The Torah commands us to sit in the Sukkah during the seven days of the Sukkot holiday and to rejoice more during this holiday than during any other. We must understand what makes this holiday so special that the Torah commands us to perform certain Mitzvot that are unique to it. It is quite understandable why we must be joyous on Pesach, for this is day we left Egypt and became a nation. The same applies to the holiday of Shavuot wherein the joy is self-understood, for it is the day we received our holy Torah which gives us credence as a nation. However, what extra joy can be associated with the Sukkot holiday if we do not know of anything special that occurred on it?
If we attribute the joy of Sukkot and our sitting in the Sukkah to the fact that Hashem surrounded us with the “Clouds of Glory” when we left Egypt, we must likewise have holidays to commemorate the falling of the Manna from Heaven, the “Well of Miriam”, and the other miraculous wonders we experienced in the desert. It is therefore puzzling what makes the miracle of the “Clouds of Glory” so special that we were commanded to perform all of the Mitzvot of the Sukkot holiday because of it amid much joy and happiness? What is even more perplexing is why we have been commanded to perform these Mitzvot specifically after the solemn period we had experienced after the month of mercy and forgiveness whose climax is the most awesome day of the year, Yom Kippur!
We must therefore explain that when the Jewish nation left Egypt, they were all idol worshippers who did not possess either physical or spiritual freedom. Hashem pitied them and took them out of Egypt in order to free them from their physical bondage. After this, Hashem gave us His treasured Torah in order to free us from our spiritual bondage and blow into us a living spirit which in turn gave life to the entire world. Unfortunately, however, the Jewish people worshipped the Golden Calf, a truly grievous sin, which angered Hashem greatly. Moshe Rabbeinu wished to shock the Jewish nation and to ease Hashem’s anger and he broke the Tablets of the Covenant. He then ascended Har Sinai for another forty days which concluded on Yom Kippur at which point Hashem proclaimed, “I have forgiven [them] as you have requested.” It was at this point that the Jewish people were forgiven for the sin of the Golden Calf.
Thus, the joy on Pesach and Shavuot as well as the great intensity of the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are understandable, for these are all holidays marking the Jewish nation’s exodus from physical and spiritual bondage and the fact that Hashem has forgiven us for our sins. However, the holiday of Sukkot is not like the other holidays, for it is not a holiday for the Jewish people; rather, it is a holiday “for Hashem”, as the verse states, “For seven days you shall celebrate for Hashem, your G-d.” The primary joyous factor of this holiday is that it is being celebrated for Hashem and that we are celebrating it with Hashem. This is because, for whatever His divine reason is, Hashem wished to rest His Shechina in our physical world. Hashem already had a dwelling place in the upper realms, in the world of the angels. Indeed, the angels claimed to Hashem, “What is mankind that you shall remember it?” due to the lowly nature of the human race. Nevertheless, the fact that the Jewish nation observes the Torah and Mitzvot raises the level of mankind very much and they serve to actually cause the entire world to continue to exist. Hashem therefore wishes to rest His Shechina among them in order to, so-to-speak, have a dwelling place in our world. All this occurs immediately following Yom Kippur, for this is when the Jewish nation is on their highest spiritual plane and this is certainly the most appropriate time for Hashem to rest His spirit among the Jewish people.
We can now likewise understand why we were commanded to exhibit an extra-special joy during the Sukkot holiday, for this holiday marks Hashem’s spirit resting among the Jewish nation and this closeness to Hashem and the fact that He has granted us atonement and forgiveness during the days of mercy and forgiveness through His boundless love and kindness towards us is surely the paramount reason for any Jewish individual to feel infinite happiness.
If one sits in the Sukkah and is happy during the holiday by eating delicious foods, is joyous about one’s closeness to Hashem, and delves in Torah together with one’s entire family, Hashem will actually sit right next to him. Indeed, by focusing on the depth of the Mitzvah, one will come to a point where he shall not want to leave the Sukkah which is dubbed “The Shade of Faith”. Indeed, the Zohar tells us that when one sits in the Sukkah, Hashem “spreads His wings” on him and the seven special guests (Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, and David) come to live with him as well. Praiseworthy is the nation who enjoys all this!
