Sukkah and lulav as elevation above nature

כתיב ויהי בשלח פרעה כו' ולא נחם כו' ויסב אלקים כו'.

It is written: "And it was when Pharaoh sent out [the people] … and Hashem did not lead them … and Hashem turned the people about" (Shemos 13:17-18).

The Sefas Emes opens with the verses describing how Hashem deliberately rerouted Bnei Yisrael after the Exodus rather than taking the direct path.

פי' שהגביהם למעלה מהטבע שלא יחזרו שוב למצרים כו' ע"ש.

The meaning is that He raised them above teva (nature), so that they would not return again to Mitzrayim; see there.

Turning them aside was an elevation above the natural order, ensuring they could not slide back into the bondage of Egypt.

כן בימים אלו אחר שנפדים מיצה"ר צריכין עזר שלא לחזור ליפול.

So too in these days [of Sukkos], after we have been redeemed from the yetzer hara, we need help so as not to fall back again.

Just as Bnei Yisrael needed protection from returning to Egypt, after the cleansing of the Yamim Noraim we need help not to relapse into our former failings.

לכן השי"ת מגבי' אותנו בצלו ית' למעלה משליטת הסט"א.

Therefore Hashem raises us up in His shade — above the dominion of the sitra achra (the side of impurity).

The shade of the sukkah lifts us above the natural reach of the forces of evil, just as Hashem lifted Bnei Yisrael above nature.

ויקח משה עצמות יוסף עמו כו'.

"And Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him" (Shemos 13:19).

The Sefas Emes now turns to Moshe's taking of Yosef's bones at the Exodus, reading it as a hint to the mitzvah of these days.

הוא רמז על הלולב דכתיב ולקחתם לכם שהוא הדעת הבא לבנ"י בימים אלו.

This is a hint to the lulav, of which it is written "And you shall take for yourselves" (Vayikra 23:40) — which is the daas (knowledge/awareness) that comes to Bnei Yisrael in these days.

The word "took" links Moshe's act to "you shall take" the lulav; the lulav represents the heightened daas that Bnei Yisrael receive on Sukkos.

כי השבע השביע כו' והעליתם את עצמותי.

For "he had surely adjured [the children of Israel] … and you shall bring up my bones [from here]" (Shemos 13:19).

Yosef's oath that his bones be "brought up" is read as pointing to an act of raising and elevation.

רמז על הלולב ונענועיו.

This is a hint to the lulav and its waving motions (na'anu'im).

The "bringing up" of Yosef's bones alludes to lifting and waving the lulav in every direction, drawing daas and elevation in all directions.

ובמ"א אבאר עוד מזה בעזה"י:

And elsewhere I will explain more of this, with the help of Heaven.

The Sefas Emes notes that he will develop the idea further in another place.

Summary: Just as Hashem raised Bnei Yisrael above nature after the Exodus so they could not return to Mitzrayim, on Sukkos He raises us in the shade of the sukkah above the sitra achra after our redemption from the yetzer hara; the lulav — alluded to in "you shall take" and in the "raising" of Yosef's bones — embodies the elevating daas of these days, expressed through its waving.