Gathering the inner point on Sukkos

במצות לולב ולקחתם לכם כו'.

Concerning the mitzvah of lulav: "And you shall take for yourselves…" (Vayikra 23:40).

The Sefas Emes opens on the mitzvah of the four species, focusing on the phrase "you shall take for yourselves."

דרשו במדרש על חיבור מיני בני אדם שבישראל אותם שיש להם טעם או ריח כו' ע"ש.

They expounded in the Midrash regarding the joining together of the types of people within Yisrael — those who have "taste" or "fragrance," etc. — see there.

The well-known Midrash reads the four species as the four kinds of Jews, some possessing "taste" (Torah) and some "fragrance" (good deeds), all bound together as one.

ויש לפרש הענין שבחג הזה ניתן דעת לאיש ישראל למצוא ולהכיר מקומו.

And one may explain the matter: that on this Yom Tov a daas (clarity of mind) is given to every member of Yisrael to find and recognize his place.

Sukkos grants each Jew a special clarity to discover and recognize his own proper place and standing.

כאומרו ולקחתם לכם ממש שיקח כל אחד את עצמותו.

As it says, "and you shall take for yourselves" — literally, that each one should take hold of his own essence (atzmus).

"Take for yourselves" means, on a deeper level, that each person should take hold of his own true self and inner essence.

כי הנה חג הזה נקרא חג האסיף שמאסף כל אחד תבואתו לביתו.

For behold, this Yom Tov is called Chag HaAsif (the Festival of Ingathering), when each one gathers his produce into his house.

Sukkos is the harvest festival, when a person brings in his crops from the field into his home — a physical image of an inner gathering.

ושמעתי מפי מו"ז ז"ל כי כמו כן בכל אדם ממש מתברר עתה הנקודה פנימית שבו שמתערבב בכל השנה בהבלי עולם.

And I heard from the mouth of my grandfather, of blessed memory, that likewise in every person, literally, the inner point (nekudah penimis) within him is now clarified — the point that throughout the year becomes mixed up amid the vanities of the world.

The Sefas Emes relays from his grandfather (the Chiddushei HaRim) that just as crops are gathered, so on Sukkos each person's inner point — obscured all year by worldly distractions — is now sifted clear.

ועכשיו שמוטהרין מתברר האוכל מתוך הפסולת כו'.

And now, when we are purified, the food is separated out from the waste, etc.

Having been cleansed through the Yamim Noraim, a person can now separate the "food" — his true inner essence — from the "waste" of worldly admixture.

ויתכן שזה רמז באספך מעשיך ממש. מן השדה היא התערובות.

And it is possible that this is alluded to in "when you gather in your works" (Shemos 23:16) — literally — "from the field," which is the admixture.

"When you gather in your works from the field" hints at this inner ingathering: the "field" represents the mixed, scattered state in which one's deeds lie all year.

כי שדה הוא לשון הפקר כמו עשו איש שדה.

For "field" (sadeh) is an expression of ownerlessness (hefker), as in "Esav, a man of the field" (Bereishis 25:27).

The "field" connotes the unclaimed, unguarded realm — the same association found in Esav, "a man of the field," who lived in unrestrained worldliness.

ואפשר כי הוא ז"ל דיבר מזה. כי עוד דיבר אז על הפסוק בשדה מצאה צעקה הנערה ואין מושיע לה.

And it is possible that he, of blessed memory, was speaking of this, for he also spoke then on the passuk, "in the field he found her; the betrothed maiden cried out, and there was none to save her" (Devarim 22:27).

The Sefas Emes recalls that his grandfather also discussed the passuk of the maiden assaulted "in the field," connecting it to this same theme of the exposed, ownerless realm.

ואחשוב שאמר כי בימי הסוכות שנאספין מן השדה לכן המה ימי ישועה.

And I think that he said that in the days of Sukkos, when we are gathered in from the field, therefore they are days of yeshuah (salvation).

His grandfather taught that since on Sukkos we are gathered in from the exposed "field" into the protected home, these are days of salvation — the soul is rescued from its vulnerable, unguarded state.

