Sukkos

The passuk states, “למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל, in order that your generations shall know that I made Bnei Yisrael dwell in Sukkos.” The Gemara states that there are two possible reasons why we sit in a sukkah. One reason is because it reminds us of the ananei hakavod, the Clouds of Glory which Hashem gave us in the Midbar to protect us. Another reason is that we sat in sukkos, actual huts, in the Midbar, yet we were not harmed. The passuk emphasizes for us to know and understand what we are doing and why we are doing it.

There is a famous question: why is the Yom Tov of Sukkos during Tishrei and not during Nissan when we were taken out of Mitzrayim and given the ananei hakavod?

The Gra gives the following answer: The ananei hakavod, which were given to Bnei Yisrael by yetzias Mitzrayim, were taken away when they made the eigel hazahav. The ananim were not returned until after Bnei Yisrael started building the Mishkan. On the tenth of Tishrei, Yom Kippur, Moshe came down from Har Sinai and Bnei Yisrael were forgiven for the chait ha’eigel. On the eleventh, Moshe commanded the bringing of the materials of the Mishkan which Bnei Yisrael brought for two days, the twelfth and thirteenth. The fourteenth was Shabbos (as heard from Rav Brevda) or on that day the chacham lev took the gold from Moshe. On the fifteenth they started building the Mishkan, and then the ananim returned.  For this reason, Sukkos is on the fifteenth of Tishrei. This hints that Sukkos is not only one of the shalosh regalim, but it is also connected to Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur; for the kapparah gemurah, when the ananim were returned, was on Sukkos!

The Gemara writes that the words, “חג הסוכות שבעת ימים לה’, Chag of Sukkos, seven days for Hashem” teach that just as the shem shamayim – kedusha, rests on the chagiga, so too it rests on the sukkah. The gematria of סוכה is 91, equaling the two Sheimos of Hashem; the Shem Adnus (which equals 65) plus the Shem Havaya (which equals 26). This indicates that the shem Hashem – hinting at the Shechina literally rests on our Sukkah! One must be extra careful with how he acts inside the Sukkah since the Shechina rests there.

May we each merit a total selicha and kapparah and enable ourselves to attain this special closeness with Hashem’s Shechina!