Sukkos 5786 – Clouds of Daas

Part I. Entering the Clouds

Aftermath of Yom Kippur

I’ll begin with a little anecdote, a memory from my time in Slabodka, in Europe. It was motzei Yom Kippur and we had just finished Neilah and Maariv, and I went to my stanzia with my chavrusa to eat, to break our fast. And I recall how we were sitting together at the table, two chaveirim eating, and we didn’t say one word throughout the entire seudah. Not one word! The experience of Yom Kippur had made such a tremendous impression on us and no one was going to open their mouth and deflate that feeling. And so we sat there eating in complete silence.

The next morning, the Rosh Yeshiva said a few parting words to the bnei yeshiva. We were going home now; some of us stayed, but most were going back now to their hometowns for yom tov, and this would be the last talk we would hear from the Rosh Yeshiva until Cheshvan.

And so he said like this: “All of you labored very much on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. You put your hearts into your tefillos in the yeshiva and you were elevated and inspired. To pray in a good place these three days is equivalent to three months of learning. And so, all of you built up for yourselves a great binyan of da’as, of yiras Hashem during these days.”

Buildings May Collapse

“But it is important now that you should be on guard,” he continued. “Hishamru lachem, because when you go home soon, so Sukkos comes—that’s Chag Simchaseinu—and then Simchas Torah too; and so you have to beware of leitzanus.” Leitzanus means lightheadedness, lack of thought. And he quoted to us the famous words of the Mesillas Yesharim that לֵיצָנוּת אַחַת דּוֹחָה מֵאָה תּוֹכֵחוֹת – one wisecrack can overthrow a built-up tower of over a hundred tochachos. Tochacha means a lesson; a lesson in da’as, in seichel, in yiras Shamayim.

Now, even one tochacha is more valuable than diamonds, but let’s say you go someplace to hear a hundred lectures on yiras Shamayim. A hundred tochachos means you’re a wealthy man! You have a big skyscraper now—it can bring in a lot of income, a skyscraper full of da’as. And now one leitzanus can come along and topple the whole building down.

It’s not me saying so—those are the words of the Mesillas Yesharim. One thoughtless jest can overthrow the results of a hundred sessions of serious thought; by means of lightheadedness and silliness, all of your great ideals tumble away into nothing.

Flippant Frivolity

I’ll tell you myself, my own experience. I remember in a certain shtiebel they used to throw wet towels at each other on Simchas Torah. Wet towels on Simchas Torah? There’s a mitzvah to throw a wet towel? It’s a question if it’s even permitted to make a towel wet on yomtov. But in this place they threw wet towels at each other.

Or another time, when I was seventeen years old on Simchas Torah and I went up to duchan, birchas kohanim, and an old man, a kohen, was standing next to me and he was supposed to say the bracha of birchas kohanim. He said “Baruch Atah Hashem,” and then instead of saying ‘asher kidishanu…’, he said ‘shehakol nehiyeh bidvaro’. And he lifted up his tallis and showed that he was drinking a glezel with schnapps. In the presence of the whole tzibbur he took off the tallis, made a shehakol and drank schnapps!

Don’t laugh! You know what happened? The people lost what they had built up. Not only that leitz—everyone there! It dissipated. It’s not me saying so. The Mesillas Yesharim tells you it’s so.

And so the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva was warning us to be on guard, because very soon the days of yom tov will begin; many days of happiness all the way through Simchas Torah. And so it depends how you’ll celebrate. If it will be a thoughtful celebration, l’sheim Shamayim, very good. Of course you’ll eat good foods too. And it will be good times! When a man sits in his sukkah with his family and they enjoy picnicking in the open and singing zemiros, it’s a lot of fun. Everyone is enjoying the yom tov, enjoying the fresh air, and that’s how it’s supposed to be.

And so, certainly, you should be joyous on Sukkos; you’ll sing and dance and enjoy the family and your chaveirim. קוֹל רִנָּה וִישׁוּעָה בְּאָהֳלֵי צַדִּיקִים – In the homes of the righteous there are sounds of rejoicing and happiness (Tehilim 118:15). Absolutely! Who else should be happy if not those who keep the Torah? But it’s important to remember that if it deteriorates into hefkeirus, when simchas yom tov deteriorates into the opposite of thinking, into wildness and silly frivolity, then all of the achievements you gained on Yom Kippur go lost.

