Swift purification of the ba'al teshuvah

איתא במד' [תנחומא] כי שמ"ע הי' צריך להיות נ' יום אחר החג כמו עצרת אחר הפסח רק שאינו מטריח אותם בימות החורף כו' ע"ש [פ' פנחס]

It is brought in the Midrash [Tanchuma] that Shemini Atzeres should really have come fifty days after the festival, just as Atzeres (Shavuos) comes [fifty days] after Pesach, except that Hashem does not burden them [to make a pilgrimage] in the winter days, see there [Parshas Pinchas].

The Midrash says Shemini Atzeres ideally would parallel Shavuos — fifty days after the festival — but to spare Yisrael a winter journey, Hashem brought it close instead.

הענין היא כמו ביצ"מ שאחר שנגאלו מנו מ"ט ימי טוהר כמ"ש בזוה"ק פ' אמור כההיא איתתא בימי נדתה כו'.

The matter is like at Yetzias Mitzrayim, that after they were redeemed they counted forty-nine days of purity, as is written in the Zohar HaKadosh, Parshas Emor, like that woman in her days of niddah.

After leaving Mitzrayim, Bnei Yisrael counted forty-nine days of purification before Matan Torah — compared by the Zohar to the days a woman counts toward taharah.

כמו כן בימים אלו ר"ה ויוהכ"פ שנגאלו בנ"י מיצה"ר צריכין ג"כ ימי טהרה לזכות לתורה.

So too in these days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when Bnei Yisrael were redeemed from the yetzer hara, they likewise need days of purification to merit the Torah.

The Yamim Nora'im are a redemption from the yetzer hara, paralleling the Exodus; and like then, a span of purification is needed before one is fit to receive Torah.

רק שהטהרה נעשה עתה בז' ימי החג עד ז' שבועות של ימי הספירה.

Except that now the purification is accomplished in the seven days of the festival, in place of the seven weeks of the days of the Sefirah.

What took seven weeks of Sefirah after Pesach is here compressed into the seven days of Sukkos — a swifter purification.

שהוא בעזר מצות הסוכה ולולב בחסד ה' החופף עלינו.

This is with the aid of the mitzvos of the sukkah and the lulav, through the chesed of Hashem that hovers over us.

The mitzvos of Sukkos — sitting in the sukkah and taking the lulav — together with Hashem's overspreading kindness, accomplish the purification quickly.

גם נראה כי הטעם כמ"ש בזוה"ק דבע"ת אתיין בחילא סגי וברגעא חדא מתקנין הרבה ע"ש.

It also appears that the reason is as the Zohar HaKadosh writes, that ba'alei teshuvah come with great force and in a single moment repair much, see there.

The Zohar teaches that ba'alei teshuvah accomplish in an instant what others achieve over long stretches — their intensity collapses the timeline of tikkun.

לכן עתה שהוא בבחי' בעלי תשובות נעשה התיקון במהרה וזוכין מיד לשמחת תורה בשמ"ע.

Therefore now, when one is in the aspect of a ba'al teshuvah, the tikkun is accomplished swiftly, and one merits immediately to Simchas Torah on Shemini Atzeres.

Because this season puts Yisrael in the mode of ba'alei teshuvah, the purification is completed at once, so the joy of Torah arrives right away — no fifty-day wait needed.

והכלל כי בימים הטובים שמקודם נתקנו נפשותינו ונעשו בנ"י כלים לקבל שפע ברכה וקדושה.

The principle is that during the preceding holy days our souls were repaired, and Bnei Yisrael became vessels fit to receive an outpouring of blessing and holiness.

The whole season's avodah forms Bnei Yisrael into kelim — vessels prepared to hold the flow of berachah and kedushah.

ולכן בעצרת הוא גוף הקבלה.

And therefore on Atzeres is the very substance of the receiving.

Shemini Atzeres is the moment of actual reception — when the prepared vessel finally takes in what it was readied for.

עצרת תהי' לכם פי' שעתה יש לכם לקבל.

"It shall be an Atzeres for you" — the explanation is that now you have what to receive.

The phrase "for you" signals that at this point Bnei Yisrael are ready and have something real to receive.

שבאתם אל השלימות שהוא כלי המחזיק ברכה.

For you have arrived at the completeness that is the vessel which holds blessing.

Having reached shleimus, Bnei Yisrael are now the perfected vessel capable of holding berachah — for Chazal teach that only a whole vessel holds blessing.

והברכה הוא בשמ"ע ושמחת תורה לכן קורין וזאת הברכה ועמ"ש לקמן:

And the blessing is on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah; therefore we read "V'Zos HaBerachah," and see what is written further on.

The berachah that fills the prepared vessel comes on Shemini Atzeres/Simchas Torah — fittingly, we read the parshah that begins "And this is the blessing."

Summary: Shemini Atzeres should ideally have followed the festival by fifty days, like Shavuos after Pesach, but Hashem spared Yisrael a winter pilgrimage. Just as the Exodus required forty-nine days of purification before Torah, the Yamim Nora'im — a redemption from the yetzer hara — require purification too; yet because Yisrael now stand as ba'alei teshuvah, the seven days of Sukkos accomplish swiftly what once took seven weeks. Having become whole vessels fit to hold blessing, they receive it on Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah.