Sukkos restores the soul through love

ולקחתם לכם כו' דכתיב שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם.

"And you shall take for yourselves…" (Vayikra 23:40) — as it is written, "Return to Me, and I will return to you" (Malachi 3:7).

The Sefas Emes links the taking of the four minim on Sukkos to the cycle of teshuvah: our turning back to Hashem is answered by His turning back to us.

פי' בתקונים כי ע"י החטא מסתלקין הנשמה ורוח וכשחוזרין בתשובה הקב"ה מחזיר לנו הנר"נ ע"ש ד' קכ"ד ב'.

It is explained in the Tikkunim (Tikkunei Zohar) that through sin the neshamah and ruach depart, and when one returns in teshuvah the Holy One, Blessed is He, restores to us the nefesh-ruach-neshamah (the levels of the soul) — see there, folio 124b.

Sin drives away the higher levels of the soul; teshuvah draws them back, as Hashem returns to a person the nefesh, ruach and neshamah that had withdrawn.

ומתקיים בסוכות ואשובה אליכם.

And in Sukkos there is fulfilled "and I will return to you."

After the teshuvah of the Yamim Noraim, Sukkos is when Hashem's "return to you" is realized — the soul-levels are restored.

וזהו ולקחתם לכם לעצמכם כי יוכל כל אחד לקבל הנר"נ השייכים אליו.

And this is the meaning of "and you shall take for yourselves" — for your own selves — for each person is able to receive the nefesh-ruach-neshamah that belong to him.

"For yourselves" is precise: on Sukkos every individual can take back the very portions of soul that are uniquely his, which had been lost through sin.

וכן הוא ההבטחה בפרשת התשובה ארפא משובתם אוהבם נדבה.

And so too is the promise in the parsha of teshuvah, "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hoshea 14:5).

The haftarah of teshuvah carries the same assurance: Hashem heals what was damaged and pours out a freely given love upon those who return.

וכ"ז מתקיים בחג הסוכות שהוא רומז על האהבה.

And all of this is fulfilled on Chag HaSukkos, which alludes to that love.

Sukkos, the time of our joy under the embrace of the sukkah, is the festival that embodies this freely given love of Hashem for Bnei Yisrael.

וקח טוב פרש"י למדנו דרך הטוב.

"And take a good teaching" (Mishlei 4:2) — Rashi explains: learn from it the good way.

The Sefas Emes brings the phrase "kach tov" ("take good") to introduce the idea that the "taking" of Sukkos teaches us the path of the good.

וזה מתקיים בלקיחת הד' מינים ולקחתם לכם.

And this is fulfilled in the taking of the four minim — "and you shall take for yourselves."

The mitzvah of taking the lulav and esrog is itself this "taking of the good," the means by which the good path is acquired.

שהוא הדעת היורד בחג הסוכות שיוכל כל אחד להכיר את מקומו כמ"ש ולידע איך שמך נקרא עלי.

For it is the daas (knowledge/awareness) that descends on Chag HaSukkos, by which each person can recognize his place, as it is said, "and to know how Your Name is called upon me."

On Sukkos a special clarity of daas comes down, enabling each Jew to recognize his own portion and station, and to perceive how Hashem's Name rests upon him.

ובזה מתפרש ג"כ המדרש ראשון לחשבון עונות.

And with this is also explained the Midrash that Sukkos is "first to the reckoning of sins."

Chazal call Sukkos the "first" day for the new accounting of sins; the Sefas Emes now explains why.

דהעונות הנעשים בין יוהכ"פ לסוכות אין מעכבין חזרת הנר"ן לבנ"י מה שנסתלק ע"י החטא מוחזר בחג הסוכות.

For the sins committed between Yom Kippur and Sukkos do not hold back the return of the nefesh-ruach-neshamah to Bnei Yisrael; what departed through sin is restored on Chag HaSukkos.

Whatever lapses occur in the days right after Yom Kippur cannot block the great restoration of the soul-levels that Sukkos brings; the return of the nefesh, ruach and neshamah proceeds regardless.

לכן הוא ראשון לחשבון עונות ודו"ק:

Therefore it is "first to the reckoning of sins" — and understand this well.

Because Sukkos restores the soul and only afterward does a fresh accounting begin, it is fittingly called the "first" day for reckoning sins.

Summary: Sin causes the higher levels of the soul (nefesh, ruach, neshamah) to depart, and teshuvah draws them back — "Return to Me, and I will return to you." Sukkos is when Hashem's "return to you" is fulfilled: "and you shall take for yourselves" means each Jew reclaims the very soul-portions that are his, through the freely given love this festival embodies. The taking of the four minim brings down a special daas to recognize one's place, and because Sukkos restores what sin removed, it is rightly "first to the reckoning of sins."