The sukkah, berur, and the daas of redemption

מצות הסוכה מיוחסת לבחי' אברהם אבינו ע"ה ולאהרן הכהן.

The mitzvah of the sukkah is associated with the aspect of Avraham Avinu, peace be upon him, and with Aharon HaKohen.

The Sefas Emes opens by linking the sukkah to two figures: Avraham, the first of the patriarchs, and Aharon, the kohen — both connected to the Ushpizin who visit the sukkah and to the chesed the sukkah embodies.

ועל שניהם נאמר זכרתי לך חסד נעוריך הוא בחי' אברהם הראשון שבקדושה.

And about both of them it is said: "I remember for you the chesed of your youth" (Yirmiyahu 2:2) — this is the aspect of Avraham, the first one in kedushah.

"The chesed of your youth" refers to Avraham, the first person to enter the realm of holiness through his loving-kindness — the foundation of all later avodah.

ואהבת כלולותיך היא בחי' אהרן הכהן שבא מכללות בנ"י.

"The love of your bridal days" is the aspect of Aharon HaKohen, who comes from the totality (klalus) of Bnei Yisrael.

"The love of your bridal days" (kelulosayich) hints at Aharon, whose name and role represent the collective whole (klalus) of the nation, drawing all of Bnei Yisrael together.

לכתך אחרי במדבר כמ"ש לך לך בפרט וכן בכלל בני ישראל שנמשכו למדבר.

"Your going after Me in the wilderness" (Yirmiyahu 2:2) — as it is said "Lech lecha" to the individual, and likewise to the whole of Bnei Yisrael who were drawn after Him into the wilderness.

The pasuk's praise of following Hashem into the desert applies on two levels: individually, as Avraham was told "Lech lecha," go forth; and collectively, as all of Bnei Yisrael were drawn after Hashem into the wilderness without provisions.

והוא עדות שבנ"י יש להם דביקות בעצמותם בו ית'.

And this is testimony that Bnei Yisrael have a deveikus in their very essence to Him, may He be blessed.

This readiness to follow Hashem into the barren desert testifies that Bnei Yisrael are bound to Hashem in their innermost essence, not merely by calculation.

והנה כמו שבסדר הבריאה כך הי'.

Now, just as it was in the order of Creation, so it was.

The Sefas Emes now draws a parallel between the historical unfolding of holiness and the pattern of the year.

מקודם הי' אברהם אע"ה בתוך כל האומות ואח"כ נבחר כמ"ש לך לך.

First Avraham Avinu was in the midst of all the nations, and afterward he was chosen, as it says "Lech lecha."

Avraham began embedded among all the nations of the world, and only afterward was singled out and chosen, with the call of "Lech lecha."

ובמד' מה הי' לו ליחס שם עבר כו' ומצאת את לבבו נאמן כו' ע"ש ס"פ נח.

And in the Midrash: why was Avraham traced to Shem and Ever... "and You found his heart faithful before You"... see there at the end of Parshas Noach.

The Midrash explains how Avraham was selected from among the descendants of Shem and Ever, because Hashem found his heart faithful — a process of sifting and choosing, mirroring the theme of berur (selection) that follows.

כמו כן בחודש השביעי בר"ה כל באי עולם עוברין לפניו.

So too, in the seventh month, on Rosh Hashanah, all who come into the world pass before Him.

The same pattern recurs annually: on Rosh Hashanah every creature in the world passes in judgment before Hashem, just as the nations were first gathered before Avraham was chosen.

ומה צורך לכולם רק למצוא את המרגליות.

And what need is there for all of them? Only to find the pearls.

Why must the entire world be passed in review? In order to find and bring forth the precious pearls — Bnei Yisrael — from among the whole.

ואז נאספין בנ"י לסוכות ומשליכין הצרורות.

And then Bnei Yisrael are gathered into the sukkos, and the pebbles are cast away.

Once the precious pearls have been found, Bnei Yisrael are gathered into the protective embrace of the sukkah, while the worthless "pebbles" — the dross — are discarded.

וזה ענין חג האסיף.

And this is the matter of the Festival of Ingathering (Chag HaAsif).

This is the inner meaning of Sukkos being called the festival of "gathering in" — it is the ingathering of the precious ones after the sifting of judgment.

כדאיתא במד' המוץ והתבן מדיינין בשבילנו נזרעה השדה ואח"כ כשבא הגורן וזורין המוץ ברוח ומכניסין הדגן נתברר מי הוא העיקר.

As it is brought in the Midrash: the chaff and the straw argue, "the field was sown for our sake," but afterward, when the threshing-floor comes and the chaff is winnowed in the wind and the grain is brought in, it becomes clarified which is the essential one.

The Midrash's parable: chaff and straw boast that the field was planted for them, but at the threshing floor the chaff blows away in the wind while the grain is gathered in — proving that the grain was the true purpose all along. So too the nations and Bnei Yisrael.

וכל זה הבירור נגמר בר"ה ויוהכ"פ רשעים נחתמין למיתה.

And all this berur (selection) is completed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: the wicked are sealed for death.

The entire process of sifting reaches its conclusion on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when judgment is finalized.

