Everyone agrees that on Yom Tov (festival day), you make the berachah (blessing). Be careful. On Yom Tov, you have to make the berachah first and then light. We do not make Shehecheyanu (Who has kept us alive); the ladies rely on making Shehecheyanu in the sukkah (booth). That is where you run into the big machloket (dispute) between Chacham Ben Tzion and Chacham Ovadia. So we say borei peri hagefen (Who creates the fruit of the vine). Beautiful. Ladies are chayav (obligated) in kiddush (sanctification). It is Yom Tov. They might not be obligated in the sukkah, but they are chayav in kiddush. So what does the hagefen do? It allows everybody to drink from the kos (cup) of kiddush. I do not have to say hagefen; I said amen. Beautiful.
Then we say asher kideshanu (Who sanctified us), mekadesh Yisrael vehazemanim (Who sanctifies Israel and the appointed times). Beautiful. Amen! Ladies are obligated in that, just as the men are. So far, so good. It is not a hefsek (interruption) to the kiddush, because “mekadesh Yisrael” is part of the kiddush. Every kiddush has “mekadesh Shabbat” (Who sanctifies Shabbat), “Yisrael vehazemanim.” Then we say asher kideshanu vetzivanu leishev basukkah (Who sanctified us and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah).
Now, ladies are not obligated in sukkah. If they answer amen to that, it is not the worst avon (sin) they could commit, but they will not be able to drink based on the gefen they have, because it is a hefsek. Fine, you have to let them know. It is very difficult to enforce this halachah (Jewish law), just as it is impossible to enforce the baruch Hu uvaruch shemo rule. No matter how many times the rabbi says, “Don’t answer baruch Hu uvaruch shemo,” there is always one do-gooder: “Baruch Attah Hashem, baruch Hu uvaruch shemo!” Then he answered, and everybody answers baruch Hu uvaruch shemo. Certain rules are impossible to teach people. “Baruch Hu uvaruch shemo—don’t answer” never works. There is always one guy who spoils it.
The same thing applies here. Tell a lady, “Don’t answer amen to leishev basukkah,” and she ends up not answering amen to borei peri hagefen. Then she asks, “Is this one? Is it this one?” Some halachot are better known without being publicized. This is one of them. More damage comes from publicizing this halachah.
Wait, so Chacham Ovadia holds that she should not answer amen to that; she should answer amen to the Shehecheyanu, and then she is like everybody else and can drink. So what is the difference between the first and second night? There is no difference? We switched the Shehecheyanu to the end? No difference, no difference, no difference. If she answers leishev basukkah, it is a hefsek for drinking. That is the only problem: it is a hefsek for drinking. She is not drinking. Is one side better to answer? He says here, “The best thing is to tell the wife not to drink.” That is it. Why is that best? Chibub mitzvah (love of the mitzvah). They have to have chibub mitzvah. Answer all the berachot (blessing). He says here, “You lose the chibub, but you get everything else.”
He says here that only ladies who made Shehecheyanu when lighting the nerot (candles) can answer Shehecheyanu during kiddush. That is Chacham Ben Tzion’s chiddush (novel insight), at least regarding Shehecheyanu. Interesting. Going back to that halachah: if the lady is going to drink wine during the se'udah (meal), she would have to make borei peri hagefen. Absolutely. Right, her gefen did not— That is correct.
Lo yochal ad sheyehei lailah vaddai (He should not eat until it is certainly night). As we mentioned yesterday in the halachah, you have to wait until it gets dark over there. That is like Pesach. Have you ever seen anybody eat matzah (unleavened bread) while it is still light outside? Never happens. Ba'erev tochlu matzot (In the evening you shall eat matzot). “To, to, to, to” teaches you that however you eat the matzah, that is how you have to eat the lechem (bread).
Lefi shemitzvat achilah balailah zo basukkah min haTorah (because this eating at night in the sukkah is a Torah mitzvah). If a guy ate during bein hashemashot (twilight), he has to go back and eat. Maybe that is a safek berachah (doubt about a blessing), because safek berachah lehakeil (in doubt, rule leniently on blessings), but bein hashemashot is a safek (doubt). It is a safek de'oraita (doubt concerning Torah law). De'oraita is—we do not take bein hashemashot.
Vetzarich sheyochal kodem chatzot lailah (He needs to eat before midnight). Simple, like Pesach. On Pesach, we have to eat it—Pesach is eaten until chatzot (midnight). The same thing here: we try to eat it by chatzot. Lechatchilah? Yes, lechatchilah (ideally). That is the halachah. Pesach—I mean, is that what Maran explicitly says? I mean, what the Rama explicitly says? However, bedi'avad (after the fact), if he did not eat before chatzot, he has the whole night to eat. Fine.
Achilat kezayit pat basukkah beleil Yom Tov hi mitzvat aseh min haTorah vetzarich lehitkaven latzeit yedei chovato (Eating an olive-sized portion of bread in the sukkah on the night of Yom Tov is a positive commandment from the Torah, and one must intend to fulfill the obligation). You should have kavanah (intention). Mitzvot tzerichot kavanah (mitzvot require intention). You should have kavanah that you are fulfilling a mitzvah from the Torah. Vetov sheyefaresh hadavar (it is good to state this explicitly). Some say leshem yichud, and all that.
Ve'im achal velo nitkaven (if he ate without intending to fulfill the mitzvah): he did not have kavanah. Okay, no? Then what is he doing? How did he get there? Why is he eating in the sukkah? He walked there. They built a sukkah for two months, right? He adorned it; he is sitting in the sukkah. “Oh, you don’t have kavanah!” What am I doing here? I’m sitting in the sukkah! What about kavanah? Aren’t those my actions?
