THE SOUL OF THE SEASON

Baila Vorhand

The Sukkah and the Lulav
Hashem in Hand

In Shir HaShirim (2:3, 6), we describe Hashem's left hand, symbolizing the awe of din, as supporting us שְׁמאלוֹ תַּחַת לְרֹאשִׁי. His right hand, symbolizing chessed, surrounds us with radiant lights of love וִימִינוֹתְּחַבְּקֵנִי. The former corresponds to Rosh Hashanah; the latter, to Sukkos. We sit under the schach בְּצִלּוֹ חִמַּדְתִּי וְיָשַׁבְתִּי "In His shade I craved and sat."

But the delight deepens. As the pasuk continues: וּפִרְיוֹ מָתוֹק לְחִכִּי "His fruit - the esrog and other minim – is sweet to my palate." The four minim correspond to the four letters of Hashem's Name.

When we hold them, we have די אייבערשטער אין די הענט "Hashem in hand." In that moment of close connection, we can share all our thoughts and feelings with Him. And then we shake – right, left, front, up, down, back. Each direction corresponds to a different middah, and our tefillos can correspond to it.

When shaking right, corresponding to the middah of chessed, we can beg Hashem to bestow generous kindness upon ourselves, Klal Yisrael, and His world. We can let ourselves feel Hashem's love wash over us.

When shaking left, the side of gevurah, we can have in mind that Hashem should exercise judgment upon the enemies of Klal Yisrael and render a favorable judgment for us.

On the front side, which corresponds to tiferes – balance, beauty, and harmony - we can ask for Torah, whose דְרָכֶיהָ דַרְכֵי נֹעַם "ways are ways of pleasantness,” and which is rooted in the middah of tiferes.

On high, the side of netzach, we can daven that Hashem should finally prevail over everything that blocks His revelation. That Klal Yisrael should be victorious over our enemies, and that we should persevere over our yetzer hara.

When shaking downward, the direction of hod, we can visualize our-selves drawing Elokus down, down, down below – to the lowest places so that there should be no nook or cranny absent of Hashem's light.

When shaking toward the back, the side that corresponds to yesod, the middah of tzidkus and kedushah, we can beg Hashem to enable our young - and not-so-young - people to overcome the yetzer hara that is almost impossibly powerful today.

We can have in mind specific neshamos that are struggling, including our own. We can beg Hashem to reveal His own tzidkus, His absolute justness and righteousness, with the coming of Melech HaMashiach, who will reveal His malchus, the seventh middah.

Simchas Beis HaShoevah
I Want to Be Near the King!

Throughout the year, wine would be poured into a bowl on the side of the Mizbeiach to accompany the korbanos. On Sukkos there was an additional pouring called nisuch hamayim — the water libation. The festivities throughout the nights of Sukkos celebrated the drawing and pouring of the water. But why did that warrant such extensive celebrations?

Chazal explain that when Hashem separated the waters, the lower waters began to cry. They said אַנַן בָּעֵינַן לְמֶהֱוֵי קָדָם מַלְכָּא "We want to be near the King!" How did Hashem placate them? By promising that they would come near to Hashem through the avodah in the Beis HaMikdash.

The cry of the lower waters is the cry of us all. We were all separated from the "higher waters"; we were sent to the lowest world, where we are most distant from the King. And as the lower waters are comforted through nisuch hamayim, so are we. So we rejoiced through the night. But what is there to celebrate today?

Every mitzvah has two components: its physical fulfillment in this world and the heavenly lights it unites Above. Even if nisuch hamayim is technically impossible today, we return to our Source on Sukkos anyway.

Throughout Tishrei, we rise like a striving wave of water. We return to the beginning, to a time when we were near and one with our Creator.

שׁוֹאֵבָה has the same letters as אָשׁוּבָה "I will return." The waters drawn from מַיִם חַיִּים symbolize our return to the אֱלֹקִים חַיִּים. We can still dance.

