Fulfilling the Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael by Simply Sitting in the Succah – A Segulah for Arichas Yamim

The pasuk tells us, “You shall make the Festival of Succos for a seven-day period, when you gather in from your threshing and from your wine cellar” (Devarim 16:13). The letter “taf” as the prefix to a shoresh, word root, adds the directive “you shall” to the action mentioned. Usually, when the Torah employs this prefix, it is to issue a command, a mitzvah that we are directed to do. Thus, the pasuk can be read as an instruction from the Torah. However, this can also be interpreted not as a directive, but as a declaration that you will do it.

The sefer LaLev, by Rav Chaim Palagi, quotes a Pesikta⁵ that interprets this pasuk using both interpretations. The pasuk could have written the instruction beginning with the word asei, make, without using the taf. The fact that the taf is added tells us that the pasuk means, “You are to make the succah, and if you do, you have a havtachah, assurance, from Hashem that you will continue to do so for years to come.” It is both a command to celebrate the Yom Tov and a berachah that if you do keep the Yom Tov, you will be enabled to continue to keep the Yom Tov in years to come.

A Segulah for a Long Life

This Medrash is teaching that the mitzvah of the succah carries with it a special berachah for arichas yamim, longevity. Each year that a person fulfils the mitzvah of succah, he is granted a new havtachah that he will survive at least another year to fulfil the mitzvah again.

The pasuk states, “You shall dwell in succos [booths] for a seven-day period; every ezrach [native] in Israel shall dwell in booths” (Vayikra 23:42). The term ezrach is unique to the mitzvah of dwelling in the succah. Rav Naftali of Ropshitz teaches that this word is used here to convey a message. The word ezrach refers to an elderly person. Hashem is thus promising that one who keeps the mitzvah of dwelling in the succah will, in fact, live to a ripe old age and will merit to fulfil the mitzvah of succah even as a zakein, elder.

The gematria of the word ezrach is numerically equivalent to the gematria of the word gevurah, as both equal 216. The significance of this is that the pasuk states, “The days of our years among them are seventy, and if with might, eighty years” (Tehillim 90:10). Sitting in the succah is a segulah that one will live to be an ezrach, which is achieved at the age of gevurah: Sit in the succah, and you'll live to be at least eighty.

Why is the mitzvah of succah a segulah for a long life? There are many very significant mitzvos that we do not find provide a person with this gift. What is unique about the mitzvah of succah so that one who sits in the succah is promised a long life?

Like Sitting in Eretz Yisrael

Hashem promised the Jewish people that He would save them from Mitzrayim: v’hotzeisi, I will take you out of Egypt; v’hitzalti, I will rescue you from Egypt; v'ga'alti, I will redeem you; v’lakachti, I will take you for My own, as My people; v'he'veisi, I will bring you into Eretz Yisrael (see Shemos 6:6-8). The four promises were fulfilled, and Hashem saved us from Egypt. He gave us the Torah and acquired us as His chosen nation.

However, the Tiferes Shlomo points out that the promise, v'he'veisi, did not come true with regard to the generation to whom it was promised. Seemingly, Hashem only fulfilled four out of these promises to the Yidden who were enslaved in Egypt. Hashem promised that generation that He would bring them into Eretz Yisrael. But this did not take place.

In the instructions regarding the Yom Tov of Succos, the Torah tells us, “So that your generations will know that I caused Bnei Yisrael to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of Egypt; I am Hashem, your G-d” (Vayikra 23:43). The last phrase of the pasuk seems superfluous.

We all know that Hashem is our G-d. Why does the Torah feel the need to remind us that Hashem is our G-d amid the commandments of Succos?

The Gemara discusses what factor enables one to live a long life. R' Yochanan was told there were elderly men living in Bavel. R' Yochanan responded that this cannot be true, since the pasuk states, “In order to prolong your days and the days of your children upon the Land that Hashem has sworn to your forefathers to give them, like the days of Heaven over the earth” (Devarim 11:21). Living long is therefore a feature of ha'adamah, the Land of Eretz Yisrael! R' Yochanan infers that one who is not in Eretz Yisrael cannot to live long! Thus, it cannot be that old people live in Bavel. However, after R' Yochanan was informed that these elderly people came to shul early and left shul late, he agreed that in this zechus there could be old people in Bavel. R' Yehoshua ben Levi instructed his son to come early to shul and to stay later afterward so that he would live long.

The Maharsha is troubled by this Gemara. R' Yochanan provides a pasuk to prove that longevity can occur only in Eretz Yisrael; how does one's shul attendance counter the inference of the pasuk? The Maharsha's novel conclusion is that a shul must be considered as having the equivalent spiritual status of Eretz Yisrael. In the future, when Mashiach comes, the shuls will be transported to Eretz Yisrael. Since they will eventually be there, the shuls already have the status of Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, one who spends a long time in shul will live long. Staying in shul and breathing the air is tantamount to actually breathing in the air of Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Dovid Shapiro (the son of the Bnei Yissaschar) writes that the pasuk, “So that your generations will know that I caused Bnei Yisrael to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of Egypt; I am Hashem, your G-d” teaches us that just as a shul has the same status as Eretz Yisrael, so too does the succah! Sitting in a succah is equivalent to sitting in kedushas Eretz Yisrael, the holiness of Eretz Yisrael.