That is why, according to the halachah, if you did not have kavanah, your actions speak louder than your words, and Maran holds that yatza yedei chovato (he fulfilled his obligation). Therefore, there is no problem. I do not know about hana'ah (enjoyment); he ate it, and therefore there is no problem. But again—That is bedi'avad, though, right? Fine. But again, one should have kavanah explicitly. Bedi'avad, if you did not have kavanah, it is okay.
Again, he writes here, veyada shehayom Sukkot veyesh mitzvah leechol basukkah, leda'at Maran yatza yedei chovato (he knew it was Sukkot and that there is a mitzvah to eat in the sukkah; according to Maran, he fulfilled his obligation). However, some Acharonim (later authorities) say yesh lehachmir bechavanah (one should be stringent about intention). Therefore, one should be careful to intend to fulfill the obligation and perform the mitzvah of Hashem, may He be blessed. We also have to remember the ananei hakavod—Hashem protected us with these clouds. If he ate without kavanah, he should go back and eat a kezayit. Okay, it is better to eat again.
Now, the next point is what you just said, David. The Acharonim write that besides the kavanah for the kezayit, there is another kavanah: one should intend, while sitting in the sukkah, that it is a remembrance of yetzi'at Mitzrayim (Exodus from Egypt), a remembrance of the ananei kavod—that Hashem protected us with these clouds. Nevertheless, all of this is to fulfill the mitzvah properly. But bedi'avad, even if he intended only to fulfill the obligation of the mitzvah, he fulfilled his obligation. Even if you did not have the reasons in mind, you just said, “I’m coming here to fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah.” Yeah, whatever it is. I know Hashem gave it to me, with all the kavanot—Hakadosh...
Vetov shelifnei chol achilah yomar hapasuk Lema'an yedu doroteichem kedei sheyizkor tamid ta'am hamitzvah (it is good to say the verse before each meal, so that he will always remember the reason for the mitzvah). It is always good to do that, by the way. According to the Ari zal, whenever you are about to do a mitzvah, it is good to read the verse in the Torah about that mitzvah, because all the sodot (secrets) are in the verse of the mitzvah. Hashem included all the secrets in it. When you read the verse, you will notice that in the leshem yichud they always give you the source verse: Shene'emar ve'asu lahem tzitzit al kanfei vigdeihem ledorotam (as it is said, “They shall make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations”); shene'emar ukeshartam le'ot al yadecha vehayu letotafot bein einecha (as it is said, “Bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them be frontlets between your eyes”). Some verse that is connected to the mitzvah. Here, the same thing: Lema'an yedu doroteichem ki vasukot hoshavti (so that your generations may know that I made them dwell in sukkot), something to do with Sukkot.
Min hadin, dai be'achilat kezayit, 29 grams, vetzarich le'ochlo bichdei achilat peras (according to the law, eating an olive-sized portion, 29 grams, is enough, and it must be eaten within the eating interval). You should try to eat it within the achilat peras, which is a measure of eating. We are stringent about this now. A guy might sit and nibble at the bread all night, and by the end of the meal he has eaten 10 kzeitot, but he did not eat them within the required time. People do not know that. That is why the right thing tonight is not to get involved in anything else until you eat the preferred kezayit. We will see the kabeitzah (egg-sized portion), but at least eat a kezayit.
That means the ba'al habayit (host) who is giving out the bread has to know this. Normally, the rule in the—as they eat whatever is thrown to them. Huh? So the guy throws a little piece; that is what they gave me. What happens is, the netilat yadayim (hand-washing) berachah is levatalah (in vain), because they are eating an item this small. The birkat hamazon (Grace after Meals) is levatalah too—four berachot—because you cannot make birkat hamazon on an ounce like that.
Again, the mistake here is that they think birkat hamazon is for Shabbat. They think Shabbat is what brings birkat hamazon. Anything on Shabbat, you make birkat hamazon? That is a mistake. Shabbat does not bring birkat hamazon; eating lechem brings birkat hamazon. If you are a guest at somebody’s house, it is embarrassing to tell the ba'al habayit, “Can I have more bread, please?” You are not going to ask the guy for bread. What are you, in jail? You want more bread? So the ba'al habayit has to know, and he has to give beshefa (generously). Put bread in front of each plate, whatever it is.
Tonight, if you are invited somewhere, the biggest compliment to the host is, “Thank you for the bread.” There is no mitzvah to eat the fasolia tonight. If she made all these delicious things but did not give you bread, she is a bad host. Tonight, the host has to supply you with the lechem. That is more important. The tzaddikim (righteous people) do not even eat the bread with anything! They do not even put techinah on the bread. They want to eat it pat bemelach, kach hi darkah shel Torah, pat bemelach tochal (bread with salt; such is the way of Torah; eat bread with salt). Finish.
He says, yesh omrim shemitzvah min hamuvchar lil'os hakezayit velivlo'o yachad (some say that the preferred way to perform the mitzvah is to swallow the olive-sized portion whole). Okay, that goes back to the tzaddikim and the way they eat the matzah. The way they eat matzah on Pesach—Chacham Ovadia, of course, was not in favor of this, but this is how we learned in yeshivot, at least. Does the rabbi do that? I—Sukkot, no, but Pesach, yes. Whatever. On Pesach, we eat the kezayit, then another kezayit, and then swallow it all at once. That is what the tzaddikim say to do.