Day of Precious Achievements

Now, some people might think that they didn’t achieve too much on Yom Kippur anyhow. They were listening to the chazzan, the tra-la-las, the niggunim, and looking at the clock, counting how many hours there are until Neilah; what will be for supper. But rabbosai, you have to know that even the most simple Jew is transformed by Yom Kippur. Just to sit among frum Jews all day long is a bracha. If you’re in a frum shul among frum people all day long, that’s already an achievement. Just for that alone, it’s worth coming to shul; even if you didn’t daven a single world.

You spent the whole day speaking lashon kodesh. Don’t think it’s nothing—if Hakadosh Baruch Hu made a language, He made every letter purposeful. It sounds like kabbalah, but it’s common sense. Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn’t do things at random; everything He does has chochma in it and so every letter of the alef beis is made for a purpose. It’s a language that changes our souls, it transforms the neshamos of those who speak that language. I’m not talking now about ivrit that they speak in Tel Aviv. If you speak Hebrew because it’s done in Medinas Yisroel, because you want to be like the Zionists, then it doesn’t pay. No, it doesn’t pay at all. That’s not lashon kodesh. But on Yom Kippur, we’re talking all day the holy language of Hashem that’s in the machzor, in the Tanach.

Also, it’s prose that’s written by holy men. Besides the words from Tehillim from Dovid Hamelech, the piyutim we say were also written by holy men, by gedolei Yisroel. Ordinary people didn’t write these poems; only great tzaddikim and talmidei chachamim. And they breathed into these piyutim a whole world of kedusha. So saying the words alone, even if you’re an am haaretz and you don’t know the meaning of the words, just saying it, the words transform your neshama.

Day of Emunah

But you davened too; a whole day in conversation with Hakadosh Baruch Hu! You know what that does to a person? All day long, “Atah, Atah, Atah – You, You, You.” It means you’re taking Hashem out of the siddur and putting Him into your head.

Yom Kippur made you feel more keenly that you’re standing in the Presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Some people achieved a great deal on Yom Kippur because of that; they gained a very strong awareness of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It’s a tremendous accomplishment! Just that alone, to become more aware of the Presence of Hakadosh Baruch Hu is in itself a very great wealth. רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה יִרְאַת ה׳ – The highest of all forms of wisdom is yiras Hashem; and yiras Hashem means awareness of Hashem, to feel the Presence of Hashem.

You’re a much bigger maamin, a much bigger baal bitachon after Yom Kippur than you were beforehand. Because what were you doing all day long? All day long, you’re declaring that you know who the Author of your happiness is.

Who is the One Who will protect you and your family all year long? Only Hashem. וּכְתוֹב לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים – He’s the One Who is going to give you a happy life. בְּסֵפֶר חַיִּים בְּרָכָה וְשָׁלוֹם וּפַרְנָסָה טוֹבָה – He’s the One! All your words on Yom Kippur are directed to Him.

You’re gaining a very strong awareness that everything we have—our lives, our health, our wealth, our everything—is coming from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And by saying those words all day long, you become more and more convinced of that truth. You know what a chinuch that is? You’re educating yourself in bitachon, trusting only in Him. He’s your protection.

Day of Daas

And so when the Yomim Noraim come to an end, you’re not the same man; you’ve changed fundamentally because your mind, that’s who you really are. Just because you look the same as your fellow—you’re both 180 pounds, let’s say, and you’re both five feet, ten inches tall—that’s nothing.

The one who is more aware of Hashem, the one who is margish more that Hashem is watching him and guiding him and protecting him, he’s a hundred feet taller. Because that skyscraper of daas in the mind, that’s really who the person is. And it’s a tragedy if that transformation of your neshama—your ideals and attitudes—goes lost. You gained a very precious possession, and you have to hold onto the effects and secure them as much as possible.

Sukkos: Perfect Timing

And that brings us now to Sukkos; there’s a reason why Sukkos comes right after the Yomim Noraim. In Maariv we mention מְשָׁנֶה עִיתִּים, that Hashem changes the times. It means that the plan which we call nature—the changing of the times, night after day, and the seasons one after the other—they follow a purposeful order. They maintain their existence in benefiting the world by following a certain seder planned by the ‘Mishaneh Itim’, the great Designer of nature.

But מְשָׁנֶה עִיתִּים means even more than that. Because exactly the same is the seder by which Hakadosh Baruch Hu made the Moadim—the order of all the Moadim are planned for our benefit. Why Shavuos was in Sivan and why Elul follows the summer; why Rosh Hashana is before Yom Kippur and then Sukkos and so on, everything is intended for a purpose, or better yet, purposes.

