Simcha is a rare commodity, one that the entire world searches for desperately. The Torah teaches that there is no simcha as great as the simcha of Sukkos, about which the Torah says, “vehayisa ach sameach.” This Yom Tov, then, can teach us the recipe for true, inner simcha.
Sukkos comes out at a very particular point in the year. A person has finished gathering in the crops from the field, and Hashem’s blessing now stands before him in the produce he has brought home. For this reason, the Torah calls it Chag Ha’Asif.
The entire chag is built around rejoicing before Hashem and giving thanks for the blessing of a successful harvest and for one’s efforts not going to waste. This gratitude flows from the recognition that every blessing comes from Hashem, and our joy in that abundance must be brought back to Him, in His presence, in the place that He chose.
However, before speaking of this celebration, the Torah teaches us something even more fundamental: “You shall rejoice in your chag, you, your son and your daughter, your servant and your maidservant, the Levi, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow within your gates” (Devarim 16:14). Joy needs to be shared. We have to gladden the poor and the needy, whose hearts are burdened. We have to bring them light.
At first glance, we might think that the primary mitzvah is the aliyah laregel, to come before Hashem to give thanks, and to care for the needy is a secondary obligation. But that is not how the pesukim are arranged. The Torah places the pasuk concerning the needy before the pasuk concerning giving thanks. From this we may understand something profound: the purpose of coming before Hashem in gratitude is precisely to open our hearts to others in need. One who truly recognizes that everything he possesses comes from Hashem will naturally share his blessings with those who have less.
Gratitude is meant to refine us, not to inflate us. It’s easy to fall for the illusion of personal achievement, to fill our own hearts with pride, and to be left hardened and unable to care for the weak and needy. But if we know that our success came from Hashem, that won’t happen. We will recognize what we’ve been given, and want to give to others in return.
Sukkos is about giving. It is about providing for those who lack. And in general, this is the true purpose of the Torah, and it lies at the very heart of a person’s attachment to his Creator. For how does one attain dveikus with Hashem? By following in His ways: “just as He is compassionate and gracious, so must you be compassionate and gracious” (Sotah 14a). When a person becomes a giver, reflecting Hashem’s own ways, he is elevated and clings to Him with an overwhelming dveikus. Through giving, we resemble Hashem, and those who resemble one another are bound together in an enduring bond that cannot be severed. Perhaps this explains Chazal’s teaching concerning Avraham Avinu, that hachnasas orchim is greater than receiving the Shechinah (Shabbos 127a), for the entire purpose of everything is that we become like Hashem through our actions.
From here we can understand the true essence of simcha: when we give to others, we come into contact with our own neshamah, and this fills us with boundless simcha. This is the simcha that we can learn from Sukkos. We can now understand why, specifically on Sukkos, at the very moment when a person is blessed with tremendous abundance, when his crops have been gathered and his storehouses are filled, the Torah instructs him to build a sukkah — so that he can bring in guests!
Ordinarily, when a person enters another’s home, he feels a certain discomfort, as the “ownership” of the other stands out. And if he enters in order to ask for assistance, that discomfort only deepens. On Sukkos, however, the homeowner has also left his permanent home. He, too, sits in a simple, temporary dwelling near the street, and the distinction between host and guest begins to fade. The person in need can enter and enjoy what is being offered while feeling more comfortable than if he was sitting in his host’s permanent home.
There is a sense of flow and simplicity in the sukkah, a warmth that comes precisely from the absence of a permanent house and a dominant owner. In the sukkah, everyone is a brother and everyone is a guest, and therefore the distance between giver and recipient naturally grows smaller. The sukkah is the ideal setting for giving to another person in the most pleasant and dignified way possible.
When a family sits outdoors in a sukkah, surrounded by thin walls, the sound of its zemiros carries into the street, reaching those passing nearby and inviting them to enter. In this way, the sukkah itself serves the central purpose of the Yom Tov: hachnasas orchim, welcoming guests and sharing one’s blessings with them. This emerges from the teaching of Chazal that Klal Yisrael merited the mitzvah of sukkah because of the tree beneath which Avraham Avinu welcomed his guests (Bereishis Rabbah 48:10). He did not bring them into his home — perhaps precisely for this reason, so that they could experience his generosity with comfort and without shame. And it is from Avraham Avinu that we learn what it means to be people of chesed with a good heart.
The avodah of the Yamim Nora’im can itself be understood as a form of “receiving the Shechinah.” From there, we rise to a further level: following in Hashem’s ways and welcoming guests on Sukkos. In this way, we connect bein adam laMakom with bein adam lachaveiro and step into the new year filled with spiritual light and kedusha.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 100 – Sukkos.
