There is an order to the Yamim Tovim. On Rosh Hashanah we have introduced the Malchus Shamayim to This World. On Yom Kippur, we were cleansed from our aveiros. Now, on Sukkos, we take the four minim, objects from the material world, and we illustrate how even those thing that seems to have nothing on them—even those who have no טעם וריח—even they are given life by the Ribbono shel Olam.
Sometimes a person becomes broken. He says, “I have a son who is like the aravah, with no avodas Hashem to him. I have loads of tzaros, R”l.” But on Sukkos, he takes the dalet minim, and he contemplates that Hashem gives life to all people—no matter where they are. His Hashgachah is upon everyone. The person walks around and speaks this way, it seeps into his conscience, and he understands that it is the truth. He understands that everything the nations of the world have to say about the world is false. He uproots his misguided notions, and this becomes his personal salvation... the salvation of the Yerushalayim that is his heart.
In the Hoshanos we daven for the Tzion, for the place that we all pine and yearn for. But first comes our personal Yerushalayim. Because sometimes, we don’t have the vessels to feel the truth, to uproot the klipah, but then the sovereignty of Hashem is revealed in the world—and the nations of the world are humiliated and embarrassed by the blinding light of Hashem’s Omnipresence that has been revealed.
All of this is contingent on our being proud and joyful to be Yidden, believing that Hashem is with us in all situations, and rejecting the attitudes of the nations of the world. Through this, all the klipos fall away. May Hashem help us to illuminate our hearts with this great light, so that we will merit the Ultimate Redemption.
