After Simchas Torah
Reb Chaim Palagi (Sefer Chaim siman 36) writes, "It's the custom of chassidim to be cautious with their thoughts, speech, and deeds during the twelve days [following Simchas Torah], for they correspond to the twelve months of the year. The righteous stay home during these twelve days, and they review what they studied. This is a great segulah to receive Hashem's siyata dishmaya every day of the year - from the beginning of the year until the end. He will succeed with everything he does, whether in Torah, chassidus, or business."
In the Yom Tov tefillah we say, "והנחילנו ה' אלקינו...מועדי קדשיך Hashem gave us as an inheritance...the holy Yomim Tovim..." An inheritance, the Sfas Emes said, is something that remains forever. It isn't something that leaves after a few days. So too, the holidays should always stay with us, even after the Yom Tov is over.43
There's a tefillah one recites when he gezegens (takes leave) from the succah (on Shemini Atzeres, or in Eretz Yisroel, on Hoshana Rabba). It is printed in many siddurim and machzorim. In this prayer, we say, "It shall be Your will that the malachim associated with the succah and the four minim should come with us into our homes..." We don't leave the mitzvos behind. We take the blessings and spirituality we gained from these mitzvos to our homes, and we keep them for the entire year.
The piyut of Shemini Atzeres (מערבית לשמ"ע) states, "פונים מסוכה לביתם לישב צקון לחשם הקשב To those who leave the succah to return to their homes, listen to their prayers."
The Shinover Rav zt'l asks: Wouldn't it be more appropriate for the piyut to write, "Listen to the tefillos of those who dwelled in a succah"? Why do we pray that Hashem listen to the tefillos of those who leave the succah?
The Shinover Rav zt'l answers that we ask Hashem to listen to the prayers of those who take the lessons and kedushah of the succah with them, and they stay with these lessons the entire year. The Yom Tov is over, people leave the succah, but there are those fortunate ones who remain with the kedushah and with the messages of succah. They bring it with them into their homes the entire year.
The Gemara (Gittin 56) defines a בריה קלה as "an insect that eats but does not produce waste". קלה means to take in and not give out. The Gemara (Avodah Zorah 3) refers to succah as a מצוה קלה a light and easy mitzvah. Reb Avraham Yehoshua Freund of Nasod zy'a hy'd explained that succah is called מצוה קלה because one should take in the light and holiness of the succah and never let it leave him.
The two words בסוכות תשבו are opposites, because סוכות is a temporary dwelling and תשבו means to live permanently. Chazal (Succah 28:) answer that this הקש (juxtaposition of two ideas) teaches us בסוכות to live in the succah in a permanent manner. The Gemara explains, "If he has beautiful vessels or beautiful sheets, he should bring them into the succah. He should eat and drink and spend time in the succah..." He should live in his temporary abode (בסוכות), in a permanent manner (תשבו).
There is a concept called אין הקש למחצה. This means that when two ideas are juxtaposed in the Torah, the drashah should be studied both ways. Therefore, the Satmar Rebbe zt'l says, the words בסוכות תשבו also tell us that we should live in our permanent homes with the uplifted spiritual feelings and thoughts that we had when we sat in the succah. תשבו live in your homes, בסוכות, as you lived in the succah.
It states (Tehillim 60:8) ועמק סוכות אמדד. The word אמדד means measure. Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l says that סוכות אמדד refers to the measurements of a succah, which equal 360 tefachim (as we will explain). 360 is also approximately the number of days in a solar year. Therefore, ועמק סוכות אמדד tells us that the measurements of the succah spread holiness to the entire year. Each day of the year receives sanctity from the mitzvah of succah.
How does a succah have 360 tefachim? Also, why does the succah hint at 360 days and not a full year of 365 days?
Let us first answer the first question. How do we know that a succah is 360 tefachim? We are calculating the height of the tallest succah, which is twenty amos high. Each amah is six tefachim, so 20 x 6 = 120. A succah needs three walls, so the equation is 20 x 6 x 3 = 360 tefachim, indicating that the succah brings kedushah to the 360 days of the year.
