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We've been talking about the connection between humility and bitachon for the past while, and the holiday Succot is no different. Everyone's familiar with the holiday of Succot. The Succah is called the Shade of Emunah. We go into the Succah and we are surrounded by God's shade. We leave our fortified homes; we leave our burglar alarms.
We're out in the fields. We're out in the yards, and we are relying on Hashem. The Succah symbolizes bitachon. Everyone's familiar with that. But the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim tells us that the holiday of Succot is here to teach us humility. When you leave your house and dwell in the Succah, you are humbled. We remember where we came from, and even though we might be successful and wealthy now, we realize that everything comes from Hashem.
Everything comes from zechut Avot, we don't necessarily deserve it. That's the humility of the Succah. There's an added aspect as well. The Pesikta D’Rav Kanaha, one of the midrashim, asks why Hashem tells us to sit in the Succah after Yom Kippur. There are a lot of reasons, but if we take the humility approach, we can say that's because it’s the time that we gather in our crops;it's a time that we might become arrogant, so we have to humble ourselves.
But the of Pesikta D’Rav Kahana says something fascinating: that maybe the Jewish people have to go into Galut/exile, and therefore God says, instead of sending them into Galut in a different country, let’s give them a mini-Galut. So going into our Succah is also like a Galut. Wonderful. But what does Galut do?
Galut brings kapara. Why? The Rambam says, the reason Galut brings kapara is because Galut causes a person to be humble. When you're a foreigner in a different land, you're not comfortable. You're humble. Every immigrant is humble. He is a newcomer. He doesn't have a history here. And that is the Succah. The Succah is there to teach us humility.
1- Because it's the time of our gathering of the crops, and
2- Because after somebody goes through Yom Kippur, he might need Galut. He might need another dose of humility.
As we discussed previously, humility brings kapara.
So either we can just go through the motions and sit in our Succah, or we can think about the thoughts we're supposed to have when we’re in our Succah. We're supposed to make humbling statements and tell our families, “Just like the Jewish people used to be in Mitzrayim and Hashem took us out and brought us into the land, we too are foreigners.” Every Jew in America came from somewhere. We weren't here for a thousand years. It's not like a Jew in Eretz Yisrael who can say he has been there for the past 10 generations. Jews today, in almost every land they're in, are new. People came as beggars, with no money.
And now they're successful and wealthy, with yeshivot and institutions. It could get to our heads. V’Ram Levavecha V’Shachachta, the pasuk talks about the man that was successful, and becomes arrogant, as it says, Yeshurum became fat and he kicks… So therefore, Hashem gives us this holiday, right after Yom Kippur, to continue working on this important trait of hachna’a/humility, and to spend seven days in a humbling place, when our main dwelling is supposed to be in our Succah. We don't live in our house. Our house might get to our heads. Go back out there. Remember Yetziat Mitzrayim, remember how Hashem took us out, and continues to carry us through our trials and tribulations.
Have a wonderful day.