Chacham Ovadia, again, did not like this. He said, “This is good business for Hatzalah, for the people who do this.” Really? No, he did not like it. He did not like it. For the EMTs, this is a good custom; it keeps you busy. But he did not like it. Chacham Ovadia alav hashalom said, especially if you are sitting with guests who are not so religious, you look like you are eating the matzah and going to—What are you doing over there? Eat like a normal human being. He did not like it. You have to approach these things cautiously if you want to take on these chumrot (stringencies).
Anyway, he says, yesh omerim shemitzvah min hamuvchar lil'os hakezayit ulevol'o yachad, ve'im bala belo le'isah yatza yedei chovah bedi'avad (some say the preferred way is to swallow the olive-sized portion whole, and if one swallowed it without chewing, he fulfilled his obligation after the fact). You have to chew your food, and you need to eat complete bread. Again, rabotai, this goes back to an old question. Tonight, the ladies should not start experimenting with new challah recipes. Make the bread with flour and water. Finished. “I made a special item here. It has sugar in it, and we put in a special spice for Sukkot, a remembrance of the ananei hakavod. We put in cinnamon, all that.” Basically, you gave me a cinnamon bun. Tonight, do not start fooling around. Bread is flour and water. Finished. No chiddushim here.
We had that problem on Rosh Hashanah; she made this concoction. That is good stuff for afterward. Customarily in Syria, rabotai, there was no such thing as challah. In Syria they used pitah. Baghdad too. They took 12 pitot, put them together like this, and then there was no question about it being a kezayit. On Rosh Hashanah, they do put some sugar on top of the bread and bake it. It is not put in the dough. No, no, no, just like a—But in the—in the—No, it is on top. In the batter or whatever you use, the dough itself—
Some say—Rabotai, here is the question one of our members asked, with David Maya’s permission. He asked: “Are you allowed to eat the bread with dips?” Today dips have become a new thing. You go to Pomegranate and there are a thousand dips. On Pesach, they used to ask, “Why are we dipping twice?” Take that question out of the Haggadah. The question is, “Why are we only dipping twice tonight? On Shabbat, we dip 48 times, and tonight we are only dipping twice? Where is the garlic mayo? Where is all the other stuff?” Exactly. Rabotai, olam hafuch (the world is upside down). We cannot change these customs. “What do you mean? I don’t understand the question. How could it be a problem to put on a dip?”
Some say not to eat the kezayit with a dip or other foods. With matzah, we do not do that. You do not dip the matzah in charoset (fruit-and-nut mixture) when you eat the matzah normally. The Gemara says you should not do that. You have to have ta'am matzah (the taste of matzah). You have to have ta'am matzah. If he eats much more bread than the amount of a kezayit, it seems there is no concern. Of course, once you get past the threshold of a kezayit, do whatever you want, as long as you eat it within the required achilat peras.
And the opinion of the Gaon, Chacham Ben Tzion Abba Shaul, is that there is no need to be concerned about this. He writes in Or LeTzion, 138, that he distinguished between a kezayit of matzah and a kezayit of sukkah. For Pesach, you need ta'am matzah. That is a law. Here, you do not need the taste of bread; you have to eat it and digest it. So, rabotai, if you want to put techinah on your bread tonight, according to Chacham Ben Tzion, you clearly have what to rely on. You want to make a schnitzel sandwich? That could substitute— I am not going to go through every item. I gave you an example. A second ago you did not understand it, and now you want anything on it; now you are making a sandwich? Yeah. Okay, rabotai.
In the middle of the se'udah, there are those who want to eat a piece of bread outside the sukkah. That is a very important halachah, rabotai. This happens a lot. I will tell you the case that comes up. Please, you are not recording, right? No, because if you record, Dikste- Benno is not here. Too late. It is just a question and a half. The members—you bring—From where does he bring this? Rabotai, the question is like this.
We said before that you are allowed to eat things outside the sukkah up to a kebeitzah of bread, up to a kebeitzah of mezonot (grain foods), fruit, all these other things, and drinks. However, that is all speaking about when you are not part of a se'udah. Once you are in the middle of a se'udah, you cannot even have a sumsum outside the sukkah. Exactly. That happens a lot. Here is a simple case: the sukkah is set up, but the buffet is in the kitchen. You take one piece. Chazak ubaruch. That is one thing. The guys are having a buffet. “All right, you want me to take a potato?” My setup is like that. Mine is not. It is very inconvenient, but I am just saying, I can see it. A string bean popped into my mouth, you know? And you washed. Once you wash, everything has to be done in the sukkah.
Sometimes a guy picks at the food. One hundred percent, it is a classic case. It happens like that. You have to tell the ladies not to worry about that, but you have to tell the members, rabotai. Or, for example, a guy has to go to the bathroom. He gets up while he is chewing. He has to swallow first in the sukkah, and then go into the house. You have to be careful. Or a guest comes while you are in the sukkah, so you go outside to greet him. In the middle of a se'udah, you have to swallow all the food first.
Now, why? 142 is Sha'arei Tzion, which says this is one possible way to understand it, while Olat Tzion rules that it is prohibited; see there, where he learned it from Maran's Shulchan Aruch. It is Olat Tzion, volume 4, chapter 29, section 4. Chacham Ben Tzion writes, “Vehalachah kevuyah tiheyeh assur le'echol veshelo lishtot shum davar chutz lasukkah.” Birkat hamazon is the cutoff. Right, right, right. Once you make birkat hamazon, the se'udah is over. Chazak ubaruch. You cannot—
So, Chacham, if you have guests who are not— I do not preach to my guests. I am not a preacher. At shul, I preach. At home, that is the only thing they are doing? If they do not know all of Torah, are you going to start teaching them Bereshit? “Bereshit. Take out all the muktzeh (items set aside) from your pockets; don’t tie knots on Yom Tov; don’t do this, don’t drive home, don’t drive here, don’t do that.” Ein ladavar sof. There is no end to it. It becomes like Hakhel. Try.
Here is the famous story in Sha'arei Tzion between Chacham Shaul Kassin and Chacham Yom Tov Yedid, badlah chayeihem. Chacham Shaul got up in the dome in Sha'arei Tzion on the first night of Sukkot. It was raining. He got up and said, “Rabotai, I know it is raining, but it does not matter. You have to eat in the sukkah in the rain. Eat the kezayit, and then go into the house.”
Chacham Shaul was, of course, following the Ben Ish Chai. That is whom he reads. Chacham Yom Tov got up and lambasted him: “What is this, Ben Ish Chai? We do not follow the Ben Ish Chai. Maran says that if it rains on the first night of Sukkot, you leave the sukkah and eat in the house. It is the Ashkenazim—the Rama says—you know, we do not follow the Rama on this.” There was a big tumult between the two rabbis, and, you know, didn’t back down. He did what he did.
But that is the halachah. Chacham Yom Tov is right in this case. If it rains on the first night, Hashem does not want you to eat in the sukkah, for whatever reason. So you serve Hashem on His terms, not yours. What happened to simchat Yom Tov (joy of the festival)? Is simchat Yom Tov sitting and eating a kezayit in the rain? That is how we understand it.
He writes, beleil Yom Tov rishon da'at kama rishonim (on the first night of the festival, this is the opinion of several early authorities), and Acharonim, of course, rule that one is obligated in the sukkah even if rain falls, vekhefat sechat mah. However, Maran holds differently. What we do is try to wait a little while. Try to wait. If the forecast says it will be 20 minutes, they delay a baseball game, so why can’t you delay sitting in the sukkah?
Vezman hahamtanah, kolshe'eino begeder meni'at simchat Yom Tov (the waiting period is acceptable as long as it does not interfere with the joy of the festival). You have to judge how long to wait before it takes away from simchat Yom Tov. If people are sitting there starving, fighting, and nervous—“the time for eating is a time of war”—then, okay, rabotai, call the game. Call the game. But as long as you can see that it will take only a couple of minutes and everybody is—It is a judgment call. It is a game-time call.
For the whole holiday, not just the first night, how hard does it have to rain before you say, “That’s it”? The same measure as any night. No, I am asking: what is the measure? “Ruins the pesi'ah over what?” Instantly, or over an hour, over 10 minutes? How hard does it have to rain? If the food is on the table and the rain is going to—You do not need much rain to ruin the fasulyah, by the way. A few drops fall in there, and then no one is eating it anymore. What about that?
Then he says, if he waits the time it takes a cloud to pass and the rain does not stop, this is Chacham Ben Tzion’s view: yekadesh basukah velo yevarech leishev basukah, rak birchah she... yochal kezayit, ushear seudah ya'aseh beveito (he should sanctify the festival in the sukkah without the sukkah blessing, eat an olive-sized portion, and have the rest of the meal at home). He is saying like the Ben Ish Chai; he is saying even in the Rambam. Yes, then you go back inside.
But do you say birkat hamazon before you leave, if you are following the Ben Ish Chai? They continue eating inside. They just go from the sukkah into the house. They eat the bread and then go inside. Okay, yes, there is a discussion there. Rabbi, if it is raining lightly, you eat the kezayit and then finish the meal in the house. Why? You just—So you finish in the house. Oh, you make birkat hamazon in the house. You can do everything in the house.
Rabbi, if it clears up later—Then go back in. Go back in. Do you make Shehecheyanu again in the sukkah? No! No! No! Shehecheyanu is for the holiday. It is for the holiday. Sabbaba, nice. No, you do not make Shehecheyanu again in the sukkah. You make leishev basukah. He writes that clearly here, as a matter of fact. Are they obligated to eat bread later too? If—Yeah, obligated to, unless you went to sleep. Unless you lie down in bed already, and then you are not chayav to get up. Some say it is proper to wait the whole night. You want to stay up all night and wait? A great uncertainty. Okay, that is that.
He does not discuss the ladies for a moment, because your question was what the obligation of the ladies is, right? All right, what does that have to do with the wine? The wine—he does not discuss how we got it. He does not discuss that.
Okay, now let’s read Sidra DeYoma, rabotai, one more paragraph. The good news is that he has a commentary on Kohelet, rabotai. He brings it for Sukkot. Wow, he has a great commentary on Kohelet at the back of the book. Whenever you find a nice commentary on Kohelet—That is the book for the holiday, right? That is the book for the holiday, that is what I am saying. So we will do this on Sukkot, without a vow. We are on page 188. We are starting here: Ve'atah neva'er inyan hamitzvot ha'elu vechavanatam (now we will explain these mitzvot and their intentions), one by one.
The mitzvah of sukkah has its height and width, according to the law given to Moshe at Sinai. The height must be less than 20 amot (cubits), and it must be at least 10 tefachim (handbreadths) high. Its width must be at least seven by seven tefachim. It can be as large as you want. First, we make the walls. The walls can be made out of anything; there is no law about what they can be made of. They must not have spaces of more than three tefachim between them. You can put up one slat and then another with some air space in between; that is okay. It should not have a bad smell, obviously.
The sechach (sukkah covering) has to be made, obviously, of something that is not mekabel tum'ah (susceptible to ritual impurity), something detached from the ground. The next paragraph says that people who are particular make the covering out of something with a good smell that does not dry out too quickly, so that it is pleasant to sit in. You want to go into the sukkah; you do not want to make it unappealing. You should not make it unpleasant. For that reason, do not build it somewhere that is too hot from the sun, or where people sit in the wind, or in a place with bugs, flies, and all kinds of things, because then a person will leave the sukkah. Some people take care to beautify it with all sorts of attractive things and make a nice sukkah.
That is the essence of the mitzvah: make it appealing and comfortable, so you like it. You have to make your dwelling permanent in every respect, whether eating, drinking, sleeping, or learning in it. Again, if you are able to learn in the sukkah. Sometimes you need books and need to study in depth, and then the halachah says you can go into the house, into the study hall. But if you are just reading easy things, such as practical halachot, do it in the sukkah.
Or if you need to pray. Basically, you can pray in the sukkah if it does not cause a problem with kavanah. But if you go pray in the sukkah and people are looking at Ocean Parkway, with horns honking, you cannot have kavanah. But if a guy has a sukkah in the back of the house, like Jack’s place across the street, a nice big sukkah, why not pray in the sukkah? Tzaddikim pray in the sukkah.
Wait, did we not say that one year we were having the lessons inside and outside, and we were trying to have them outside in the sukkah at shul? Yeah, we tried to do it outside. We only did it inside because people could not fit. Right. Was it Shabbat? No, no, it was raining. Whatever it was, it was raining a little, but otherwise we would try to do it in the sukkah.
Uvechavanat hamitzvah hazot yechaven lehazkir ta'am ha'inyan lema'an yede'u doroteichem (with the intention of this mitzvah, one should remember its reason, so that your generations will know). He explains it this way: a person needs to keep before him the great good that Hashem did for us and for our ancestors. That means gratitude. From time to time, at one time after another, you have to remind yourself of the kindnesses. The great kindness He did for us and our ancestors was the Exodus from Egypt. That is the main thing.
The Exodus from Egypt was the great thing He did for us. He took us out of the iron furnace, from the house of slavery. We had no chance of leaving Egypt. We were sunk in the mud, our feet mired in it, until the name of Israel was almost submerged from the world. We were on the forty-ninth level of impurity. Klal Yisrael was this close to being wiped out, to becoming like the non-Jews. But in Hashem’s compassion for us, He kept the oath to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov that He would not abandon us. We gathered to Him with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, immediately accepting His service to become a treasured nation. This great kindness is very clear to anyone who has eyes. That is great gratitude we have to give to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We would not be a nation if God had not taken us out of Egypt as He did.
He says that this is why, in the Aseret HaDibrot, He said, “Anochi Hashem Elokecha” (I am Hashem your God). Then He gave us the Ten Commandments: “Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha me'eretz Mitzrayim” (I am Hashem your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt). Furthermore, you should understand from the order of the festivals that every moment and every festival is a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. Every holiday we have is a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt.
Keep this in your heart, so that you will not forget Hashem. And do not forget the Torah. Do not forget the Torah. This benefits the people of Israel, so that they will not act against His will. It reminds us to show gratitude to God. He took you out of Egypt to give you the Torah. Are you going to take the benefit of being brought out of Egypt and then not follow the Torah?
Uve'inyan Chag HaMatzot hizkir inyan ma'alot al zecher kol ma'aseh berachim alav. When it comes to Pesach, it is obvious that it is a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. With Chag HaShavu'ot, too, we count seven weeks from the Exodus from Egypt, so the connection is clear. God said, “I am taking you out of Egypt so that you can come to Har Sinai fifty days later.” So the connection between the two holidays is clear.
Ki kavanat hayetzi'ah haytah al hasibah hazot ka'asher banu be'et yetzi'at Mitzrayim. You do not have to do anything extra; it is obvious. Usefirat sheloshim yom mah... We count seven weeks, like a menstruating woman who counts seven clean days before being together with her husband. But regarding Chag HaSukkot, which is far from the Exodus from Egypt, he saw in his wisdom that there should be a commandment whose performance would bring it to mind. That means you have to do something to remind yourself of the Exodus from Egypt.
When the connection is obvious—Pesach, Pesach, Pesach—you remember Pesach without doing anything. What is it called? “The season of our freedom.” Shavu'ot also has an obvious connection. But Sukkot is not so obvious. What does it have to do with Egypt? We left Egypt, and God gave us the ananei hakavod. That happened after Egypt; it is not directly connected to Egypt.
He writes, “Basukkot teshvu shiv'at yamim” (You shall dwell in sukkot for seven days). They are the clouds of glory that surrounded them when they left Egypt, to fulfill Hashem’s goodness. This is one kindness joined to the kindness of the Exodus itself. He wants you to remember what He did for us on the way out of Egypt, which then reminds you of Egypt itself. But He wanted you to perform an action. On Shavu'ot, we do not have to perform any special action of that sort. Although on Pesach we obviously have the Haggadah, he says that even without it, the connection would be obvious.
Velachen tzarich kol adam sheyechaven bazeh keshe'oseh sukkato (therefore, everyone should have this intention when building his sukkah), or at least when sitting in it. You leave your house for the sukkah, unlike the usual way of life, when everybody leaves their sukkah to go into their house. Now it is getting cool. Everybody closes up their summer homes. Everybody has already brought the barbecue inside. You bring the lawn furniture inside. They put the pool away and cover it up. And what are Jewish people doing? They are going outside. That is for Hashem.
He says here that the cold starts to come in the middle of Tishrei. You can see it right here: the weather changed today. He does the opposite, to fulfill the mitzvah of the Creator, may He be blessed. Through that, a person remembers the reason for the matter, brings the Exodus from Egypt to mind, and recognizes the measure of kindness and the good things He did for us. He gave us good lives and performed a great kindness by taking us out from the avodah zarah (idolatry) in Mitzrayim. He chose us here. Okay, fine.
Now we get to the kavanah of lulav (palm frond). Let’s start it, rabotai. Right, we have a lot here. You know what? Let’s do the paragraph on Kriat HaTorah, which is easier. Tomorrow we will start learning the matters of the lulav (palm frond). After that, they take out two Torah scrolls. There are a lot of kavanot on the lulav, rabotai, and on the intentions for each item. All right, we should start. We are going in order.
The mitzvat lulav: the intention of this mitzvah is to unite His name, may He be blessed, with a whole heart. What does “with a whole heart” mean? It is connected to the word lulav: “lo lev.” What is lulav? “Lo lev.” His heart should be complete with God. Just as the lulav binds together all its leaves and makes them one bundle, tied together in complete unity without separation, a person must bind all his opinions and thoughts and direct them all to one place—to God. That is what is written, tamim tihyeh im Hashem Elokecha (You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your God): all your thoughts should be directed to one place. In this way, you will be wholehearted and complete in the service of Hashem.
You should not be scattered, believing in Hashem according to one outlook while your mind is somewhere else concerning other matters. Everything should be in one place. Just as the lulav is whole and complete, one piece in unity, so too—
It seems that this idea is represented by the tamar (date palm), not by other trees. That is why the tzaddik is compared to a tamar: Tzaddik katamar yifrach (The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree). Maybe it is because a person’s years are 70, and the tamar takes 70 years to reach full maturity. Does it live that long? It says the tamar takes 70 years to reach the completion of its growth. So the tzaddik is not called complete until that time, like Avraham Avinu.
Maybe it is because all the strength of this tree is at its top. If its top is cut, it dies; it is removed from the world. The same is true of a person: everything is in his brain. So it is like a lulav. The palm is like his thinking. Therefore, he revealed this idea through the tamar: a person is not called a tzaddik unless his mind is righteous, thinking properly. His heart must be like the heart of a tamar, united in complete unity, with all its branches pointing upward.
Another reason for joining three branches of hadas (myrtle) to the lulav—three hadasim—is to show complete unity in a person’s heart. The hadas has branches arranged in clusters of three. In each cluster there are three or four leaves, and they are arranged in one straight row, not one higher and one lower. That would be an irregular hadas. They are all on the same level, covering the stem. This represents gathering together and equal unity, with all the leaves facing one place. They must all be bound together.
Basically, it teaches us achdut (unity). All the Jewish people should be united, one united bundle in equal unity, with each and every person entirely directed to one place. It should not be that one person goes this way and another that way, God forbid. In those days, there was no king in Israel, and ish kol hayashar be'einav ya'aseh (each person did what was right in his own eyes). When there is no leadership in Klal Yisrael, each guy does what he wants. This guy goes one way, that guy another. The hadas represents unity.
It says, “Vayitparku chol ha'am” (the whole people turned away). This is the great evil that brings trouble. When there is no unity among Klal Yisrael, that is when troubles come. Peace is pushed away, separation and sins increase, and exile continues. This clarifies further that we sinned, because we are still in exile due to sin'at chinam (baseless hatred), asher ba'avurah natshu... Fine, fine. Basically, the hadas represents achdut.
The Sages received a true tradition that one must bind three branches of hadas with the lulav, so that we will remember the chain of ancestry we have from our forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov. They correspond to the forefathers, who resemble the leaves of the hadas, all held in one place, their unity complete. The Chida says that Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov lived at the same time for 15 years. Their lives overlapped for 15 years, and they learned together for 15 hours a day. Can you imagine that? You walk into the study hall and see Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov sitting at the table, learning together.
May we always have Hashem before us, and may we all face upward. We should always honor our ancestors. So you are reminding yourself of the loyalty of the forefathers.
Another reason for binding the lulav and the hadas with the two branches of aravah (willow) is to show us that the essence of a person’s existence must be connected to the service of Hashem. Even though you have to serve God like the forefathers, with the hadas, in unity, and all that, you should not neglect the matters of olam ha-zeh. It does not mean you should not go to work. “The whole day I’m going to sit in the kollel and learn—how am I going to earn a living?” You should not sit in anguish as if that were the Creator’s intention. “The world was not created to be empty, but to be inhabited.” God wants you to establish the world. One cannot be without the other.
How are you going to live without engaging in the world and earning a living? In the description of the creation of man, it says va-yitzer (and He formed), with two yuds, to hint at two formations: the good inclination and the evil inclination. Both are good for maintaining creation. That means you have to take the evil inclination and use it, channel it for—People say, “I’m not going to eat.” You have to eat. You have to shave, dress, bathe, and do things. “No, I’m like a monk. I’ll just sit and meditate all day. No eating, no drinking, no taking care of my body.” Hashem would have made us like angels if that were what He wanted.
Therefore, King Shlomoh said, echoz ba-zeh ve-gam mi-zeh al tanach yadecha (grasp this and that; do not let go of either). You have to hold both sides. It says, tovim ha-shnayim min ha-echad (two are better than one). The aravah represents the matters of olam ha-zeh. It appears to everyone to have no taste and no smell. Olam ha-zeh has no taste and no smell.
Ve-od she-bin laylah hayah u-vin laylah avad. And what happens? The aravah wilts more quickly than the others. The first thing to go is the aravah, to show you the temporary nature of olam ha-zeh. Olam ha-zeh is nothing. It dries out immediately, more quickly than any other vegetable or grass. That is a sign of olam ha-zeh. You have to know that olam ha-zeh is like the aravah; it wilts immediately.
Look at that outlook as it applies to us. You might say, “Yes, you have to live and do these things.” No, he is saying you have to do this against your will. Right, you have no choice. Olam ha-zeh is against your will. It is not, “I want to do this because I need to spice up the religious side.” No. Rather, HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave us His Torah, through which we have life, just as the aravah has life from the streams of water. She-be-sha'ah she-chotchim otah ein lah shum...
That is a very good point. Listen to the parable here. The aravah has life only when it is attached to the water, arvei nachal (willows of the stream). Once you take it out of the water, the aravah has no—The ethical lesson of the aravah is that olam ha-zeh has value only when it is connected to the water, to the Torah. When you use olam ha-zeh for your spiritual—But take the aravah out of the water, and you see that it will be gone in a moment. That is an ethical lesson.
So he says, kach Yisrael, im porshim atzmam min ha-Torah, porshim me-ha-chayim ve-ein lahem shum chiyut kelal (so too Israel: if they separate themselves from the Torah, they separate themselves from life and have no vitality at all). The same thing. That is an ethical lesson.
So where is the spirituality of—Again, this is an ethical lesson. The lulav gathers all your thoughts, so that they are united toward Hashem. You should not have scattered thoughts, believing in certain things at one time and other things at another. All your outlooks should be united toward HaKadosh Baruch Hu, like the tamar, with everything in the head, like the tamar, and “the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree”—70 years, okay, fine.
Then the hadasim represent Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov, unity in serving God, for the purpose of getting rid of Satan and all that. The aravah represents olam ha-zeh. It is part of the lulav; we do not abandon olam ha-zeh. We live in olam ha-zeh, and Hashem created us in olam ha-zeh. But, as you see from the aravah, olam ha-zeh is very temporary. The first thing to go is the aravah. Olam ha-zeh is nothing, whatever it is. The body needs its vitality, and the aravah’s vitality comes only from water. Likewise, the vitality of olam ha-zeh comes only when you connect it to the water.
These three species—the lulav, hadas, and aravah—all stand together, because one cannot exist without the other. Nice. The reason you tie them together is that these things cannot exist without each other. Based on what we said, you need olam ha-zeh and olam ha-ba (the World to Come); they go together.
Hashem also commanded us to take the fourth species, the etrog (citron). That is in the left hand, but you put them together like this. The etrog has both taste and smell, and it is attractive to look at. It looks good, tastes good, and smells good. It resembles the heart. The etrog resembles the heart. It should be beautiful and good, clean of any spots or blemish. The hint is that a person should have a clean heart. Through this, he will merit life in olam ha-ba. That is why it has all the taste and smell; everything there is sweet and pleasant.
It is not in one bundle with the others because it represents olam ha-ba. We do not separate it from the group, because we must believe with complete faith that there is reward for those who are occupied with the Garden of Eden, even if a person does not serve properly; he will receive his full reward, whatever it is.
There is more to expand on here. HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants to save them and does not want anyone to be cast away from Him. Among people there are three types: those who have taste and smell—those are the sages, the tzaddikim, and the men of deeds. Some have neither taste nor smell; that is the am ha'aretz, represented by the aravah. They have no good deeds and do not know—what? Some have taste but no smell: they study Torah but do not have mitzvot. And some have smell but no taste.
Basically, there are four types of Jews: those who have good deeds but no Torah. Therefore, HaKadosh Baruch Hu commanded us to take these four species, so that everyone will belong. We are permitted to pray with the sinners, and we have to make them into one bundle and one community, without separating from one another. Together, they are all good.
The etrog has taste and smell, and it is by itself, facing the others. It has everything, corresponding to the others. The aravah has neither taste nor smell. The lulav has taste but no smell. It is like a person who has only—He commanded us to join them, because what one has benefits another, and each helps the other. When they are all joined together, there will be no deficiency.
This paragraph is straight out of our Shabbat Shuvah speech. Look what he says: “This is why he said to bring chelbenah (galbanum) with the ketoret (incense). Although its smell is bad, when it is joined with the other spices, its bad smell goes away.” Where do we see this exact idea? In the Derashot HaRan. The Ran’s famous book, the first discourse, says exactly that: when a person is alone, he has his deficiencies. But when you connect him to the tzibbur (community), the deficiencies of the yachid (individual) are nullified in the tzibbur, and it becomes a new entity, a new thing.
And the Ran says not only that: the chelbenah actually enhances the other spices. It does not only lose its bad smell; it actually makes the others better. Amazing chiddush here. Therefore, the power of a tzibbur is magical. Once a guy is part of the tzibbur, you do not hold his deficiencies against him. I am not saying you should give him the sixth aliyah either. I know that, David, I know that.
Another question: what if the whole tzibbur is corrupt and you have one tzaddik? Right, one tzaddik. You have only one etrog. It says, “Light is visible only from within darkness.” The Sages also instructed that any prayer that does not include the sinners of Israel is like the prayer of the congregation of Korach; it is not a prayer.
Baruch Hashem, our connection between the aravah and the chelbenah was made by the master of the discourses. That was my own idea, if you remember the end of the speech, when I brought in the aravah. I had not seen this paragraph, but now I am glad that, Baruch Hashem, I arrived at the opinion of great authorities. He compared the incense of Yom Kippur, and now he brings it to the aravah, which is the same idea.