ועמך כולם צדיקים ישבו בסוכות.

"And Your people are all tzaddikim" (Yeshayahu 60:21) — they dwell in the sukkos.

After the berur, the verse "Your people are all tzaddikim" is fulfilled, and they enter to dwell in the sukkah, the refined ones gathered in.

וכן הי' באמת במצרים שנתברר הפסולת מבנ"י כמ"ש מכור הברזל ממצרים.

And so it truly was in Mitzrayim, where the dross was separated out from Bnei Yisrael, as it says "from the iron furnace, from Mitzrayim" (Devarim 4:20).

The same refining happened in Egypt: Mitzrayim was an "iron furnace" that purified Bnei Yisrael, burning away the dross so that only the refined nation emerged.

ובנ"י נמשכו אחר ענן ה' במדבר.

And Bnei Yisrael were drawn after the cloud of Hashem in the wilderness.

Having been refined, Bnei Yisrael followed the Ananei HaKavod (clouds of glory) into the wilderness — the very deveikus the sukkah commemorates.

ולכאורה הי' צריך להיות חג הסוכות תיכף אחר חג המצות קודם חג השבועות שכן ישבו בסוכות קודם קבלת התורה.

And seemingly Sukkos should have come immediately after Pesach, before Shavuos, since they dwelt in sukkos before the receiving of the Torah.

The Sefas Emes raises a chronological difficulty: historically the clouds surrounded them right after leaving Egypt, before Matan Torah — so why is Sukkos placed in Tishrei, months after Pesach and Shavuos?

אכן נראה דהיינו דכתיב למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי כו'.

However, it appears that this is the meaning of what is written: "So that your generations should know that I caused [Bnei Yisrael] to dwell in sukkos" (Vayikra 23:43).

The key word is "so that they should know." The purpose of Sukkos is not merely to mark the historical event but to attain a deeper knowing of it — and that knowing comes only afterward.

דהנה כ' משכני אחריך נרוצה כו'.

For it is written: "Draw me, we will run after You" (Shir HaShirim 1:4).

This pasuk expresses the initial stage: an instinctive being-drawn after Hashem, a running after Him without full understanding.

ובמד' נמשכנו אחריך כבהמה.

And in the Midrash: "we were drawn after You like an animal."

The Midrash describes this first stage as following Hashem with the simple, unquestioning instinct of an animal — pure but not yet illuminated by understanding.

שזה הי' עיקר רוב החביבות שנמשכו בנ"י למדבר קודם שהי' להם דעת השלימה.

For this was the essence of the great preciousness: that Bnei Yisrael were drawn after Him into the wilderness before they had complete daas (understanding).

The supreme expression of their love was precisely this — they followed Hashem into the desert out of pure devotion, before they possessed full daas to grasp where they were going.

ואח"כ הביאני המלך חדריו נגילה.

And afterward: "The King brought me into His chambers, we will rejoice" (Shir HaShirim 1:4).

Only later did the second stage come — being brought into the King's inner chambers, the stage of mature understanding and joy.

והבינו בנ"י אח"כ למפרע מה שנעשה ביצ"מ ובכל המסעות במדבר.

And afterward Bnei Yisrael understood retroactively what had taken place at Yetzias Mitzrayim and in all the journeys in the wilderness.

With this later daas, Bnei Yisrael could look back and comprehend, in hindsight, the meaning of the Exodus and all their travels through the desert.

לכן בסוף הארבעים שנה חזר מרע"ה אלה מסעי כו' שנעשה פרשיות בתורה מכל המסעות.

Therefore, at the end of the forty years, Moshe Rabbeinu reviewed "These are the journeys" (Bamidbar 33:1), so that whole portions of the Torah were made from all the journeys.

This is why only at the end of the forty years did Moshe Rabbeinu enumerate all the journeys — by then the events could be understood and recorded as enduring Torah, since the full daas had finally arrived.

וזכר עשה לנפלאותיו אשר גם בכל שנה ושנה מתחדש כ"ז.

"He made a remembrance for His wonders" (Tehillim 111:4) — for all of this is renewed in every single year.

Hashem embedded these events as a yearly remembrance, so that the same spiritual process unfolds anew each year through the cycle of the festivals.

מתחלת חג המצות יציאת מצרים והספירה הוא משכני אחריך כו'.

From the beginning: Chag HaMatzos is Yetzias Mitzrayim, and the Sefirah is "Draw me after You."

The yearly cycle replays it: Pesach is the Exodus, and the counting of Sefiras HaOmer is the stage of "draw me, we will run after You" — being drawn forward before full understanding.

ואח"כ קבלת התורה.

And afterward, the receiving of the Torah.

Shavuos then corresponds to Kabbalas HaTorah, the giving of the Torah at Sinai.

ובחג האסיף מתחדש הדעת מיצ"מ וז"ש למען ידעו.

And on Chag HaAsif the daas about Yetzias Mitzrayim is renewed, and this is "so that they should know."

Sukkos, the festival of ingathering, is when the mature understanding of the Exodus is renewed — fulfilling "so that your generations should know," the retroactive comprehension that the sukkah is meant to instill.

