Taking the heart's inner wisdom

איתא לולב לו לב.

It is taught: "lulav" — [read as] "lo lev (to him a heart)."

The Sefas Emes opens with a wordplay: the word "lulav" can be broken into "lo lev," alluding to the heart — the inner organ that receives.

כי בנ"י מקבלין פנימיות השפע הבאה משמים.

For Bnei Yisrael receive the inner essence of the bounty that comes from Heaven.

Bnei Yisrael are distinguished by drawing in the penimiyus — the inner spiritual core — of whatever flows down from Heaven.

כדאיתא בזוה"ק פינחס שדומין ללב שאינו מקבל פסולת רק הדק והרוחניות מהמאכלים.

As is taught in the Zohar HaKadosh on Pinchas, that they resemble the heart, which does not accept waste but only the fine and spiritual [essence] of the foods.

Just as the heart, in the Zohar's image, receives only the most refined and rarified extract of nourishment and rejects the waste, so Bnei Yisrael absorb only the spiritual essence of the divine bounty.

ולכן ולקחתם לכם שבנ"י עיקר מבוקש שלהם לקבל הדעת וחכמה.

Therefore, "and you shall take for yourselves" (Vayikra 23:40) — for the main desire of Bnei Yisrael is to receive da'as (knowledge) and chochmah (wisdom).

The command "and you shall take for yourselves" the lulav hints that what Bnei Yisrael truly seek to "take" is da'as and chochmah — inner connection to Hashem, not material things.

כמ"ש לקח טוב נתתי לכם.

As it says, "For I have given you a good acquisition (lekach tov)" (Mishlei 4:2).

The "good lekach" that Hashem gives — the Torah — is the true "taking" that Bnei Yisrael long for, echoing the word "ulkachtem (and you shall take)."

וכן איתא בשלמה המלך כשאמר לו הקב"ה שאל מה אתן לך ביקש לב שומע.

And so it is taught regarding Shlomo HaMelech: when Hashem said to him, "Ask what I shall give you," he requested a "lev shomea (an understanding heart)" (Melachim I 3:5,9).

When offered anything, Shlomo asked only for an understanding heart — embodying the same ideal that the deepest request of a Yid is for inner wisdom, the "heart."

ובמד' משל החכם שביקש בתו של מלך והכל בכלל.

And in the Midrash, the parable of the wise man who requested the king's daughter — and everything is included in it.

The Midrash compares Shlomo to a clever person who asks the king for his daughter, knowing that with her comes everything else. By asking for wisdom (the "heart"), Shlomo effectively obtained all blessings.

והרמז על כח הנשמה חלק אלוקי ממעל.

And the hint is to the power of the neshamah, "a portion of God from above."

The "heart" and "wisdom" point to the neshamah itself — the divine portion within every Yid that yearns to reconnect with its Source.

ועל התורה כדאיתא במד' כשנתן הקב"ה התורה לישראל. אמר לפרוש ממנה אי אפשר אלא קיטון אחת עשה לי שאדור ביניכם.

And [the hint is] to the Torah, as is taught in the Midrash: when Hashem gave the Torah to Yisrael, He said, "To part from it is impossible; rather, make Me one small chamber that I may dwell among you."

The Midrash pictures the Torah as Hashem's beloved "daughter"; unwilling to be separated from her, He asks Yisrael to make Him a small dwelling so He can remain among them — the Mishkan, and by extension the sukkah.

וע"ז ביקש דוד המע"ה אחת שאלתי כו' שבתי בבית ה' כו' לחזות בנועם ה'.

Concerning this, David HaMelech requested, "One thing I ask... that I dwell in the house of Hashem... to behold the pleasantness of Hashem" (Tehillim 27:4).

David's single request — to dwell in Hashem's house and behold His pleasantness — expresses the same longing: to be in Hashem's intimate "chamber," basking in closeness to Him.

וזה מתקיים במצות סוכה.

And this is fulfilled through the mitzvah of sukkah.

This yearning to dwell with Hashem is actually realized through the mitzvah of sukkah, where one literally enters Hashem's "chamber."

ולכן נתקן קהלת בסוכות לההביל כל הבלי עולם ולבקש תיקון הנפש.

Therefore it was instituted to read Koheles on Sukkos — to declare as vanity all the vanities of the world and to seek the rectification of the soul.

Koheles, read on Sukkos, dismisses all worldly pursuits as "vanity," redirecting a person away from material things toward the true goal — the tikkun of the nefesh and closeness to Hashem.

וזה ולקחתם לכם לעצמכם:

And this is "and you shall take for yourselves" — for your own selves.

"And you shall take for yourselves" ultimately means: take for your true selves — your neshamah — the inner wisdom and closeness to Hashem that is the real acquisition of Sukkos.

Summary: "Lulav" hints at "lo lev (a heart)," for Bnei Yisrael are like the heart, which absorbs only the refined, spiritual essence of what comes from Heaven. The deepest desire of a Yid — like Shlomo asking only for an "understanding heart" and David asking only to dwell in Hashem's house — is to receive da'as and chochmah, closeness to Hashem and to one's own divine neshamah. This longing to dwell in Hashem's "chamber" is fulfilled through the mitzvah of sukkah, and Koheles is read to dismiss worldly vanities and refocus on the true acquisition: "take for yourselves" the inner connection to Hashem.