The Midrash teaches us that Sukkos continues the preceding days of judgment and sums them up.
ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון וגו' – “You shall take for yourselves [four species] on the first day [of Sukkos]” – What is the verse speaking about? Yisrael and the nations of the world, whom Hashem judged on Yom Kippur. These and those came before the King for judgment, but we don’t [yet] know who won the case.
This may be compared to two people who came before a king for judgment, and no one except for the king knew what the issue was between them. The king judged them, and people didn’t know who won the case. The king then said, “Whoever goes out holding a spear in his hand, you may know that he won.”
Similarly, Yisrael and the nations of the world come in for judgment on Yom Kippur, but people don’t know who won. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said, “Pick up your lulavim in your hands, so everyone will know that you won the case.”
The Masters of Avodah said that the three weeks from Rosh Hashanah until Shemini Atzeres are one ladder on which we continually climb higher and higher. Aseres Yemei Teshuvah are the time we do teshuvah from fear. The days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos are days that are free of sin. And the seven days of Sukkos, together with Shemini Atzeres, are the time we do teshuvah from love.
There is a question hanging over all this. Aseres Yemei Teshuvah were days of yirah. We reached very high levels during this period. Our tefilos and berachos were full of power and emotion, we recited them with the excitement of kedushah, until we reached the peak, which is Tefilas Ne’ilah. And the shofar was sounded at the end of Ne’ilah.
Where do we go from there?
It is written in early Torah sources that this blast of the shofar signifies the Shechinah’s departure from our world and return to its hidden place high up in the heavens above. At this moment, the lofty level of spirituality we were on suddenly leaves us. Accordingly, how does Sukkos pick up where the Yamim Noraim left off? Why is it the time of climbing even higher, from yirah to ahavah? On the contrary, the Shechinah left us behind, and now the whole lofty madreigah of Yamim Noraim is gone from us!
The answer is that yirah and ahavah are two very different things. Fear is induced by an external factor that acts upon a person. Whereas love comes from within a person’s heart.
Aseres Yemei Teshuvah were a time of fear. They were a time of דרשו ה' בהמצאו קראוהו בהיותו קרוב – “Search out Hashem when He is present, call out to Him when He is close.” Chazal say that this verse refers to “the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.” Hashem draws close to us and makes Himself available to us. The high madreigah we then attained is not really coming from us. Rather, Hakadosh Baruch Hu draws close to us. He stirs up the fire of yiras Shamayim within us. He is acting on us. It may feel as if we are coming close to Hashem, but really it is He Who is coming close to us.
Let’s say you are in a car traveling at high speed. You look out the window and it seems as if the trees on each side of the road are rushing toward you. It’s hard to discern who is rushing toward who.
In Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, it’s not we who are drawing close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It is Hakadosh Baruch Hu Who is drawing close to us. On Rosh Hashanah, it looks like we are blowing the shofar, but really it is Hashem blowing the shofar for us. True, we blow the shofar here in this world, but then Hashem correspondingly blows the shofar in the heavens above, and that is where all the great spiritual influence comes to us from.
On Yom Kippur, we resemble angels. Who makes us like angels? The Arizal says that on Yom Kippur, Hashem wraps us in a tallis.
We are like a little child sitting in a car and going all the way from Monsey to New York in a relatively short time. It seems so amazing. How can a small child get all the way from Monsey to New York? Is he Superman? No, it wasn’t him doing it. He just sat in the car and was transported from one place to another.
All the madreigos to which we rise, one after another, during Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, are not coming from us. We didn’t do it; Hashem raised us up. But the love we feel on Sukkos is truly our own.
