A HOUSE FOR HIMSELF, SUKKOT FOR HIS HERDS
Sarah Yehudit Schneider—
On one hand, the Torah is explicit: The reason we spend this week sitting in our club houses with thatched roofs is:
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כָּל-הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְֹרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת: לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְֹרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם …:
… in order that subsequent generations will know that I, HaShem, caused the Israelites to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of Egypt. [Gen 33:17]
We are supposed to remind ourselves of that fact every time we say the special blessings before eating or dwelling in a sukka.
But there is an even deeper and earlier source for our sukka mitzvah. The Torah reports that when Yaakov returned from Aram Naharayim his brother Essav approached with murderous intent. Yet before they actually met, a spiritual battle ensued where Yaacov wrestled with Essav’s guardian spirit, the archangel of harsh judgment (called samekh-mem) and Yaakov prevailed. It was a personal victory and a cosmic paradigm shift. The birthright that Yakov “stole” through deception was now conferred upon him with full title. Essav was spiritually disarmed, so their actual meeting the next morning passed without incident. The Torah reports that after this huge test, victory, and blessing Yacov headed straight to sukkot:
וַיָּשָׁב בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא עֵשָֹו לְדַרְכּוֹ שֵֹעִירָה: וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה וַיִּבֶן לוֹ בָּיִת |וּלְמִקְנֵהוּ עָשָֹה סֻכֹּת עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שֵׁם-הַמָּקוֹם סֻכּוֹת:
On that day Essav returned to Say’ee’rah, and Yaakov traveled to sukkot and built a house for himself and sukkot for his livestock. And that is why the place is called sukkot. [Gen 33:36]
The Zohar (1:172b) derives a spiritual practice from Yakov’s conduct—the first thing we should do after defeating the other side [aka: sitra achra, yetzer hara, evil enemies, forces of illusion] is to head straight to sukkot: And so,
מעשה אבות סימן לבנים:
The deeds of the patriarchs and matriarchs become the prototype that plays itself out in subsequent generations—and in all of our lives.[1]
And so, notes the midrash, the same principle applied in Egypt—HaShem followed Yakov’s precedent, so to speak. When the Israelites emerged victorious on sedar night, their first stop was sukkot.
Levi Yitzchak of Berditchiv explains how this translates into our lives. He says that whenever we experience a personal moment of geula—when we wrestle with a challenge and prevail—when the heavens open and we experience a moment of grace—we should also head straight to sukkot—which means, says he, to remind ourselves, in that moment-of-great-expansion, that we are servants of the Holy One, Blessed be He. And how do we do that? By fulfilling one of our Master’s commands (i.e. performing a mitzvah) which could be just dropping a coin in a pushka. The point is to counter the ego’s tendency to puff in such moments (כחי ועוצם ידי)[2], and so to remind it, clearly and firmly, of its utter dependence upon HaShem.[3]
But I want to focus on another question here…an obvious question, which is that if Yakov is our prototype, then, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the whole thing doesn’t exactly add up. True, Yakov headed straight for sukot (or rather the place that is now called sukkot because Yakov built sukkot there). But on the other hand the text clearly states that Yakov built a house for himself, not a sukkah, and the sukkot that he did build were for his mikne’im (livestock).
So what’s going on? R. Tsadok explains, first of all, that Yakov’s flocks were not just generic animals. The midrash tells us that Yaakov had 600,000 herds corresponding to the 600,000 root souls of the Jewish people. [4] The Talmud distinguishes Yakov with the phrase—[5]מיטתו שלמה, meaning that, unlike Avraham and Yitzchak, Yakov only produced Jewish children. In fact, there is a sense in which all the Jews that ever lived (and will ever live) are simply unpacking the potentials of Yakov’s seed. Every one of our family trees eventually traces back to Yakov who is at the center so to speak, of the Jewish lineage and all the progeny radiate outward for ≈189 generations from there. Each one of us is the fruit of a particular lineage. Each one of us is actualizing some potential of Yakov as well as the particular matriarch or maidservant that conceived the tribe that is our ancestry.
And that, says kabbala, is the mystery of parenthood. Parents transmit to their children (through seed and nurture) a portion of their own unactualized potential which then becomes the child’s mission. We come into a particular family system that is our lineage of neuroses (as well as our pedigree of talents). Like a relay, each generation passes the baton on to the next, until, by the end, all the impurities of Yakov’s seed will be resolved and all its potentials will be actualized by some Jew at some point in history.
And so, says R. Tsadok, “Yakov’s miknaim, the 600,000 herd that he extracted from Lavan’s flock, contained the souls of the Jewish root stock freshly plucked from the klipa (ie Lavan, Yakov’s devious father-in-law) and were still so embryonic that they had more affinity to animals than humans at that stage of their development.[6] But in just over two-hundred years [the souls of those mikna’im] would reincarnate as benei yakov, exit Egypt, and experience the greatest revelation of G-d that ever transpired on the planet.
