and felt as overwhelming.

From this insight perhaps we can now add an additional reason why our Sages have told us not to bundle mitzvos together to teach us that also individual challenges throughout our daily lives should also never be bundled together, but each incident should be dealt with appropriately unto itself and the “emotional chaff” immediately discarded. Thus if someone at various times does something to annoy us, we should deal with each challenge with a fresh open-minded objective solution oriented perspective and not allow any bundling of past aggravations and annoyances into the picture. Another example of bundling can be for example multiple annoying issues besiege a person like an emergency arises to take someone to the hospital but the car in front is moving too slowly, or the children start fighting in the back seat, or the secretary at the registration desk is rude, or the waiting time to be seen seems forever. The strategy in order to maintain one’s emotional equilibrium and equanimity is to always keep separate each contentious issue (piece of kash) and thereby much more easily diffuse the intensity of that days tests of character.

The conflict between Yaakov and Eisav symbolizes the quintessential battle between selflessness and selfishness. The Zohar in Parshas Toldos informs us that everything that Yaakov Avinu did was for the sake of Heaven (l’Sham Shamayim). The Midrash tells us that Yaakov is the symbol of the Yetzer Tov while Esau corresponds to the Yetzer Hora. At the end of the titanic struggle that lasted until the break of dawn, Yaakov Avinu was able to triumphant over the angel of Esau. Our forefather Yaakov, like his predecessors Avraham and Yitzchak, was able to successfully realign his spiritual genetic propensities thus enabling us to be the perpetual beneficiaries of this treasury of moral refinement.

The avoda of Erev Yom Kippur also plays an important part in this transformation because this day is the “entranceway” that lies between the material and the spiritual realms. On Erev Yom Kippur we are asked to live in seemingly disparate realms. We spend the day examining our actions and our motives in an effort to do sincere teshuvah and immerse in the waters of purification (the holy mikva) and yet are commanded to eat more than usual throughout the day with culminating with a full seuda. By fulling this mitzvah of eating well the Sages have told us that is it thereby considered as if we had fasted two days. This perhaps can be understood to mean that Erev Yom Kippur through, ironically, eating becomes sanctified like fasting on Yom Kippur itself. That being said we can now understand better that what our Sages have told us to be exceedingly careful each Erev Shabbos and Erev Yom Tov because naturally the obligations of preparation and emotional height is far greater than the rest of the year. So also we can therefore surmise is Erev Yom Kippur which is referred to as Shabbos Shabboston. Therefore true success in making ourselves a vessel to receive holiness and blessings that come on the holidays is to not buddle issues which could lead to confrontations and instead stand up to each challenge and deal with it only at its core root as Yaakov Avinu. Yaakov instead of battling four hundred united (bundled) warriers he battled with the ONE root of their existence (the angel of Esav) and thereby overcame (annulled) the potential confrontation of all of them.  By radiating an aura of respect and concern for others, regardless of which incidents arise, then we can be assured to have made ourselves a fitting vessel (cle) to receive the blessings that Yaacov merited for parnosa and success.

On Yom Kippur we are compared to malakim because we are not limited to the realm of this mundane world. It is a time and opportunity to reach new levels of closeness to G-d through the power of prayer. The eve of Yom Kippur can bring with it a shift in consciousness from the earthly to the spiritual realm, with the “break of dawn” perhaps symbolizing the new light of day which has the power to shine its beneficence throughout all the rest of the year.

May we all merit to transform each challenging situation from the “dust of potential confrontation” into the “gold dust of actualized conciliation” thereby meriting to bring closer the final redemption (geula) – may it be soon in our days.

B.S.D.

Since our Sages tells us that when the month of Av enters we lessen our (simcha) happiness and when the month of Adar enters we increase our simcha, it behooves us to try to find some underlying thread of connectedness between these two antithetically appearing periods of time whose pinnacle of expression are manifest on the days of Tisha b’Av and Purim respectively.

On Tisha b’Av we replace our cheerful smiles and laughter of Purim with tears and heartfelt sighs.

On Tisha b’Av we exchange our flamboyant Purim costumes and demeanor with unadorned garments and mournful introspection.

On Tisha b’Av we defer from the joyous festive eating and drinking of Purim by replacing them withdrawal from corporeal pleasures.

On Tisha b-Av we refrain from joyously sharing with all and bestowing gifts on friends as we do on Purim, while instead sit humbly in an introspective state of mourning.

O’Tisha b-Av please reveal to us how through your five restrictions of this day can we bring ourselves five steps closer to the coming of the final redemption?

(Tisha b’Av speaking to us)

1)    On this, our day of mourning, by taking off your leather shoes, allows us to “refit” our souls.

2)    On this, our day of mourning, by refraining from leisurely walks and other corporeal pleasures, allows us to increase our “strides” towards holiness.

3) On this, our day of mourning, by not washing and anointing externally, instead merit to “cleanse” and “purify” ourselves internally.

4) On this, our day of mourning, instead of physically eating and drinking, we become “nourished” with spiritual nourishment for our souls.

5) On this, our day of mourning, by abstaining from learning, we learn instead that life has no deep meaning without the teachings of the Torah.

O’Tisha b’Av, may the Mashiach who is waiting at our “doorstep”, help us to open the “doors” of our hearts, thereby for ever transforming past times of mourning into future times of joy.

La-shana haba bi-Jerusalem