Hoshanah Rabbah
Conquering Yericho with Aravah

Though technically one of the 7 days of Sukkos, Hoshanah Rabbah differs in the mitzvah of aravah and circling the bimah seven times.

Circling the bimah is extremely significant, as it mirrors the circling of Yericho, the first city conquered in Eretz Yisrael. Conquering Eretz Yisrael is comparable to every kind of spiritual victory, because the אֶרֶץ הַתַּחְתּוֹנָה – the lower land, Eretz Yisrael – corresponds to אֶרֶץ הָעֶלְיוֹנָה – the higher land, Olam HaBa.

As the people marched around Yericho's walls once a day for six days, we walk around the bimah holding the lulav and esrog, the מָאנֵי קְרָבָא weapons of war (Zohar) - once each day of Sukkos.

Finally, on Hoshanah Rabbah, we circle the bimah seven times, top-pling all walls of tumah, as the walls of Yericho tumbled with the seventh circling on the seventh day. But we need the help of the aravah – the one without taste or smell, Torah or mitzvos. At the end of history, it is we, the aravah neshamos, who are given the job of finishing off the seventy nations.

But what can the aravah do? The aravah is the mouth – it can daven. Our primary avodah is tefillah (Arizal). And who leads us in battle? The Ushpizin of the day, David HaMelech.

We, the broken, crushed, rejected generation of ikvesa d'Meshicha, gather around David HaMelech and grab onto his gartel. We say the bera-chah of בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר where we thank Hashem for giving us David's songs.

And then we give pesukei d'zimrah all we've got. The רוֹמְמוֹת קֵל בִּגְרוֹנָם "praises of G-d in our throats,” turn into a חֶרֶב בִּיפִיּוֹת בְּיָדָם "sword of two mouths" – i.e., sharpened on both sides - that will לַעֲשׂוֹת נְקָמָה בַּגּוֹיִם תּוֹכֵחוֹת בַּלְאֶמִּים "execute vengeance among the nations, rebukes among the regimes.”

Together with David HaMelech, we topple the wall of Yericho, clearing the way for the intense deveikus of Shemini Atzeres.

Shemini Atzeres
No Words Left

Hoshanah Rabbah, the day of the lips, when tefillah is our weapon, fades. As we rise to peak attach-ment with Hashem, words fail. Nobody can capture the complete-ness of the union we are now expe-riencing, because at this level of deveikus, no words are exchanged.

We do try to understand what Shemini Atzeres is, but we are just dancing around the idea, pointing toward a concept. We cannot unfold, reveal, and codify the ecstasy of the neshamah on Shemini Atzeres.

Because with Shemini Atzeres, we have arrived at the purpose of a Jew's avodah. And what is that? What is the point of it all? Deveikus – attachment.

Throughout Tishrei, we have been growing, evolving, maturing. With each forward leap of personal progress, we have been able to connect to Hashem more deeply and completely.

Finally, by Shemini Atzeres, we are fully developed within the yearly cycle of growth and fully available for relationship. As the Zohar puts it: יִחוּדָא שְׁלִים – the union is now complete.”

What does יִחוּדָא שְׁלִים look like by tzaddikim? Complete immersion. The entire mind is consumed. How do we fulfill the mitzvah of deveikus on our level? Perhaps through a lower-frequency attachment, a quieter, background sense of feeling connected to Hashem, with periods of conscious attachment.

And what does deveikus feel like? Oneg – the pleasure of doing a mitzvah, learning Torah, or davening.

We are not selfish when we seek pleasure from Torah and mitzvos! Hashem commanded us to attach ourselves to Him, and the fabric of deveikus is woven from oneg. The more our pleasure and gratification come from Torah and mitzvos, the more we are in a state of deveikus.

We can all tap into the deveikus of the cosmic union between Hashem and Knesses Yisrael that takes place.

(Adapted from Festivals of Faith, Yamim Noraim and Succos by Harav Moshe Wolfson zt"l)