And so when the Torah says that Yakov built sukkot for his miknaim, it’s referring to the root stock of his descendants who are called mikna’im at this point for the reasons stated.
Yet why did Yakov build a home for himself and sukkot for his mikna’im. What is the difference between a home and sukka. And if the whole message of sukkot is that sukkah consciousness is the ideal, why did Yakov refrain. Obviously he wasn’t exempting himself from the mitzvah because it was too cold for him in the sukkah.
In exploring this question most commentators connect Yakov’s behavior to the Talmudic teaching about how each of the Avot experienced Har HaBayit (ie, the Temple mount)—which is the place of encounter between humans and G-d. And that becomes a metaphor for how they each experienced prophesy and ruach hakodesh. Commentators identify a developmental process evident in their outlooks. [TB Pesachim 88a]
Avraham called it a mountain. Mountain is a phenomenon that is solely G‑d’s doing. The Creator of heaven and earth made mountains. We happen upon their majesty and feel awe. In mountain consciousness, encounter with the Shekhina is pure grace. It is a gift. It is Hashem’s doing. We cannot control, we can only receive.
Yitzchak called it a field—meaning a plowed, and planted field which conveys the idea of partnership. We till the soil, plant the seed, pull the weeds and pray for rain. HaShem meets us half way, so to speak. We are partners. You do your job and HaShem does his. The Talmud calls agriculture the epitome of faith…the farmer invests all this work as a concrete expression of his/her trust that HaShem will prosper his path, and cause the crop to grow.[7] There is reciprocity, here. If person doesn’t plant there is no crop. But if HaShem doesn’t grace the effort there also is no crop. And so it goes for ruach hakodesh. There are preparations and invocations. We prime the pump, but we can’t actually produce success with our muscle power. There’s no guarantee. We can increase the likelihood of bestowal but there is no certainty.
Yakov called it a house which is a manmade structure. The idea being that if a person dedicates himself tirelessly, body and soul, to good and God, endures ego deaths, lives prayerfully, cleans his/her desire nature, and integrates truth into his/her nerve net. He/She can (theoretically) merge with the Shekhina …and then, like Moshe, he can say, “Give me a minute, I’m not sure how to answer your question, I need to ask HaShem. I’ll be right back” because he is certain of HaShem’s availability. He knows that HaShem will answer right there on the spot.”
Immediately after Yakov’s skirmish with Essav’s guardian angel and his sojourn to sukkot—two verses later he purchases a parcel of land and builds an altar (Gen. 33:20).
Yet the verse about the altar is unclear. At first glance it seems like Yakov is calling the altar, Almighty, G-d of Israel. But that is just too strange for Yakov to ascribe HaShem’s name to an altar—that would be idolatrous. So Rashi brings two opinions.[8] The second one, from the Talmud (Megila 18a), is quite astounding. It’s the opinion of R. Acha (in the name of R. Eleazar) that HaShem (the God of Israel) called Yaakov ayl/אל/ Mighty One.
:ויקרא לו אל, א/להי ישראל
HaShem knighted Yakov, so to speak, with the title of אל, almighty, for Yakov had became a bayit, a place where HaShem’s almightness was revealed, consistently and reliably. Yacov’s life became (metaphorically) a House of G-d. And that is what it means that Yakov made a house for himself. Yakov’s path of serving G-d was integrated to the point that it became a bayit for HaShem—a secure place for HaShem to dwell, and stretch out so speak, and reveal His unshakable power and reliability (his kayl-ness).
But then why didn’t Yakov also make a house for his mikna’im. Why didn’t he train his descendants in the very same path that he had so successfully forged. It seems that by leaving their roof exposed to the elements Yakov was insisting that each descendent find their own personalized relationship with G-d.
Yakov (and by extension, the whole tradition of rabbinic Judaism) provides the framework (i.e. the walls of the sukka) but each person needs to find God inside their own soul and inside their own life. And it is not something we do once and check it off our list. According to R. Kook it is an ongoing avoda. Our conception of G-d needs to be constantly stretched and deepened. However we conceive of HaShem today, no matter how evolved it might seem compared to the childish notions we have left behind, it is still coarse and distorted compared to the pure infinitude of Divinity. The very term, G-d, says R. Kook, is laden with projections that reveal more about our own personalities than they do about HaShem himself.
Yakov made sukkot for his mikna’im because he did not want to box us in to a static conception of G-d, no matter how exalted it might be. This is a lesson for us about how to transmit yiddishkite to the next generation. A sukkah with its peepholes to shamayim, encourages the active/direct encounter between humans (aka, us) and G-d. A sukkah reminds us that there is infinitude beyond the clouds of glory and that awareness is humbling and transforming.
