Chag Sukkot

The Sfas Emes writes, “The mitzvah of succah is the mitzvah of bitachon.” As Chazal said, “צא מדירת קבע,” Go out of your permanent house… and stop trusting in your assets and begin trusting in Hashem alone….

According to Rabbi Eliezer, the word “sukkot” refers to the Clouds of Glory that protected the Jews in the desert. During Sukkot we leave our homes and live in Sukkah for eight days (seven in Israel). We are told to have bitachon (Trust in Hashem), that he will protect us from the elements just as our homes do.

At the same time we have minimum guidelines for building a proper Sukkah; such as the number of walls and size. During Simcha Torah bags of candy are passed around, do we eat as much as we can and have bitachon that you won’t get cavities? No, we brush our teeth and go to the Dentist. The Chazon Ish (Hilchot Eruvin 13:6) suggests that a wall is not valid only if it falls or sways more than three tefachim in normal wind.

This past Sukkot (2019/5790) we had a Nor’easter and many Sukkahs were blown away, way more than three tefachim. Does that mean they were invalid? No, as this was not a normal wind. In that situation what we do is fortify ourselves. We add support to our sukkah and continue in the hardest part of the mitzah; To be happy continuously the whole week.