Torah as our consolation for the desert love

בסוכות מתעורר כח וחיבה של דור המדבר כמ"ש לעיל.

On Sukkos there is awakened the power and the love of the dor hamidbar (the desert generation), as explained above.

Sukkos rouses the special strength and divine affection that marked the generation of the wilderness who dwelt under the Clouds of Glory.

ולפי שעתה נחסר לנו כל זה ומשתוקקים לבוא אל האהבה הישינה.

And since now we lack all of this, we yearn to come to the "old love."

In our generation that direct closeness is missing, so we long to return to the ancient, established love between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael.

כמ"ש הביאני אל בית היין זהו הסוכה שהיא זכר לענני כבוד.

As it is written, "He brought me to the house of wine" (Shir HaShirim 2:4) — this is the sukkah, which is a remembrance of the Clouds of Glory.

The sukkah is the "house of wine" into which Hashem brings us, recalling the Ananei HaKavod (Clouds of Glory) that surrounded Bnei Yisrael in the desert.

ודגלו עלי אהבה לולב זה לדגלים.

"And His banner over me is love" (Shir HaShirim 2:4) — the lulav corresponds to the banners.

The lulav, raised aloft, parallels the banners (degalim) of love under which Bnei Yisrael encamped in the wilderness.

מתנחמים עתה בתורה כמ"ש אח"ז סמכוני באשישות בב' אשות בתורה שבכתב ושבע"פ כמ"ש שם במדרש.

Now we are consoled through the Torah, as the next verse says, "Sustain me with ashishos" (Shir HaShirim 2:5) — with the two "fires" (ashos): the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, as the Midrash explains there.

The word "ashishos" is read as two "fires" — Torah Shebichsav and Torah Sheba'al Peh — and through them we are comforted now that the open closeness of the desert is gone.

כי חולת אהבה אני שאז בזמן המקדש היו מוציאין מכח אל הפועל זו האהבה מצד עצם נפשות בנ"י.

"For I am lovesick" (Shir HaShirim 2:5) — for then, in the time of the Mikdash, they would bring this love from potential into actuality, from the very essence of the souls of Bnei Yisrael.

"Lovesick" expresses our present longing; when the Bais Hamikdash stood, the love latent in the souls of Bnei Yisrael was actively realized.

ובעצרת כתיב תהי' לכם וכ' והיית אך שמח והיינו לקבל שמחת המצות דסוכה ולולב בעצם הנפשות זהו בשמיני עצרת תהי' לכם.

And regarding Atzeres it is written "it shall be for you" (Bamidbar 29:35), and "you shall be only joyful" (Devarim 16:15) — meaning, to absorb the joy of the mitzvos of sukkah and lulav into the very essence of the souls; this is "Shemini Atzeres — it shall be for you."

Shemini Atzeres is when the joy of the festival's mitzvos is internalized into the very core of the soul — a private, inward day "for you."

ועתה שחסר לנו זה הכח צריכין ליקח סיוע ע"י התורה.

And now that we lack this power, we need to draw assistance through the Torah.

Without the Mikdash to actualize that love directly, we rely on the Torah to supply the strength and connection.

שאין לנו שיור רק התורה הזאת:

For we have nothing left remaining but this Torah.

In galus the Torah is our sole remaining means of attaining the closeness to Hashem that once shone openly.

Summary: Sukkos reawakens the power and love of the desert generation — the sukkah recalling the Clouds of Glory and the lulav the banners of love — but in our time that direct closeness is missing and we are "lovesick" with longing. Where the Bais Hamikdash once actualized this love from the very essence of the soul, and Shemini Atzeres internalized the joy of the mitzvos, we now draw that strength through the two fires of the Written and Oral Torah, for the Torah is all that remains to us.