Bring Succos Home
There's a tefillah one recites when he gezegens (takes leave) from the succah (on Shemini Atzeres, or in Eretz Yisroel, on Hoshana Rabba), and 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 mitzvos behind. We take the blessings and spirituality we gained from these mitzvos and extend them to the entire year.
The piyut of Shemini Atzeres (ע"לשמ מערבית) states, הקשב לחשם צקון לישב לביתם מסוכה פונים, "For those who leave the succah [on Shemini Atzeres] 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 should 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, even when they return to their homes.
Chazal (Succah 28:) note that the words בסוכות תשבו are contradictory because סוכות is a temporary dwelling and תשבו means to live permanently. Chazal answer that this הקש (juxtaposition of two ideas) teaches us to live in the succah in a permanent manner. The Gemara explains, "If he has beautiful vessels or sheets, he should bring them to the succah. He should eat and drink and spend time in the succah..." He should live in his temporary abode in a permanent manner.
Based on the concept of למחצה הקש אין, when two ideas are juxtaposed in the Torah, the drashah goes both ways, the Satmar Rebbe zt'l taught that we should also live in our homes, as we lived in the succah. Many attained holy and uplifting thoughts when they performed the mitzvah of succah. They should live in their permanent homes as they lived in the succah.
The Gemara (Gittin 56) defines a קלה בריה 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 קלה מצוה, a light and easy mitzvah. Reb Avraham Yehoshua Freund of Nasod zy'a hy'd explained that succah is called קלה מצוה because one should take in the light and holiness of the succah and never let it leave him.
It states (Tehillim 60:8) אמדד סוכות ועמק. Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l says that אמדד סוכות refers to the measurements of a succah. The measurements equal 360 tefachim (as we will explain), and 360 is approximately the number of days in a solar year. אמדד סוכות ועמק implies 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 to 360 days and not to 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 size of the tallest succah, which is twenty amos high. Each amah is six tefachim, and 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 from 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 אעלוזה בקדשו דיבר אלקים אמדד סוכות ועמק שכם אחלקה. Rebbe Yissachar Dov of Belz zt'l translates it to mean, אלקים בקדשו דיבר, Hashem says, 'ה אעלוז, I rejoice with the five days from Yom Kippur until succos. 'ה אחלק, and I divide these five days ם"שכ, from the 360 days of the year. They are not calculated like the rest of the year, because on these days we are clean from all aveiros. אמדד סוכות עמק, I measure the measurements of the succah, and they are 360, indicating that from the succah comes holiness for the entire year.
Rebbe Yissachar Dov's son, Rebbe Aharon of Belz zt'l, added that this is the intention of the pasuk (Tehillim 39:6), ימי נתתה טפחות הנה, the days of the year receive their spirituality from טפחות, the tefachim of the succah.