Five days are missing from this number because five days a year can exist without the kedushah of succah. These are the five days between Yom Kippur and Succos. On these days, we have atonement for all our aveiros, and therefore, these days don't need to receive the kedushah from the succah.
These ideas are alluded to in the pasuk we mentioned. It states אלקים דיבר בקדשו אעלוזה אחלקה שכם ועמק סוכות אמדד. Rebbe Yissacher Dov of Belz zt'l translates it to mean, אלקים דיבר בקדשו Hashem says, אעלוזה, I rejoice with the five days from Yom Kippur until Succos. אחלקה, and I divide these five days שכ"ם, from the 360 days of the year. (שכ"ם is gematria 360.) They are not calculated like the rest of the year, because on these days we are clean from all aveiros. ועמק סוכות אמדד, I measure the measurements of the succah, and they are 360, indicating that from the succah comes holiness for the entire year.
Rebbe Yissacher Dov's son, Rebbe Aharon of Belz zt'l, added that this is the intention of the pasuk (Tehillim 39:6) הנה טפחות נתתה ימי, the days of the year receive their spirituality from טפחות, the tefachim of the succah.44
44 The Dubno Magid related the following mashal:
A king had an only daughter, whom he loved immensely. When the time came for the king's daughter to get married, a matchmaker told the king, "I have a perfect match for your daughter. He lives far away, but he is a wealthy prince, and his father is a great king. The prince possesses all the qualities one could desire."
The king agreed to the match, and his daughter got married. Not long after the wedding, the groom told his new wife that he very much wanted to go live in his homeland. His wife didn't want to move so far away from her father, but when she saw how much it meant to her husband, she consented.
Upon arriving in the foreign land, she discovered that the matchmaker had deceived them. Her husband was not a king's son. He wasn't wealthy, either. It was all a charade.
To make matters worse, her husband was cruel to her. He didn't conduct himself like a prince who was raised with good manners. He behaved like the crudest, most unrefined people.
One day, they received a letter from the king. The king wrote, "I miss you very much, and since you aren't visiting me, I decided to undertake the long journey and visit you." The king wrote the date he expected to arrive.
The husband knew that he had better make some major changes so that the king, his father-in-law doesn't discover the truth. He hired a crew of workers to clean and decorate his house to make it appear like the home of a prince. He also began treating his wife well, so the king wouldn't suspect anything was the matter between them.
The king arrived and was very happy with what he saw. He felt that he had selected the perfect husband for his daughter.
As the king prepared to return to his palace, his daughter realized that this was her last chance to reveal the truth to her father. At a private moment, with tears streaming down her face, she told her father that her husband was not a king's son and that he treated her cruelly.
The Dubno Magid explains that when Rosh Chodesh Elul arrives, keviyachol, it is like Hashem announces that He will visit us during the days of judgment. Throughout Elul, people are busy cleaning up their deeds, so the King shouldn't realize anything is amiss. The body makes peace with the neshamah, to conceal from the King what is really going on throughout the year.
But when we reach Ne'ilah, and the King is about to leave, the Yid cries out to Hashem and says, "I suffer so much from my body. When You visit, the body acts nicely to me, but now that You're about to leave, I must tell You that the body is cruel to me and tries to draw me to sin..."
The Dubno Magid's mashal and nimshal end here, but some add in one more line:
In the mashal, when the king's daughter complained that her husband isn't nice to her, the king told his daughter, "I have a solution for you. I will live in this city, close to you. With me nearby, your husband will always treat you well."
Also, in the nimshal, Hashem answers, "Build a succah, and I will live together with you. In my presence, the body won't disturb you."
Even after Yom Tov passes, you can take the atmosphere of the yom tov back with you into your homes, and Hashem will remain with you. In Hashem's presence, the body will not prevent you from serving Hashem.