Sukkos: Hashem Still Wants Me

The pasuk in Shir HaShirim says, שְׂמֹאלוֹ תַּחַת לְרֹאשִׁי וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי, “His left hand is beneath my head, and His right hand embraces me.”

The Arizal teaches us that the left hand refers to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And the right… that is Sukkos. 

He then explains that the arm has two complete sections, the upper arm and the forearm, followed by the hand. It is like a sukkah that has two complete walls and a small part, even just a tefach wide. This is the embrace of Hashem. This is the וִימִינוֹ תְּחַבְּקֵנִי. 

Cute vort, right? You have probably heard it before. Short, sweet, and to the point. Perfect for when you are a guest in someone’s sukkah and don’t want to take the table hostage with a forty-minute drashah. A truly fire vort.

Dont get me started on cute vorts. A good torah is a good torah. It can save a life. So often i let the cute vorts roll off me like passing cloud, or a fleeting dream. Never let it stick. Its too easy to let them drift past. 

But this vort… this ain’t no cute vort. It is THE vort. It is what Sukkos is all about. 

The Nesivos Shalom asks why the special moniker for Sukkos is “Zman Simchaseinu.” Each Yom Tov has a name that touches the essence of the day. Not the mitzvos hayom, but the essence. Pesach is “Zman Cheiruseinu,” the time of our freedom. Shavuos is “Zman Matan Toraseinu,” the time we receive the Torah. And Sukkos is “Zman Simchaseinu,” the time of our joy. The problem is that every Yom Tov has a requirement for simcha. What is the name of Sukkos adding to what is already there?

The Nesivos Shalom explains that this underlying essence in the name of the days of Sukkos is the key. It’s not regular simcha. This crucial essence of joy on Sukkos is so much more. It stems from Hashem’s deep love for Klal Yisroel. And revels itself more clearly on Sukkos, because well… Sukkos is special.

You see, I worked hard in Elul. I worked hard on Rosh Hashanah, a little less so in Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, tbh, yet I came back roaring for the grand finale on Yom Kippur. But the day after Yom Kippur, it was over. I was back at work. Same old, same old… 

And I think back to the special moments over the past few weeks, and it just feels gone… like it happened to someone else… 

But Sukkos is coming. The embrace of Hashem is coming. Hashem is telling me on Sukkos that He loves me. That He loves every part of me. The good, the bad, and the ugly parts. The parts that need validation because I don’t feel secure enough in myself. And so Hashem takes me into a hug. 

The Mishnah in Sukkah says that if you haven’t seen the Simchas Beis HaSho’eivah in the Beis HaMikdash, you haven’t really ever experienced true simcha. At first glance this mishna is a bit confusing. It’s nice, I guess. I mean, I’ve had nice Simchas Beis HaSho’eivahs before. I am sure it was really nice, but was it really as nice as the azoozment park or that fancy party in what’s-his-name’s sukkah? Probably a little nicer, but nice enough to say I haven’t experienced real simcha? 

C’mon, man…

But see, the Mishnah is not just talking about the fun times, the meat boards, and famous celebrity singers croaking out their tunes for a good time. No, the Mishnah is not talking about that. 

The Mishnah is talking about the embrace. The hug that Hashem gives me on Sukkos when I start letting the high of Yom Kippur slip, when I think about my remaining flaws and the could-have-should-have-beens in this year’s avodah. And in that embrace, I can feel at peace and one with Hashem. I can feel like He wants me, warts and all. 

Is there a simcha greater than this? If I know that Hashem loves me, wants a relationship with me, accepts me, and wants to be close to me, what more could I need in this world? And what greater simcha exists than that?

When the Kohanim drew the waters for nisuch hamayim, they reconnected the lower waters with the upper waters and created a sheleimus in existence that hadn’t been seen since the days of Creation. 

Just as the waters joined as one, Hashem joins with His beloved nation on Sukkos in the Beis Hamikdash. Klal Yisroel knew then that Hashem loved them even with all their cracks and crevices. In that security and embrace, they danced the night away. They danced in that joy, in that simcha born out of the realization that there is nothing else at all but the love of Hashem pouring over them like the water poured over the mizbe’ach. 

There is no simcha like that. And if you have never seen that, you can’t ever say you have seen true simcha in your life. 

So it is Sukkos now. We are missing out on that level of simcha, but I can go into the little hut in my backyard, or the front yard, or at the shul, wherever, and still feel His hug, His love that permeates everything. In that love, I don’t need anything else. 

Bills? Stress? Drama at work? They don’t disappear, but the power they hold over me melts away on Sukkos. 

The fear that my tefilos weren’t worthy enough to be accepted disappeared. Hashem was mekabel all of my tefillos. Brother, hear me, He was mekabel all of your tefillos too, and He is pulling you and me into His embrace. Not a word of your davening was lost. How it will play out is the mystery of the coming year, but He heard you. 

And the secret is that He never even let go from last year. It’s just that over a long year of roller-coaster ups and downs, we can forget. So we gotta go back into the sukkah and remind ourselves that we never left the embrace of Hashem in the first place.

So I sit in my flimsy hut, half held together with duct tape and bitachon, and it is the strongest structure that exists on this earth. On this finite, fleeting, weak, insecure earth, where we can never truly trust anything other than Hashem. 

I sit here in my little hut and remember His love for me. That He accepted my effort. That this whole Yom Tov, in its essence, is joy. 

Joy from the menuchas hanefesh of knowing that Hashem loves me as I am.

And within that love, He dares me to become something more.