There is a fundamental between Eretz Yisrael and all the other countries in the world. Every other land has an intermediary between it and the Ribbono shel Olam; it has a ministering angel that serves as a go-between, connecting Hashem and the people. The Jews in Eretz Yisrael, however, enjoy a unique relationship directly with Hashem. There is no intermediary. This explains the Gemara is what it means that one who resides in Eretz Yisrael is considered to have a G-d, while someone who dwells in Chutz La'aretz is considered to be G-dless.

The purpose of the succah is for us to sit in the direct shade of Hashem: b'tzila d'm'heimenusa. This direct connection to Hashem and His Presence is reminiscent of living in Eretz Yisrael, where the inhabitants continuously enjoy this direct relationship with Him.

As Bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim, Hashem enveloped them in the protection of Clouds of Glory, representative of Eretz Yisrael, so that the Jewish people would already have the benefits of living in the Land; as we know, the Gemara states, “the air of Eretz Yisrael makes a person wise.”

We commemorate this concept by dwelling in succos that will give us the same benefit: a direct and personal relationship with Hashem.

That is why the pasuk concludes with the words, “I am Hashem, your G-d.” The pasuk is stating that when you sit in a succah, which is equivalent to sitting in Eretz Yisrael, it will be considered that you indeed have a G-d. At least during the week of Succos, one who dwells in a succah will achieve the level of closeness to Hashem as those who live in Eretz Yisrael, since the sukkah itself is a microcosm of Eretz Yisrael, with all its kedushah.

With regard to residing in Eretz Yisrael, the Torah relates, "You will prolong your days in Eretz Yisrael.” By extension, one who resides in the succah, a microcosm of Eretz Yisrael, will also merit long life. Sitting in the virtual Eretz Yisrael will provide the same berachah as residing in the actual Eretz Yisrael.

With All Your Limbs

The Vilna Gaon writes that there are only two mitzvos in the Torah that one fulfills with his entire body, with all 248 limbs: dwelling in Eretz Yisrael and sitting in the succah. These are the only two mitzvos during which our entire body enters into the cheftzah of the mitzvah. This is hinted at in the pasuk that states: ויהי בשלם סובו ומעונתו בציון - "Then His Tabernacle, succah, was in Jerusalem, b'Shalem, and His Dwelling in Tzion” (Tehillim 76:3). When can you do a mitzvah b’shleimus, with the entirety of your being? Only in the succah or in Tzion, Eretz Yisrael. Furthermore, a person is not considered shaleim, complete, until he has these two mitzvos.

We know that the Avos kept the entire Torah. The Vilna Gaon was asked how we know that the Avos observed Succos. He replied that we know it from the pasuk, “Now Avraham was old, well on in years, and Hashem had blessed Avraham with everything, ba'kol” (Bereishis 24:1). The word ba’kol stands for the three phrases in the Torah that discuss the mitzvah of succah.

The mitzvah of succah is hinted at with the word ba’kol, with everything, because it is one of the two mitzvos that can be fulfilled with all of your body! Your ba'kol, your entire being, can fulfill the mitzvah of succah; therefore, since the mitzvah of succah is performed with the entire guf and all the eivarim, it is only fitting that it is hinted to with the word ba'kol.

Sitting in the succah not only allows one to one of the two mitzvos that can be performed with the entirety of a person. Since, as noted above, the succah is considered to be a part of Eretz Yisrael, by sitting in the succah a person simultaneously both mitzvos that uniquely are performed with one's entire body: living in Eretz Yisrael and sitting in the succah!

We can thus interpret the pasuk: ויהי בשלם סובו ומעונתו בציון, to mean that if one wants to perform a mitzvah with sheleimus, he should sit in the succah. Why? Because sitting in the succah is tantamount to living in Eretz Yisrael.

The succos in which Bnei Yisrael lived during their sojourn in the Midbar were microcosms of Eretz Yisrael; as we have seen, dwelling in the succos is considered as if they were living in Eretz Yisrael. Thus, the succos themselves are the fulfilment of the promise of V’heiveisi! Bringing Bnei Yisrael into their succos was equivalent to bringing them into Eretz Yisrael, as Hashem had promised.

A Temporary Dwelling

The succah is termed a diras a’rai, temporary dwelling. There is profound hidden meaning in this phrase. The borders of Eretz Yisrael are listed in the Gemara: Rekem, in the east; Ashkelon, in the south; Acco, in the north. Rashi states that the western border is the Yam, the Mediterranean Sea.

The Rambam writes that these are the borders of Eretz Yisrael with regard to all halachos that pertain to Eretz Yisrael. Rav Shem Klingberg reveals that the roshei teivos, initial letters, of the four borders of Eretz Yisrael spell the word a'rai! The succah is considered a diras a’rai because sitting in it is tantamount to sitting within the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Klingberg adds that by giving us the mitzvah of sitting in the succah, the temporary dwelling, Hashem demonstrates His love for us. By the mitzvah of succah, we are sitting in His Land, in Eretz Yisrael, where the Shechinah dwells.

Incredibly, the gematria of diras a'rai is the same as that of ha’bocher b’amo Yisroel b'ahava (Ahavas Olam).

This is an incredible gift that Hashem bestows on us: He gives us the mitzvah of succah, which, when performed anywhere in the world, is equivalent to actually living in Eretz Yisrael and encompasses the berachos of Eretz Yisrael, such as longevity! (Adapted from a much lengthier devar Torah written by R' Daniel Glatstein)