Now, with our little minds we won’t imagine that we are capable of understanding entirely the reasons of the Torah, why this yom tov follows that one, but it would be profitable for us if at least to some extent, for our subject, if we would understand the plan of having Sukkos follow Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And so it pays to realize that Sukkos is intended to be the opposite of destroying what was built up during the Yomim Noraim.

Sukkos was planned by Hakadosh Baruch Hu to set in stone the achievements we made and to build on them even a higher tower of daas.

Sukkos: Preserving Greatness

And so simchas yom tov, that’s excellent! It’s very important! I know that it has become a ‘minhag’ to make trips on Chol Hamoed and I don’t want to say that you shouldn’t do it. I won’t say you can’t go to the zoo or the park, but the truth is that Sukkos wasn’t meant to be a vacation time, a frivolous vacation. And so, whatever you do to increase your happiness, you shouldn’t forget the purpose of the happiness. The function of the simchas yom tov is intended to be a boost, to give us energy so that we should utilize Sukkos properly; we should be able to suck out all the juice we can from these days.

Because that’s really what Sukkos is for. It’s a time for gaining a sharpness of hargasha, a keen awareness and sensory perception of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Now will you gain some weight too? Could be. There are a lot of happy seudos ahead. But the real weight we want to gain is more bitachon, more emunah, more daas Hashem, more yiras Shamayim. Because that’s what Sukkos and its mitzvos are intended for.

Now, of course, if you’re just an ordinary frum Jew—you built a sukkah, it’s kosher, and you do everything else too; you’re mekayem all mitzvos of Sukkos—so we’re not going to criticize you. We’re happy with you. And you’ll be rewarded. But we shouldn’t be satisfied with that because that’s not the main achievement of Sukkos and its mitzvos. We have to remember always what the Chovos Halevavos declares, that all of the mitzvos of the Torah are made for a higher purpose than just fulfilling the details of the mitzvah.

Mitzvah of the Mind

Higher than a mitzvah? What’s higher than a mitzvah? The answer is the penimiyus of the mitzvah—it means get an understanding of what the mitzvah is telling you. Each mitzvah is intended to teach you a certain kind of wisdom and that’s the higher purpose—only that we perceive it more sharply by doing the mitzvah, by means of the details and technicalities.

But it’s the wealth of the mind, the wisdom you gain, that will be the main achievement of Sukkos. Of course, it depends how much effort you’ll invest into this opportunity but every one of us has a great opportunity on Sukkos to solidify our gains and to fulfill the purpose we came into the world for. It’s a yom tov of daas, of knowledge, and therefore the better prepared we are beforehand, the more perfection we’ll achieve as we fulfill the mitzvos.

Part II. Ancient Clouds

The Low Roof

Now, there are many mitzvos we do on Sukkos, and each one has its own higher purpose but we’ll focus now on the one that we think of first when we think of Chag HaSukkos; the one that’s most available to us and the one that the yom tov is named for—it’s the yom tov of living in a sukkah.

The first din that the Mishnah tells us about building a sukkah is that it can’t be higher than twenty amos. If the schach is more than twenty amos—that’s about thirty five feet—from the floor to the ceiling, the sukkah is possul.

Now, we might have thought that a taller sukkah is more hiddur mitzvah. It’s more grand, more beautiful; why not? But the Tanna says no; it can’t be higher than twenty amos. And it’s a question; why is that so? Why can’t I build a very tall sukkah?

The Visible Roof

And listen now to one of the answers the Gemara (Sukkah 2a) gives because it’s the introduction to our subject. When the Torah tells us the mitzvah of sukkah it says as follows: בַּסֻכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ … לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דּוֹרוֹתֵיכֶם – Why should you live in the sukkah for seven days? In order that your generations should know, כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – that I caused the Bnei Yisroel to dwell in sukkos, בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם – when I took them out of Eretz Mitzrayim (Vayikra 23:43).

And in order to be reminded, the Gemara says, the Torah wants you to be able to see the schach. If it’s too high, you can’t easily see it. You have to crane your neck and you might not do it; you’ll miss seeing the schach, which means you missed the purpose of the sukkah.

Now that’s on the first amud in Mesichta Sukkah, and so everybody learned it. But it’s not enough to learn—you have to listen to it; you have to fulfill it. Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects us to take a look at the schach!

Only that you have to know what you’re seeing. If you’re looking but you don’t know what you’re looking at, it’s a waste. You’re looking: “Oh, what type of schach is it? Are the decorations hanging properly? Maybe next year I need to buy a few more sticks of bamboo”—all types of thoughts. But don’t forget the most important one: “I’m looking because the sukkah is trying to tell me something; it wants to remind me, to stir my mind to think.” The schach has a great deal to tell us, but if we’re not prepared, we don’t hear anything.

The Gift of Remembering

So the first thing is to think those words כִּי בַסוּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. Our forefathers lived in sukkos when they went out of Mitzrayim, and therefore, because they lived in sukkos, we also make sukkos now. We want to remember what happened then, how we were taken out of Mitzrayim by Hashem into the wilderness. That’s the mitzvah.

That’s already a big thing. If you’ll remember Yetzias Mitzrayim and the miracles that took place then, those nissim are very important. The Chovos Halevavos at the very end of Sha’ar Habechinah, he says, “הַגְּדוֹלָה שֶׁבַּטּוֹבוֹת – the greatest of Hashem’s kindliness besides for Torah are the nissim that He did for us.” You hear that? The nissim are among the top chasdei Hashem that He did for us! And not because we were saved; Hashem could have saved us without nissim too. The nissim are the biggest gift because a nes is a gift of true knowledge.

A gift of a nes shows you clearly a piece of information—Hashem is in charge!—that will lodge in your mind forever and ever. And that’s more valuable to you than a million dollars, a million dollars mamash. And so, on Sukkos, it pays to be reminded about that—to think about Yetzias Mitzrayim while you’re in the sukkah is very worthwhile.

Living Miracles

But actually that’s only the beginning—there’s much more than that. Because we’re talking now about what happened after we came out of Mitzrayim. “I want you to celebrate,” Hashem says, “how I put you in sukkos when I took you out”. Not that “you dwelt in sukkos;” but rather הוֹשַׁבְתִּי – “I caused you to dwell in sukkos.” It means, “I purposefully seated you in sukkos for forty years when I took you out of the land of Mitzrayim.”

Now pay attention to what that means. The Rambam, in his Moreh Nevuchim (3:50), writes that “the greatest of all nissim that our nation ever experienced is the forty years that we spent in the midbar.” He’s not talking about Yetzias Mitzrayim. He’s not talking about the ten makkos and Kriyas Yam Suf. To exist forty years in the midbar, a nation of at least two million, that itself was the greatest nes of all our history.

All kinds of things could have happened. In the desert, there are sandstorms that can bury people. And rains; there are sudden downpours that come down and make floods that drown people. It happens in the desert—flash floods that drown out entire caravans.

Every kind of illness travels through desert camps. When people are crowded together in one small place, all you need is one ill person to set off an epidemic. And then it speeds like lightning through the whole camp killing people. And yet, nothing happened! Nothing ever happened!

And what about food? To feed a nation of millions? They didn’t have any fields to cultivate. They should have starved to death in the midbar! Even water they couldn’t find. It was unbelievable that a nation of more than two million men, women and children should exist in a place where nothing grew.

Surrounded by Sakanah

And they were surrounded by enemies too. We know on one side was Egypt. The Mitzrim suffered so much from us, and they were full of hatred and anger at us. All the other nations—Edom, Midyan, Amalek—were jealous of us, and they were worried about what we might do next; they wanted to destroy us, to finish us off.

And they knew that וַיְנַצְּלוּ אֶת מִצְרַיִם, that we had emptied out Egypt of its wealth. All the gold and silver of Mitzrayim we had with us. You know what it means to be flush with wealth and surrounded by enemies. Imagine you were a rich man, a jeweler let’s say, and everyone knows you’re carrying with you all your cash and your diamonds. And you’re passing now through Harlem, and you want to camp out for a night. So you make a tent on an empty lot and try to get some sleep. What chance do you have to survive if all the locals, the ethnics, know that you have a pile of money in your tent? And in the Midbar it wasn’t one night. It wasn’t a month or even a year. It was forty years!

Now, had we had fortified cities there, high walls and people standing on the walls with bows and arrows prepared to shoot at the enemy, maybe. But we had nothing. We were out in the open, exposed. And where did we live? Not in houses. בַּסוּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – “I sat you in flimsy huts”, flimsy little things. Some thin walls, sticks on top maybe, whatever it is, and finished. That’s a protection?! It’s almost nothing at all.

Guarded by Glory

The answer is that we had the most effective of all protections. You know why? The point of the flimsy schach is to remind us that it’s nothing. סוּכָּה דִּירַת אֲרַעי בְּעֵינָן – A sukkah has to be made in a flimsy way (Sukkah 23a) because we want to remember that the sukkos in the Midbar were nothing. The whole setup—the machaneh Yisroel and all the tents—was just a facade. Because Who was really protecting them? Only Hakadosh Baruch Hu!