Kook says that all conflict and disquiet are ultimately caused by “distortions in our conception of G-d.” [9]
ערפלים המצויים במחשבה ע”ד המושג האלהי:
The sukka’s power of peace is, in part, because it corrects those distortions, by its humbling reminder that HaShem is so much bigger than our conceptions of Him/Her/It, and that we must leave peepholes to shamayim to let these higher truths (and corrections) come in.
I want to bless us as individuals and collectively, that, as we sit in our sukkot, with roofs open to shamayim, that we open ourselves to the mystery of it all. That we be humbled by the sukkah’s reminder that although we know a lot, there’s so much that we don’t know…about HaShem, even about ourselves and, how much more so, about each other. And from that Knowing-that-we-don’t-know we should (as much as possible) assume the best about each other and in that way, do our part to help HaShem to…
…פּוֹרֵשׂ סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל יְרוּשָׁלָיִם:
To spread the sukka of peace over us…
And on this momentous day, with its redemptive tikun that is such a welcomed gift, so too do we head to sukkot (our individual sukkot) and fulfill a mitzvah (the mitzvah of Hallel—of thanking HaShem for gracing our efforts and assuring our success).
[1] [Ramban on Bereishit 32:4]
[2] Dev. 8:17.
[3] (1) ספר קדושת לוי – פרשת בראשית
ובזה יבואר הפסוק ויהי בעת לדתה ויתן יד, כי באמת בכל יום ויום מגיע לאדם התעוררות מאת הבורא ברוך הוא כדאמרינן בגמרא בכל יום ויום בת קול יוצאת מהר חורב שובו בנים, והוא אתערותא על יראת הבורא ברוך הוא. ובאמת התעוררות הוא רק על רגע אחד ואחר כך הולך התעוררות והוא בסוד מטי ולא מטי. אבל האדם בשעה שמגיע התעוררות צריך לאחוז בה ולדבק עצמו בה בכל כחו, דהיינו לעשות תיכף ומיד איזה מצוה היינו *צדקה* או תורה ובזה מתקשר בה וכמו שהיה בעת שבא אליו התעוררות זה ואפילו כשהוא בין אנשים יתנהג ככה שלא ישיח שיחה בטילה ושיחות אסורים אפילו כשהוא עכשיו בחושך ואין לו זה התעוררות היראה כאשר ביארנו על מאמר חכמינו ז”ל (ברכות סד.) תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם. ואז כשיתנהג כך אחר כך בא לו עוד הפעם זה היראה עם יותר רוממות ושוב אינה הולכת ממנו, כי בתחילה היה בסוד והחיות רצוא ושוב (יחזקאל א, יד) ועתה על ידי זה יהיה דבוק בה שאחר כך ליום מחר כשיגיע אליו התעוררות יהיה דבוק בה, ושוב יורה לנו הדרך כשידבק עצמו בה פעם ראשון נמצא התעוררות היראה מגיע לאדם מהבורא ברוך הוא והאדם מעצמו צריך להכין לזה ולפרוץ כל הגדרים וכל המסכים אשר ימנע אותו חס ושלום לדבק עצמו בהתעוררות יראת הבורא ברוך הוא אשר מגיע אליו בכל יום:
[4] R. Tsadok haKohen, Tsidkat HaTsadik, 91, 197. Also see: R. Shlomo Elyashuv, Chelek haBiurim, Shaat HaAkudim 1:7.
[4] And for those aware of the kabbalistic connection between Lavan and Billam: R. Akiva taught that the messianic personage of Elihu, the fourth of Job’s comforters, and the one whose wisdom prevailed, was carrying the soul of Balaam… In the future, people will be very surprised to discover that a soul as corrupted as Balaam was able to be redeemed. When the exiles are gathered and the dead are revived we will be shocked to behold the amazingly high and holy souls that have emerged from the dregs of impurity that incarnated as Balaam and Naval. People will marvel: How is it possible for purity [of this exceptional degree] to derive from material so profoundly impure. (Sefer haGilgulim 49, 65).
[5] MR, Lev. 36:5.
[6] R. Tsadok HaKohen, Resisei Laila, 28 and basing himself on the Baal Shem Tovl
[7] TB Shabbat 31a
[8] Not that the altar was called Elokay Yisrael, but because the Blessed Holy One was with him and delivered him, he called the name of the altar by the name of the miracle so that the praise of the Omnipresent would be remembered by mentioning the name; that is to say, He who is G-d (Kayl), He is the Blessed Holy One, and He is G-d to me whose name is israel….
[9] R. Abraham Isaac Kook, The Pangs of Cleansing.
עיינותיך חוצה מה שלמדתי אותך והשגת, ויוכלו גם המה לעשות יחודים ועליות כמוך, ואז יכלו כל הקליפות ויהיה עת רצון וישועה