ושמ"ע ושמחת תורה כמו שהי' משנה תורה אחר כל מ' שנה שבמדבר.

And Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah are like the Mishneh Torah (the review of the Torah) that came after all the forty years in the wilderness.

Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah parallel Sefer Devarim, Moshe's review of the Torah at the end of the forty years — the culmination of full understanding and rejoicing over the Torah.

והנה בעוד היינו במצרים הבטיחנו הקב"ה וב"ש והוצאתי והצלתי כו' וידעתם כי אני ה'.

Now, while we were still in Mitzrayim, Hashem, blessed is He, promised us: "I will take you out and I will rescue you... and you shall know that I am Hashem" (Shemos 6:6-7).

Even while in Egypt, Hashem promised the four expressions of redemption, culminating in "you shall know that I am Hashem" — the very daas that would only be fully grasped much later.

כתבו חז"ל עבידנא לכו מילתא דתדעון דאנא הוא דאפיקת יתכון כו'.

Chazal wrote: "I will do a thing for you by which you will know that it is I who took you out," etc.

Chazal paraphrase Hashem's assurance: I will perform something through which you will come to know with certainty that it was I who redeemed you — pointing again to the goal of daas.

ושם כתיב ולא שמעו אל משה מקוצר רוח כו'.

And there it is written: "But they did not listen to Moshe, because of shortness of spirit" (Shemos 6:9).

At that moment, however, the people could not absorb the promise, because their crushed spirit under bondage left no room for such understanding.

אך המגיד מראשית אחרית לא לחנם שלח לנו הבטחה זאת.

But the One "who tells the end from the beginning" (Yeshayahu 46:10) did not send us this promise in vain.

Hashem, who knows the end from the very beginning, did not give this promise for nothing, even though it could not be grasped at the time.

ונתקיימו אח"כ אלה הלשונות של גאולה.

And afterward these expressions of redemption were fulfilled.

In due time the four leshonos of geulah were realized in full.

וידעו והבינו בנ"י כל פרטי הגאולה.

And Bnei Yisrael knew and understood all the details of the redemption.

Eventually Bnei Yisrael attained the promised daas, understanding every detail of the geulah in hindsight.

ולא זאת דור המדבר רק בכל שנה ושנה מתקיים ידיעה זאת ז"ש למען ידעו.

And this was not only the generation of the wilderness; rather, in every single year this knowing is fulfilled, and this is "so that they should know."

This attainment of daas is not a one-time event of the desert generation; it renews itself every year, which is the deeper meaning of "so that your generations should know."

ובלקיחת ד' מינים מקבלים הדעת בפרטי הדיעות של בנ"י.

And in the taking of the Four Species, we receive the daas in the particular distinctions among Bnei Yisrael.

Through the mitzvah of the Arba Minim we draw down this daas, which also reflects the differing levels and types within Bnei Yisrael.

כמ"ש חז"ל יש בבנ"י שיש להם טעם וריח כו'.

As Chazal said: there are among Bnei Yisrael those who have taste and fragrance, etc.

The Midrash on the Four Species describes categories of Jews — those with both taste and fragrance (Torah and good deeds), those with only one, and those with neither — corresponding to the esrog, lulav, hadas, and aravah.

והם זכר לד' לשונות של גאולה כי בודאי בגלות זה לעומת זה הי' הד' גזירות ג"כ יש בטעם ויש בלי טעם.

And they are a remembrance of the four expressions of redemption, for surely in the galus, "this corresponding to that," there were also the four decrees — some with reason (taste) and some without reason.

The four types of species recall the four leshonos of geulah; and corresponding to them, "zeh le'umas zeh," the galus contained four harsh decrees — some comprehensible and some seemingly without any rationale.

והכלל כי הקב"ה שילם לנו ככל היסורים שהי' במצרים כמ"ש בפסוק כאשר יענו כו' כן ירבה ע"ש במ"א:

And the principle is that Hashem repaid us measure for measure for all the suffering that was in Mitzrayim, as it says in the pasuk "as they afflicted them, so they multiplied" (Shemos 1:12), see elsewhere.

The overarching rule is that Hashem compensated Bnei Yisrael, blessing for affliction, in exact measure to all they had suffered in Egypt — the more they were oppressed, the more they ultimately flourished and received.

Summary: The Sefas Emes explains the sukkah through the themes of chesed (Avraham and Aharon), berur (the sifting of the precious "pearls" of Bnei Yisrael from the chaff of the nations, completed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and daas. He resolves why Sukkos falls in Tishrei rather than right after Pesach: the dwelling in the clouds was first an instinctive being-drawn after Hashem "like an animal," before full understanding; only later, "the King brought me into His chambers," did Bnei Yisrael grasp it retroactively. Sukkos is therefore "so that they should know" — the yearly renewal of mature daas about Yetzias Mitzrayim, mirrored in the festival cycle (Pesach, Sefirah, Shavuos, Sukkos, Simchas Torah), in the four leshonos of geulah, and in the Four Species. The whole is governed by Hashem's measure-for-measure repayment of all the suffering of Mitzrayim with corresponding blessing.