ולכך בימים אלו יכול כל איש ישראל למצוא מקומו כנ"ל.

And therefore in these days every member of Yisrael can find his place, as stated above.

Being gathered in from the "field" is precisely what enables each Jew, during Sukkos, to find and settle into his true place.

וכמו שבפרט כל נפש מישראל מתברר עתה האוכל מתוך הפסולת.

And just as, on the individual level, in every soul of Yisrael the food is now separated from the waste —

What happens within each individual — the sifting of essence from dross — has a parallel on the universal scale.

כן בכלל הבריאה מתבררין עובדי ה' בנ"י מתוך הרשעים.

— so too in the whole of creation, the servants of Hashem, Bnei Yisrael, are separated out from among the wicked.

Across all creation the same berur (clarification) unfolds: Bnei Yisrael, who serve Hashem, are sifted out and distinguished from the resha'im.

ולכן באמת ימי המשפט הם לטובת בנ"י.

Therefore, in truth, the days of judgment are for the good of Bnei Yisrael.

This explains why the Yamim Noraim, the days of din, are ultimately for the benefit of Bnei Yisrael — they are the very process of separating the worthy from the unworthy.

כמ"ש לא כן הרשעים כו' כמוץ אשר תדפנו רוח כו' לא יקומו במשפט כו' יודע ה' דרך צדיקים ודרך רשעים תאבד.

As it is written, "Not so the wicked… but like chaff that the wind drives away… the wicked shall not stand in the judgment… Hashem knows the way of the tzaddikim, but the way of the wicked shall perish" (Tehillim 1:4-6).

The Sefas Emes brings the opening psalm: the wicked are like chaff blown away in the judgment, while the way of the tzaddikim is "known" — preserved — by Hashem, exactly the image of separating food from chaff.

וזה עצמו הוא הבירור אוכל מתוך הפסולת.

And this itself is the separation of the food from the waste.

The judgment that scatters the wicked like chaff and preserves the righteous is the very same berur of "food from waste" on the cosmic scale.

שהקב"ה מברר ואוסף מעשיו מן השדה וכונס בנ"י לביתו והיא הסוכה.

For the Holy One clarifies and gathers His works from the field, and brings Bnei Yisrael into His house, which is the sukkah.

Hashem Himself performs the ingathering: He sifts His creations from the "field" and draws Bnei Yisrael into His home — the sukkah — sheltering them in His presence.

ולכן דרשו חז"ל ראשון לחשבון עונות.

Therefore Chazal expounded that [the first day of Sukkos] is "first for the reckoning of sins."

Because the soul has just been gathered in pure and clear, Chazal call the first day of Sukkos the "first for the reckoning of sins" — a fresh start, untouched by new transgression.

דכ' והאלקים עשה את האדם ישר כו' בקשו חשבונות רבים.

As it is written, "And Elokim made man upright, but they sought many calculations" (Koheles 7:29).

Man was created straight and simple; sin enters when he "seeks many calculations" — the convoluted distractions of worldliness that obscure the inner point.

לכן עתה שבנ"י הם נקיים יש לנו ליקח לעבודתו ית"ש. קודם שמתערבין חשבונות רבים מהבלי עולם:

Therefore now, when Bnei Yisrael are clean, we have the opportunity to take hold of His avodah, may His Name be blessed — before the "many calculations" of the vanities of the world become mixed in again.

While Bnei Yisrael are still pure after the Yamim Noraim, this is the moment to "take" — to seize the inner self for the avodah of Hashem — before the year's distractions and "many calculations" once more cloud the inner point.

Summary: On Sukkos, the Festival of Ingathering, just as one gathers crops from the field into the home, each Jew — newly purified by the Yamim Noraim — gathers in his clarified inner point from the scattered "field" of worldliness; "take for yourselves" means take hold of your own essence and place. This individual berur of "food from waste" mirrors the cosmic judgment in which Hashem sifts Bnei Yisrael from the wicked and draws them into His house, the sukkah — and now, while still clean, is the time to seize oneself for Hashem's avodah before the "many calculations" of the world return.