We are going to talk a little bit more about the topic of humility as it relates to the holiday of Succot. I saw a beautiful thought in a sefer called Bina Le’Ittim, which was written by a Sephardic Gadol of a few hundred years ago, Rabbi Azariah Piccio. He points out an interesting, seeming contradiction.
On one hand, as we have been discussing, the goal of sitting in the Succah is that we go into galut/exile. We are exiled from our homes into our Succahs, which brings humility. Furthermore, our Succahs remind us of the clouds of glory, which brings us back to our humble beginnings, and brings us to humility. So, the Succah symbolizes humility.
On the other hand, we have the Arba Minim/ the four species, which are all very nice, fresh and uplifting fruits that are not at all humbling; they're uplifting. Furthermore, the Midrash tells us that we wave the Lulav and Etrog after the high holiday season
because on the high holidays, we are being judged, not just individually, but collectively as well. How will the Jewish people survive? Will all our enemies come and destroy us? The terrorists and the like? Going back to Rosh Hashana, we make many Yehi Ratzons that our enemies should be destroyed. If that's the case, how do we know who won?
The Midrash says, in the days of old when there was a court case, it was customary that the one who won took his sword out and waved it back and forth as a sign of victory. So too, after the high holiday season, we take the Arba Minim and wave it back and forth as a sign of victory and jubilation for our success in court.
And the Arizal says you're supposed to shake the lulav in the Succah, and there are people that are careful to do so. We're on a euphoric high, with the feeling of somebody who was on death row and came out meritorious.
So, his question is, what is our mindset supposed to be on the holiday of Sukkot? Humble or Victorious?
It seems like a contradiction of mindsets - I'm sitting in the Succah and I'm shaking my Lulav and Etrog. There’s a mindset of humility and a mindset of jubilant victory.
He answers that yes, we are humbling ourselves, but when you humble yourself to God, that is the source of victory. It’s the source of grandeur. Rashi quotes a Gemara that says Eved Melech, Melech/the servant of the king himself is a king. In the days of old, the servants of the king became bosses. They were feared, because they served the king, so they themselves had certain royal powers. So yes, we humble ourselves totally to God. And when we humble ourselves to God, we become powerful. We become the rulers of the world.
And yes, we humble ourselves in the Succah, but the outcome of that humility is we wave our sword as a sign of victory, because we will rule the world. The times of Mashiach will come and all the nations will come and bow to us and humble themselves to us. And that's because when we humble ourselves to God, the rest of nature humbles itself to us. So, the humility that we've been working on, is not something where the end goal is to be broken.
In fact, it’s the opposite; the humility brings to greatness. The humility brings to pride and the humility brings to strength, because a servant to a king is himself a king.