Lulav and sukkah as receiving and refining da'as

במצות הלולב ומיניו.

Concerning the mitzvah of the lulav and its species.

The Sefas Emes turns to the mitzvah of the four minim, taken together with the lulav.

שמעתי מפי מו"ז ז"ל כי במצות סוכה בא שפע הדעת כמ"ש למען ידעו.

I heard from my grandfather, of blessed memory, that through the mitzvah of sukkah a flow of da'as (divine awareness) comes down, as it is written: "so that your generations shall know" (Vayikra 23:43).

In the name of his grandfather (the Chiddushei HaRim): the sukkah is a conduit through which an abundance of da'as — the knowledge that Hashem sheltered us — is bestowed from Above, as the Torah states the purpose of the sukkah is "so that they shall know."

ובלולב מקבלין בנ"י הדעת כמ"ש ולקחתם ומובן ביותר לפי מה ששמעתי ממנו ז"ל פי' לקח טוב נתתי לכם.

And through the lulav Bnei Yisrael receive that da'as, as it is written "And you shall take (u'lkachtem)" (Vayikra 23:40) — and this is understood all the more according to what I heard from him, of blessed memory, on the verse "For I have given you a good acquisition (lekach tov)" (Mishlei 4:2).

If the sukkah pours down da'as, the lulav is how we actively "take" and receive it — the word u'lkachtem means "taking." This connects to his grandfather's teaching on "a good lekach (acquisition) I have given you."

כי השי"ת מלבד שנתן לנו התורה גם הלקיחה שלנו הוא מסייע לנו להיות כלים לקבל הטוב.

For Hashem, besides having given us the Torah, also assists our very "taking," so that we become vessels fit to receive the good.

Hashem not only gives the gift but also empowers our act of receiving it; He helps us make ourselves into kelim (vessels) capable of holding the good He bestows.

ודפח"ח.

And these are words of the living God (a beautiful teaching).

An expression of praise for his grandfather's insight.

וכן הוא במצות ולקחתם שנתן לנו לולב ומיניו להודיענו כיצד יכול כ"א לקבל הדעת.

And so it is with the mitzvah of "And you shall take" — that He gave us the lulav and its species to make known to us how each person is able to receive the da'as.

The four minim are a practical instruction: by giving us this physical mitzvah of "taking," Hashem teaches every individual the means by which he can absorb the divine da'as.

זה בכח התורה וזה בכח המצות.

This one through the power of the Torah, and that one through the power of the mitzvos.

There are two channels for receiving da'as: the sukkah works through the power of Torah, and the lulav works through the power of mitzvos — the active deed.

והם כנגד האיברים כמ"ש במד'.

And they correspond to the limbs (of the body), as stated in the Midrash.

The Midrash maps the four minim onto parts of the body (the lulav-spine, the hadas-eyes, the aravah-lips, the esrog-heart), showing that this mitzvah engages and refines the physical body itself.

ואיתא כי לולב ומיניו הם מאני קרבא.

And it is brought that the lulav and its species are "weapons of war" (ma'anei k'rava).

The Midrash also calls the four minim implements of battle — held aloft in victory, they represent Yisrael's triumph in the spiritual war.

והענין הוא כי הוא תיקון בחי' הגוף.

And the matter is that it is a rectification (tikkun) of the aspect of the body.

Because the four minim are taken in the hand and correspond to the limbs, their deeper purpose is the tikkun — the elevation and repair — of the physical body.

כי הסוכה הוא שם ה' שנקרא עלינו בחי' תש"ר וראו כל עמי הארץ כו' שם ה' נקרא עליך.

For the sukkah is the Name of Hashem that is called upon us — the aspect of the tefillin of the head (tefillin shel rosh) — as in "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the Name of Hashem is called upon you" (Devarim 28:10).

The sukkah envelops a person from above and around, like the tefillin shel rosh and like Hashem's Name proclaimed over us; it represents an encompassing kedushah that surrounds the person.

ולולב הוא בחי' תש"י.

And the lulav is the aspect of the tefillin of the hand (tefillin shel yad).

The lulav, taken in the hand, parallels the tefillin shel yad — kedushah drawn down into action and deed rather than surrounding from above.

ולקחתם ביד ובזה הוא המלחמה כמ"ש והידים ידי עשו [לכן בשבת אין צריכין לולב שהיא יומא דנשמתין ולאו דגופא והיא יום מנוחה].

"And you shall take" — in the hand — and it is with this that the battle is waged, as it is written "but the hands are the hands of Esav" (Bereishis 27:22). [Therefore on Shabbos the lulav is not needed, for it is a day of neshamos and not of the body, and it is a day of rest.]

The "hands" are the arena of struggle, the domain Esav claims; by taking the lulav in hand we sanctify the very faculty of action and win the battle for the body. On Shabbos, however — a day of the neshamah and of rest, not of the body's exertion — this battle-tikkun of the hand is unnecessary, which is why the lulav is set aside.

ועל שנים אלו דורש במדרש הבונה בשמים כו'.

And upon these two the Midrash expounds the verse "He who builds His upper chambers in the heavens..." (Amos 9:6).

The two aspects — encompassing kedushah and active kedushah — are reflected in this pasuk, whose two clauses the Midrash applies respectively to the sukkah (above) and the lulav (below).

ואגודתו על ארץ הוא לולב ומיניו.

"And He founded His bundle (agudaso) upon the earth" — this is the lulav and its species.

The phrase "His bundle upon the earth" alludes to the lulav and its minim, which are bound together as an "agudah" (bundle) and held in the hand here below.

וכתיב ויהי נועם ה' כו' הוא בחי' הסוכה ומעשה ידינו הוא בחי' הלולב:

And it is written "May the pleasantness of Hashem... be upon us" (Tehillim 90:17) — this is the aspect of the sukkah; and "establish the work of our hands" — this is the aspect of the lulav.

The same pasuk holds both aspects: "the pleasantness of Hashem upon us" is the encompassing light of the sukkah from above, while "the work of our hands" is the lulav — kedushah brought into our own active deeds.

Summary: The sukkah pours down a flow of da'as from above (the aspect of tefillin shel rosh, encompassing kedushah, "the pleasantness of Hashem upon us"), while the lulav is how Bnei Yisrael actively "take" and receive that da'as through deed (the aspect of tefillin shel yad, "the work of our hands"). Bound in the hand and corresponding to the body's limbs, the four minim are "weapons of war" that win the battle for the body and effect its tikkun — a struggle of the hands that is set aside on Shabbos, the day of the neshamah and of rest.