Sukkah Shelters the Gathered Sparks

בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים פי' בזוה"ק על האושפיזין.

"In sukkos you shall dwell seven days" (Vayikra 23:42) — the Zohar HaKadosh explains this regarding the Ushpizin (the exalted guests).

The Zohar reads the command to dwell in the sukkah as also speaking of the seven holy guests — Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov and the others — who come to dwell with us.

ובאמת הוא מצוה שצוה אותנו הקב"ה שבכחנו להושיב האושפיזין בסוכה לכן אומרים תיבו אושפיזין ע"י שמקיימים המצוה לשמו ית' שורה הקדושה בסוכה.

In truth this is a mitzvah that the Holy One commanded us, for it is within our power to seat the Ushpizin in the sukkah; therefore we say "Tivu ushpizin" ("be seated, holy guests") — for by fulfilling the mitzvah for His Name's sake, the kedushah rests in the sukkah.

It lies in our hands to draw down these guests: when we keep the mitzvah lishmah, holiness settles in the sukkah and we invite the Ushpizin to take their seats.

כמ"ש ז"ל שחל שם שמים על הסוכה.

As Chazal said, that the Name of Heaven rests upon the sukkah.

Chazal teach that Hashem's very Name dwells upon the sukkah, investing it with sanctity.

והוא מעין השראת השכינה.

And this is a semblance of the resting of the Shechinah.

The kedushah of the sukkah is a taste of hashra'as haShechinah, the indwelling of Hashem's Presence.

דהנה בר"ה ויוהכ"פ מבקשין בנ"י על התגלות מלכותו ית' בעולם.

For behold, on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur Bnei Yisrael request the revelation of His malchus (kingship) in the world.

The whole avodah of the Yamim Nora'im is the plea that Hashem's sovereignty become revealed throughout the world.

כי עיקר שכינה בתחתונים היה וע"י הרשעים עלתה למעלה.

For the essential place of the Shechinah was among those below, but on account of the resha'im it ascended above.

Originally the Shechinah dwelt here in the lower world; the sins of the wicked drove it upward, removing it from its place.

ובנ"י בזמן המקדש זכו להוריד השכינה למטה.

And Bnei Yisrael, in the time of the Mikdash, merited to bring the Shechinah back down below.

Through the Bais Hamikdash, Bnei Yisrael drew the Divine Presence back into this world.

וכמ"ש בצלו חמדתי וישבתי.

As it is written: "In His shade I delighted and sat" (Shir HaShirim 2:3).

The passuk expresses the longing of Bnei Yisrael to sit in the protective "shade" of Hashem — hinted at in the shade of the sukkah.

וכמו כן עתה אעפ"י שאין זוכין להתגלות השכינה בפרהסיא.

And likewise now, even though we do not merit the open, public revelation of the Shechinah.

In our times of galus the Presence is not revealed openly as it was in the Mikdash.

מ"מ כפי הבקשות בלב שלם בר"ה וביוהכ"פ ומתקיים בצלו חמדתי.

Nevertheless, in accordance with the wholehearted requests on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, "In His shade I delighted" is fulfilled.

The sincere pleas of the Yamim Nora'im accomplish their work, and the yearning "in His shade I delighted" comes true.

כן בסוכה וישבתי.

So too, in the sukkah, "and I sat."

The fulfillment "and I sat" is realized on Sukkos, when we actually sit within the Divine shade.

ובר"ה הוא כשושנה בין החוחים.

And Rosh Hashanah is "like a rose among the thorns" (Shir HaShirim 2:2).

On Rosh Hashanah Bnei Yisrael are like a rose set among thorns — surrounded and concealed, not yet openly revealed.

שבנ"י מתפללין בכלל כל הברואים לכן הוא בכסה שושנה אטומה.

For Bnei Yisrael pray together with all created beings; therefore it is "on the covered day" (Tehillim 81:4) — a closed-up rose.

On Rosh Hashanah, when all creation is being judged, Bnei Yisrael's distinctiveness is concealed — the "covered" day, a rose still sealed shut, the keseh of Rosh Hashanah.

