Sukkah as renewal of the true human form

מצות הסוכה אחר ימי התשובה שנעשין כברי' חדשה ומתחיל בנין חדש.

The mitzvah of the sukkah comes after the days of teshuvah, when we are made like a new creation and a new building begins.

After the avodah of the Yamim Noraim, Bnei Yisrael are reborn — and Sukkos is the start of constructing a fresh edifice upon that renewal.

ועולם חסד יבנה ומאיר בחי' אברהם אע"ה כמ"ש מי העיר ממזרח.

"The world is built through chessed (kindness)" — and the aspect of Avraham Avinu shines forth, as it is written: "Who awakened one from the east."

This new building is founded on chessed, the trait of Avraham (Tehillim 89:3), whose light of kindness now illuminates the renewed world (Yeshayahu 41:2).

ולכן אהרן הכהן ע"ה בכח התשובה זכה לחסד אברהם.

Therefore Aharon HaKohen, through the power of teshuvah, merited the chessed of Avraham.

Because Aharon embodied teshuvah and bringing people close, he became a vessel for that same Avraham-like kindness.

והוא הגנת הענני הכבוד.

And this is the protection of the ananei hakavod (clouds of glory).

The clouds that sheltered Bnei Yisrael in the wilderness — which the sukkah commemorates — came in Aharon's merit, an expression of that protective chessed.

וכבר כתבנו כי יוהכ"פ הוא בחי' המילה שאברהם אע"ה נימול ביוהכ"פ וכתיב אחר המילה והוא יושב פתח האהל.

And we have already written that Yom Kippur is the aspect of milah (circumcision), for Avraham Avinu was circumcised on Yom Kippur, and it is written after the milah: "And he was sitting at the entrance of the tent."

Yom Kippur parallels the bris milah of Avraham; both open a person up, just as the pasuk describes Avraham sitting at the "opening" of his tent after his milah (Bereishis 18:1).

ובמד' שם פתח טוב פתחת והיא פתיחת הארה מעוה"ב.

And in the Midrash there: "A good opening you have opened" — and this is the opening of illumination from the World to Come.

The Midrash reads "pesach" (entrance/opening) as Hashem telling Avraham he opened a good opening — a channel through which the light of Olam Haba begins to shine into this world.

וכמו כן באהרן כתיב פתח אהל מועד תשבו יומם כו'.

And likewise regarding Aharon it is written: "At the entrance of the Ohel Moed you shall dwell day [and night]…"

The same word "pesach" (entrance) appears by Aharon and his sons, who were to remain at the opening of the Ohel Moed (Vayikra 8:35) — linking him too to this opening of light.

ולמדו חז"ל מצות סוכה תשבו תשבו גז"ש מאהרן.

And Chazal derived the mitzvah of sukkah by a gezeirah shavah — "teishvu" / "teishvu" — from Aharon.

The word "you shall dwell" (teishvu) used for the sukkah is linked, by the rule of identical expressions, to the "teishvu" said of Aharon — tying the sukkah directly to him.

והכל ענין אחד שחל שם שמים על הסוכה.

And it is all one matter: that the Name of Heaven rests upon the sukkah.

All these threads converge to show that the Shem Shomayim — the Divine Presence — dwells upon the sukkah, sanctifying it.

והיא הארה מגן עדן דכתיב וישם שם את האדם אשר יצר ואיתא במד' בלבד ביצירה זו.

And it is an illumination from Gan Eden, as it is written: "And He placed there the man whom He had formed," and it is brought in the Midrash: only through this [particular] forming.

The sukkah radiates the light of Gan Eden, into which Adam was placed (Bereishis 2:8); the Midrash stresses he entered specifically through this manner of "yetzirah" (forming).

דכתיב וייצר ב' יצירות וכשזוכין לצורה האמיתית זוכין לגן עדן ששייך לצורת האדם.

For it is written "vayyitzer" with two yuds — two formings — and when one merits the true form, one merits Gan Eden, which belongs to the [true] form of man.

The double "yud" in "vayyitzer" (Bereishis 2:7) hints at two formations within man; achieving one's true tzurah (form) earns Gan Eden, which corresponds to that authentic human form.

ובאמת צורת צלם אלקים נשלם ע"י המילה.

And in truth the form of the tzelem Elokim (image of God) is completed through milah.

Man's true form, the tzelem Elokim, is brought to completion specifically through the bris milah — again tying it back to Avraham and Yom Kippur.

והנה ע"י הד' מינים זוכין לצלם אדם כמ"ש חביב אדם שנברא בצלם חיבה יתירה נודעת לו כו'.

And behold, through the arba minim (four species) one merits the tzelem adam (form of man), as it is said: "Beloved is man, for he was created in the [Divine] image; an extra love was made known to him…"

Taking the four species on Sukkos lets a person attain his true human form, recalling the Mishnah's teaching that man is beloved, created in the tzelem, and shown extra love by being told so (Avos 3:14).

וזה הדעת זוכין ע"י מצוה זו כמ"ש ולידע איך שמך נקרא עלי.

And this awareness one merits through this mitzvah, as it is said: "…and to know how Your Name is called upon me."

The mitzvah of the four species awakens the daas (awareness) that Hashem's Name rests upon a person — the very knowledge of the "extra love" shown to him.

וז"ש ולקחתם לכם לעצמיכם לזכות לבחי' אדם.

And this is the meaning of "And you shall take for yourselves" — for your very selves, to merit the aspect of [true] man.

"Ulekachtem lachem" (Vayikra 23:40) means: take for your own essence — through this mitzvah you acquire your true status as adam, the complete human form.

ולכן בחג נדונים על המים דכ' כי לא המטיר ואדם אין כו' שכל שלא נגמר צורת האדם מתעכב השפע לבוא משמים:

Therefore on the festival we are judged regarding water, as it is written: "For [Hashem] had not brought rain… and there was no man [to work the ground]…" — for as long as the form of man is not completed, the shefa (flow of bounty) is withheld from coming down from Heaven.

We are judged for rain on Sukkos because, as the pasuk shows (Bereishis 2:5), rain awaits man; until a person perfects his true form, the heavenly shefa is held back from descending.

Summary: Sukkos follows the renewal of teshuvah and builds a new world on the chessed of Avraham, channeled through Aharon HaKohen and the ananei hakavod. The "opening" of milah on Yom Kippur, the gezeirah shavah of "teishvu," and the dwelling of the Shem Shomayim on the sukkah all draw down the light of Gan Eden. Through the arba minim a person attains his true tzurah — the tzelem Elokim completed by milah — and the daas that Hashem's Name rests upon him; only when that human form is perfected does the heavenly shefa, the life-giving rain, descend.