I do not know if he is going to say it, but we added that the whole community joins together. Even according to the Sephardim, this is basic. We always included everybody in our prayer; we never told someone, “Get out of the shul.” That is why we do not have Conservative and Reform. Sinners. You see, he just said it: any prayer that does not include the sinners of Israel is not a prayer.
So, as we said at the end, what is the goal? When a person is part of the tzibbur, a transformation takes place. All of a sudden, he gets respect. He comes to shul; they give him honor, sit with him, talk to him. Maybe someone picks up a sefer (book) and learns with him a little. Before you know it, he is no longer a chelbenah; he turns into a good guy.
We said that the aravah spends seven days rubbing elbows with the etrog. They are in good company for seven days. What happens to the aravah on the last day? We take it and beat it—there is no more aravah. The aravah is gone. Why? Because by then he has become part of the other guys. That is the idea of chibut aravah (beating of the willow) on the seventh day: we were tolerant and included the aravah.
Chacham Yosef Chamra, peace be upon him—Sousou Chamra—used to give us the following discourse on Sukkot. We will conclude with this. It is a busy day, rabotai, Erev Sukkot. Part of the preparation is obviously learning; that is the most important preparation. We have to build. Lo hamidrash ikar ela hama'aseh (study is not primary, but action). You can learn about Sukkot until you are blue in the face, but if you do not sit in the sukkah, you get zero.
Although some people said, Rachmana liba ba'ei—Hashem just wants your heart; that is the main thing. But that is not the case. Judaism is an action sport. You cannot just sit, think, and meditate on the kavanot of the Rashash. If you do not sit in the sukkah, those kavanot have no bearing.
Sousou used to say the following: “Three things a person must say in his house on Erev Shabbat when it gets dark: Asartem? Eravtem? Hadliku et haner.” He would teach us the rule, asartem, eravtem, hadliku et haner. Simply, asartem means, “Have you taken the ma'asrot (tithe) yet?” Eravtem means, “Did you set up the eruv (Sabbath boundary arrangement)?” Hadliku et haner means “Light the lamp.”
He looks at the fruit and does not know whether she has taken the ma'asrot yet. You cannot tell from a bowl of fruit whether the tithes were taken. Eravtem—how does he know whether there is an eruv? The eruv is in the freezer, the eruv eiruvei chatzerot (courtyard eruv). But he can see that the lamp has been lit. So you do not have to ask, “Did you light the candle?” He sees it. But hadliku et haner...
Anyway, Chacham Yosef would say that this teaches us how we are supposed to bring people back to religion. Asartem, he says, refers to the ma'aser. That is the 10 percent of the population: talmidei chachamim (Torah scholar). Those are the scholars. The Gemara says that one out of a thousand students comes out as a scholar, so that is even 1 percent. But let’s be generous and say today it is more; say 10 percent come out.
What is the job of the asartem? Eravtem. You have to be involved with people. Le'olam yehei adam da'ato me'orevet im habriyot (A person should always be involved with people). A guy cannot say, “No, I’m learning. Why don’t you go help the people?” “I’m helping the people by learning.” Okay, that is true, but if a doctor studies medicine all day and we need him to do the operation now, he cannot say, “No, I’m studying medicine.” It is all hands-on. When people are drowning, the lifeguard cannot say, “I’m studying techniques.” You have to go do it.
Therefore, eravtem: the talmid chacham has to go out, especially today, right before Mashiach comes, and follow the teaching, “A person should always be involved with people.” But what often happens? Asartem ends up becoming part of eravtem. You get so caught up that then comes the plague of wild animals. You got caught up in the mixture. Now you do not know who the talmid chacham is. He is drinking and sitting with them, and all that. Then the ba'al habayit tells the rabbi, “Okay, Rabbi, you are going to miss Minchah.” “Oh, I forgot. I have to go back to shul.”
So Chacham Yosef said you have to remember: the only reason we allow you to do eravtem is hadliku et haner—to light the souls of the people. And then what? Once you have lit their souls, go back to asartem. You must not forget your—
Then he would say that this is the lulav and etrog. The etrog is the asartem. The etrog is in its own box; it does not live with the other guys. The talmid chacham has his own lifestyle and does not try to imitate the life of the am ha'aretz. He has his own box, his own way; he is set apart. But every day for a little while, he is willing to share his smell and rub elbows with the other one: eravtem. But what does he do afterward? Put him back in his box. He goes back home. He does not say, “Okay, I’m going to stay here. Wrap me up with the other species.”
That is a lesson in kiruv (religious outreach). The etrog has a job. He cannot say, “I’m staying in the—Don’t put me next to these creepy guys. I have to sit with the aravah all day long? I’m sitting over here with my friends, the tzaddikim.” No. You have to be willing to share a little with the aravot, the hadas, and the lulav, but then, of course, go back home.
Yehi ratzon (may it be [God's] will), rabotai. The best thing is that we have the kavanot, whatever Rabbi Shimon had, whatever Rabbi Elazar beno, Rabbeinu ha'Ari, Rabbi Chaim Vital, and the Rashash had. We intend according to their intentions. We want our mitzvot to go up that route, especially for those who learned some of the kavanot of the lulav, which we know as the kavanot of ha'Arizal.
The mekubalim (Kabbalists) write that if you learned it once, you created a pathway in your brain. So when you perform the mitzvah, even if you are not concentrating on it, the mitzvah finds that pathway. The limud (learning) has value for the limud. Huh? We are relying on that. You have that pathway. As long as you understood it when you learned it and grasped the idea, there is a path. So when you perform the mitzvah, the mitzvah knows exactly which artery in the brain to—So the limud has value. Okay, we will stop here. Baruch Hashem le'olam, amen ve'amen.