B’ezrat Hashem, today we will share a Bitachon thought related to the holiday of Succot.
First we need some background on the holiday of Succot:
There are two different messages of the holiday, which seemingly are not connected. The first message is less known. It was brought down in the Midrash called Pesichta D’Rav Kahana. It answers the famous question: Why do we sit in the Succah at this time of year? As we know, Succot is celebrated in remembrance of the Clouds of Glory that we enjoyed when we left Mitzrayim, which was in the month of Nissan.
The more famous answer to this question is that if we were to celebrate Succot in Nissan, it would not be recognizable that we are in our Succot for the purpose of the Mitzvah, because people tend to leave their homes in the summer months anyway. Therefore, we go into our Succot at a time when the mitzva would be more recognized. That is the well-known answer.
The Pesichta D’Rav Kahana, however, gives a different answer. He says that after Yom Kippur, there are different gezerot/ decrees, has v’shalom, that come upon the Jewish people. But Hashem, in His mercy, will take a harsh gezerah and ameliorate it with something less severe. For example, there is a concept in the Gemarah called Miksat Nefesh k’Kol Nefesh: a little bit of soul, is like the whole soul. Therefore, when someone stubs their toe and bleeds a little, that’s a little bit of soul suffering, and so G-d counts that as the full sentence.
Similarly, when it comes to exile, it’s possible that a full fledged exile was decreed upon us, has v’shalom, where we’d have to leave our homes, and leave our land. But G-d gives us a lesser sentence of sorts, and instead He sends us out into our Succahs. We leave our homes for seven days, and that counts as the Galut.
Rambam says that the end goal of Galut is to bring us to humility. When a person is a stranger in a new land, a nomad, he is humbled. That is the goal of Galut, and the goal of the Succah: Humility.
The next message is the Bitachon message. We leave our homes and we are no long we protected by our walls or roofs. We put ourselves in the Hands of G-d. We are, as the Zohar says, in the Shade of Emunah. We enter the Bitachon cloud for seven days, and we realize that Hashem is taking care of us. Beautiful.
It seems that, at first glance, these two messages are unrelated. But in truth, they are. As we have mentioned previously, Ga’avah/Arrogance, is the antithesis of bitachon. How so?
A person who is arrogant takes credit for his accomplishments. On the other hand, a Baal Emunah realizes that while he might make correct choices, (and he’ll get rewarded for those) and put forth hishtadlut/effort, ultimately, he realizes that the accomplishments are in the Hands of G-d. A man who is arrogant, and takes pride in his accomplishments, is basically saying, “I did it.” That is the opposite of Emunah.
The humble man realizes that he hasn’t done anything, and therefore he credits his success to G-d. Ga’avah and Bitachon are opposites, as it says in the pasuk- רם לבבך ושכחת-You will become arrogant and forget G-d.
Arrogance is forgetting G-d.
If that is the case, then we can see how these two Succot messages are actually in sync.
We need humility in order to have emunah and bitachon. The Succah does both for us. First, it gives us the message of humility, and then we are able to have Bitachon.
This concept shows up in a pasuk in tehilim. David HaMelech says,
בַּ֭ה׳ תִּתְהַלֵּ֣ל נַפְשִׁ֑י יִשְׁמְע֖וּ עֲנָוִ֣ים וְיִשְׂמָֽחוּ׃
My soul find praise in G-d,The humble people hear, and they’re happy.
What does this mean? It means arrogant people don’t like to hear emunah and bitachon stories. They don’t want to hear “G-d did this” or that. That dents their pride and arrogance. David Hamelech says he can only share these stories with humble people. Humble people are able to accept Emunah.
In truth, Rav Wolbe writes that this is something to work on. While we work on Emunah and Bitachon, we have to work on Anavah/Being humble. It’s a life’s work.
Succot is a seven-day dose.
As we mentioned from the Rambam, on Succot we are supposed to remember our humble beginnings and how we came with nothing.
A person should use this opportunity to focus on being humble, and with humility comes Bitachon.
What a beautiful connection between the two Succah messages.
Have a wonderful day.