This Succot is a very special Succot, because it's a Succot that comes after Shemitta. The pasuk tells us in Devarim 31/10
וַיְצַ֥ו מֹשֶׁ֖ה אוֹתָ֣ם לֵאמֹ֑ר מִקֵּ֣ץ ׀ שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֗ים בְּמֹעֵ֛ד שְׁנַ֥ת הַשְּׁמִטָּ֖ה בְּחַ֥ג הַסֻּכּֽוֹת
Moshe commanded them saying, “At the end of seven years, on Succot (in the year after Shemitta) gather the people.”
So there's a special mitzvah, once in seven years, to gather the entire Jewish people. The king gets up and reads to them from Sefer Devarim. It’s called Mitzvat Hakhel and it's done on the holiday of Succot. It’s not a coincidence that Kohelet is read by many on the holiday of Succot, as Kohelet has the same word as Hakhel.
What is it that Hakhel does for us, that specifically connects to Shemitta?
For one thing, we're joining and gathering everyone together.
Rambam writes in Hilchot Hagiga
(chapter 3, Halacha 6) that the king is a messenger from God, and we have to stand united, like at Har Sinai, with fear and trepidation.
So every seven years, it’s a repeat of Har Sinai, and that happens during holiday of Succot.
What is it about the Succot specifically after Shemitta that allows us to have a repeat of Har Sinai?
Rabbi Schorr, in his Sefer Lekach V’Libub, on the holiday of Succot (page 59), explains that there are things that stop us from achdut/ uniting.
One thing is that we chase desire.
As Rabbenu Yona says in Shaare Teshuva, based on a pasuk in Mishleh 18,1, “לְֽ֭תַאֲוָה יְבַקֵּ֣שׁ נִפְרָ֑ד בְּכׇל־תּ֝וּשִׁיָּ֗ה יִתְגַּלָּֽע׃
One who is searching for desires becomes separated.”
If I have my own agenda, my own desires, my own wants, that causes me to separate from people, because I'm being driven by the desire.
And people that are driven by desire ignore other people's wants and needs. That's one reason why we get into divisiveness.
The second reason is a lack of bitachon, a lack of relying on God which is a source of jealousy and hatred. When I rely on Hashem, I don't have jealousy or hatred, because I realize that everything comes from God, and I don't get into arguments.
Shemitta gives us both of these lessons: Number one, we don't work for the year, and therefore we rely on God. And secondly, having a limited amount of food, and limited pleasures during the Shemitta year (because we're abstaining, because we don't have as much as we usually have in the Shemitta year), also bring us to achdut. It brings us to a unifying force.
Shemitta has those two factors, and Succot further accentuates those two factors. As we mentioned, the holiday of Succot is about uniting in one Succah, and uniting the four species. The holiday of Succot is about bitachon, relying on God.
So therefore, the holiday of Succot in a regular year is there to continue the important lessons of Shemitta, which we had last year.
Now one might say, “Hold on, I'm not on the Shemitta program. I live in America. My loans were canceled- I wrote a prozbul. I didn't have that either.”
But, in the words of Rabbi Schorr, words that he wrote close to 10 years ago (which was before the Shemitta before this past one), discussing the previous Shemitta, “The Hinam that we see in the year of Shemitta…God brings a tightening of parnasa on people even outside of Eretz Yisrael.”
Unbelievable. If we would've known this, we could have shorted the stock market or something. If we knew that there'd be a recession, or inflation happening, because of Shemitta…wow!
Why is it so? He says that it’s because this is a year that you're supposed to work on Bitachon, and it's not only for the people of Israel but worldwide. We’re going to have to work on our bitachon and relying on God, so things get tougher in a Shemitta year. Unbelievable.
We were the beneficiaries of this past Shemitta, whether we lived in Israel or not, (especially those of us that helped support the Shemitta movement).
So Succot is the time, especially after a Shemitta year, to further strengthen these two important points
- of not chasing desire,
- and relying on God.
And with those two important points, we will strengthen our Ahavat Yisrael, our love for our fellow man.
Have a wonderful day and a Hag Sameach.