Exalted Days: Our Eternal Bond with Hashem Peeks Through the Schach

The Sefarim HaKedoshim tell us that we enter the succah following our cleansing and purification on the exalted day of Yom Kippur, because, as we embark on searching for new ways to serve the Ribbono shel Olam, we enter the protective shade of the Shechinah... stepping into the home of the Ribbono shel Olam, as it were.

Over the preceding days—in the raging Tashlich waters, and in the avodah of casting away the Azazel— we have left behind our old ways. We have departed Yom Kippur absent the heavy loads that we had been lugging around all year—and now we're in search of a “new place to reside."

When we ask this person where he lives, he will say, "I already know where I don't live... I have abandoned my habits and proclivities of old—and I'm still in the midst of constructing a new abode where I can reside in my new life.” It is for this reason that we were given a few days before Succos—so we can think about this, and prepare a new place, with a new way of life, as we set out on a new journey of avodas Hashem.

Peeking Through the Sechach

The pasuk describes the event of the ברית בין הבתרים, when HaKadosh Baruch Hu spoke to Avraham Avinu and foretold the bitter travails of the Jewish People that were to come. Hashem instructed him to look up at the sky and see whether he could count the stars. Explains the Rebbe Rav Hirsch of Rimanov: Avraham Avinu was deeply concerned. How will my children manage the darkness of the world, he wondered. How will they contend with the realities of routine life after the holiness and the connection of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?!

Said the Ribbono shel Olam: Look up at the stars. Your children will build a succah, through the roof of which the stars must be visible. Through this, they will see Me! And when they do so, they will always remain connected to Me, and they will not become consumed by the frivolities of This World.

This vort contains tremendous depth. The Rebbe teaches us here that while we return to everyday life— and we even put a covering atop our succah, signaling a certain partition between This World and the Upper World—we must nevertheless ensure that the Heavens will still be visible through it! The Schach is expressly designed so that we can still reach out and connect with the Ribbono shel Olam, even amid our lives in Olam HaZeh.

Returning to Reality

The tzaddikim further teach us something very important that we must keep in mind regarding these exalted days: After living an entire year with negative habits and undesirable thoughts and actions, no one—including, most importantly, the Ribbono shel Olam—thinks that we will abandon them from one day to the next.

No one expects that on the day following Yom Kippur, a person will have perfect kavannah during every word of Shemoneh Esrei, or that he will never engage in idle chatter... that he will always be joyful and embrace everything in his life with acceptance and love.... Of course, this is the way things ought to be, but the Ribbono shel Olam doesn't expect that it will happen in one moment following Yom Kippur.

While we may experience a great sense of holiness and exaltedness immediately following Yom Kippur, the next morning we return to our standard internal battles. Drastic change from moment to the next was never going to happen. Rather, the plan is for a Yid to build himself an abode—and there convene with the Ribbono shel Olam... working together to find a way forward, a way such that he will be able to repair and grow, slowly but surely. This was always the plan. And for that reason, we build our succah right after Yom Kippur.

A Place to Maintain Closeness

Often, when people grow older, their children want them to be close by, and they build a small apartment into their homes so their parents can live with them in their golden years. Usually, people will work with their architect to design this apartment so that it will have just enough privacy for their parents to maintain independence, but it should be close enough so that when they need assistance, their children will be right there for them. Often, they'll even install a buzzer so that the children can be alerted when needed. This arrangement benefits both: While their parents live close by and can enjoy the company of their children and grandchildren, they still maintain autonomy and privacy.

Our succah works in exactly the same way—and for this reason, it must be a temporary dwelling. A Yid comes after Yom Kippur, and he designs his dwelling. He understands that “he must be able to see through to the stars”—for he has learned just how well he can get along on his own.... He may be preparing a private and personal dwelling—but the most important thing is that he will be able to constantly look up and communicate with the Ribbono shel Olam! His entire desire is to remain close—because he knows how much assistance he will need on his journey. He knows that he cannot do it alone—and so he builds his humble hut in this precise way.

A Cry for Help

It is specifically the Yom Tov of Succos that features our heartfelt cry from the heart: הושענא, Help! Every day, as we stand with our dalet minim, we cry out: הושענא למענך אלוקינו, Help us for Your sake, our G-d. We express incredible tefillos for assistance during these days.

This brings us a deep understanding in regard to establishing our new path post-Yom Kippur. We daven to Hashem from the depths of our hearts— knowing that we cannot make a move without His help—but these tefillos are an illustration of our love and closeness to Hashem. This is why we these tefillos were instituted davka on Succos, when we sit with the Ribbono shel Olam in such close proximity.

Every time a Yid experiences challenge and difficulty, and he turns to the Ribbono shel Olam for help (which is essentially every day) we must know this: This isn't an emergency phone line that we call only when we're in trouble; rather, we have an ongoing deep and close bond with the Ribbono shel Olam that we constantly maintain, and we can draw on this constant connection at every moment.

Actual Friendship

This is akin to a person who has a Hatzolah member in his neighborhood. Understandably, everyone turns to this person when they have a medical emergency.

But then this person has a close friend with whom he consults regarding everything in his life. He talks to him at least twice every day, and he receives advice and counsel from him. He unburdens his feelings to him, and he receives much help from his friend.

Everyone understands that these relationships are two very different things. While the first person is a great address to call on in case of emergency, the second person is a close friend. Although the second person helps you out of many problems as well, he is first and foremost a friend. I'm close to him, and therefore I can ask him for help— but this is not what our friendship is predicated on! The relationship is about the close bond and connection that these two share.

A Marital Bond Based on Mutual Help

Let's think of this in the context of marriage. In a healthy marital relationship, a husband comes home after a long day's work, and he discusses the many issues that arose throughout his day. His wife is waiting for him with an entire list of matters to discuss, so together they can figure out how to deal with them.

This is surely not a technical, transaction relationship in which the husband provides advice and money in order to solve problems; it is a bond between two people—first and foremost—one of the features of which is that they work together to solve problems.

Our Close Connection to Hashem

The same applies to our spiritual connection to Hashem. When a Yid enters a lifestyle of living with the Ribbono shel Olam, he doesn't view the Ribbono shel Olam as an “emergency contact" to Whom he turns when he's in trouble. It is a constant bond and connection— the Source to which he can turn for everything, the One to Whom he can tell everything in his life.

This Yid gets up with his dalet minim in hand... he recites Hallel with extraordinary joy, and he cries his heart out during Hoshanos as he calls for help—because this cements his kesher with the Ribbono shel Olam. His problems and dilemmas are a vessel through which he can conduct his continuous dialogue with Hashem. His struggles and challenges ensure that he will remember that the Ribbono shel Olam sustains him every step of the way. His feelings of difficulty and being lost are the way that he finds his way to Hashem because he recognizes that "I have no way forward; only You can help me!”

Our entire tefillah is merely a mehalech for how we can maintain our inner connection—for this reason, we sit in the succah, a temporary dwelling, under the stars... because we rejoice with the Ribbono shel Olam Himself in the most intimate way. The Hoshanos—our pleas for help— are merely a byproduct of the intensely close relationship and closeness to Hashem illustrated for us by the succah.