ובסוכות יש התגלות הקדושה בבנ"י.

But on Sukkos there is a revelation of kedushah within Bnei Yisrael.

By Sukkos the sealed rose opens: the holiness that was concealed on Rosh Hashanah now becomes revealed in Bnei Yisrael.

והנה בכל שנה יש בחירה חדשה משמים לבנ"י.

Now, every year there is a fresh choosing of Bnei Yisrael from Heaven.

Each year Hashem renews His choice of Bnei Yisrael, selecting them anew.

כמ"ש במד' ואבדיל אתכם כו' בורר וחוזר ובורר.

As the Midrash says on "And I have separated you [from the nations]" (Vayikra 20:26) — He sorts and sorts again.

The Midrash pictures Hashem repeatedly sifting and separating Bnei Yisrael, a continual process of clarification (berur).

ומסתמא בכל שנה מוציאין בנ"י נצוצי קדושה מכל האומות.

And surely each year Bnei Yisrael extract sparks of holiness (nitzotzei kedushah) from all the nations.

Every year Bnei Yisrael draw out the holy sparks scattered among the nations, redeeming them.

שזה תכלית הגלות עד שיתבררו כל הבירורים ויהי' תיקון השלם במהרה בימינו אמן.

For this is the purpose of the galus — until all the clarifications are completed and the complete tikkun comes, speedily in our days, Amen.

The very reason for galus is to allow Bnei Yisrael to gather these scattered sparks from among the nations, until every berur is finished and the full rectification arrives.

ולכן כמו שכתוב ביצ"מ וגם ערב רב עלו ולכן ויהי בשלח כו' ויסב אלקים כו'.

Therefore, just as it is written regarding Yetzias Mitzrayim, "and also a great mixed multitude (erev rav) went up" (Shemos 12:38), and hence "and it was, when Pharaoh sent… and Elokim led the people around (vayasev)" (Shemos 13:17-18).

Because the mixed multitude — sparks drawn out of Egypt — went up with Bnei Yisrael, Hashem led them by a roundabout way, protecting and surrounding them on their journey.

כמו כן יש עתה ימי הסוכות להגן על אותן הניצוצות שנתדבקו בבנ"י.

So too now there are the days of Sukkos, to shield those sparks that have become attached to Bnei Yisrael.

The encompassing shade of the sukkah serves to protect the holy sparks newly gathered into Bnei Yisrael over the past year.

וזהו עצמו ענין הע' פרים בחג.

And this itself is the matter of the seventy bulls (parim) on the festival.

The seventy bulls offered over Sukkos correspond to the seventy nations, and through them Bnei Yisrael act to elevate the sparks bound up within those nations.

וזהו הרמז ביעקב ולמקנהו עשה סוכות.

And this is the hint in Yaakov: "and for his livestock he made sukkos" (Bereishis 33:17).

Yaakov's making of "sukkos" for his possessions is a remez to this very avodah of guarding the sparks.

על הרכוש שעשה יעקב אבינו בחו"ל והוציא משם בירורים לכן עשה סוכות.

Regarding the wealth that Yaakov Avinu acquired outside the Land, from which he drew out clarifications (berurim) — therefore he made sukkos.

The property Yaakov amassed in Lavan's house contained holy sparks he had refined; to shelter and protect those berurim he made sukkos.

מעין זה יש בכל שנה ושנה:

A semblance of this exists in each and every year.

This same dynamic — extracting and then sheltering holy sparks — recurs annually in the days of Sukkos.

Summary: By fulfilling the mitzvah of sukkah lishmah we draw the Ushpizin and the kedushah of the Shechinah into the sukkah, a semblance of the indwelling Presence that once filled the Mikdash. The wholehearted pleas of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, where Bnei Yisrael are still a "covered rose," ripen on Sukkos into a revealed holiness — "in His shade I delighted and sat." Each year Hashem chooses Bnei Yisrael anew and they extract holy sparks from the nations (the purpose of galus, hinted in the erev rav and the seventy bulls); the sukkah, like the sukkos Yaakov made for the wealth he refined by Lavan, shelters those sparks until the complete tikkun.