That’s why the Chachamim tell us that when we look at the schach—anyone can climb in, chas v’shalom—and we think, “How was it that we were protected from all the tzaros, all the dangers? Only because of the Ananei Kavod, the Clouds of Glory, that were overhead.” And so the schach is a dugma of not only the schach in the Midbar but it’s a sign of the clouds that were overhead, above the flimsy roofs.

So now you know a reason why it shouldn’t be a davar mekabel tumah; everybody knows that the schach cannot be made out of peiros, out of anything fit to eat, or any keili, anything that’s mekabel tumah. Now, I’m not capable of telling the secrets of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but we can easily understand a superficial explanation why schach is possul if it’s made out of a davar hamekabel tumah. Because the schach reminds us of something very, very holy; something that’s kadosh. It’s reminding us of the Shechina overhead. The Shechina can’t become tamei!

The Best Time in History

And so that’s what it means לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דּוֹרוֹתֵיכֶם – in order that your generations should know, כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל – that I caused the Bnei Yisroel to dwell in sukkos. In the Midbar we lived under a cloud, a protective cloud—that was our sukkah. Their flimsy little huts were sufficient only because Hakadosh Baruch Hu was protecting them.

Every day, all day long, they saw overhead the Ananei Kavod, the clouds of Hashem’s Glory, and they knew it was only Hashem. Every night you could see the cloud of fire overhead! Day and night for forty years, they saw that! And they were learning an important lesson; that our only protection in this world is Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

For forty years they were reviewing that lesson and it got into their bones; and that’s why the Midbar was the best time in our history. You know, some people think it was terrible to be there; they pity the people who were in the Midbar.

Oh no! On the contrary, you should be envious of them. If we could have the opportunity to go back in time, to one time in our history, that would be the best choice. That was the time to be alive. We’re so sorry we weren’t there. That’s the way we should feel: “Oh, I wish I could have been in the Dor Hamidbar. Ah! To be every day under the Clouds of Glory.” Overhead all day long they could look up and gain an awareness of Hashem. What a tremendous profit that was! Every day to be reminded of Hashem in such a real gashmiyusdige way! It became fixed in our hearts forever.

Not for Fops

Now, it’s true that if you’re a person who desires pleasures, if you’re looking for good times, the wilderness was not the place for you; that’s certain. If you were a dandy, a fop who’s accustomed to luxuries, then you became disgusted with that daily diet, the same thing always. וְנַפְשֵׁנוּ קָצָה בַּלֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל – We’re fed up with this mann (Bamidbar 21:5). Also, you would quickly become weary of being crushed together in that camp where a couple of million people lived side by side in tents jammed together. But for those who know that they’re in this world for one purpose only, to achieve perfection of the mind, there’s nothing better than living under the Ananei Kavod.

To live in a camp that was invulnerable because there was a Sukkah overhead—the Ananei Kavod, the Clouds of the Presence of Hashem—protecting them, that transformed a person more than learning a hundred seforim about yiras Shamayim. That’s why they’re called the Dor Deiah, the Generation of Knowledge. Because they lived in the machaneh in flimsy sukkos, they became the generation that knew Hashem more than any other generation.

Holiness Overhead

And that’s what we’re trying to do when we come into our sukkahs. We’re trying to recapture that feeling. לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ! We also should know! Not we should remember—we should know! And so when yom tov comes and we walk into that little edifice that we erected and we look up at the schach, so because you came here tonight, you’ll remember that the schach is trying to teach you something.

Everyone is talking, looking at the noi sukkah, finding their seats, squeezing into the little sukkah; very good, very good. But you’re thinking; you look up at the schach and you’re thinking, “This sukkah is a pretty flimsy protection. There’s no roof of masonry. There’s no iron door. There’s nothing. It’s only schach. Anybody can climb up and jump into the sukkah through the schach, chas v’shalom. Is this how they sat for forty years in the dangerous wilderness?!”

“Yes!” you’ll say. “Because they had the Ananei Kavod, the Shechina, protecting them.” That’s what we’re remembering on Sukkos. It’s true that Moshe Rabbeinu was leading us and we had Aharon Hakohen and Miriam and the Shivim Zekeinim and other tzaddikim too; but it was Hakadosh Baruch Hu who was standing guard over the Am Yisroel. Nobody ever was able to invade the machaneh Yisroel because כִּי ה’ אֱלוֹקֶיךָ מִתְהַלֵּךְ בְּקֶרֶב מַחָנֶיךָ, Hashem is going with you. That’s the most important lesson to think about when sitting in the sukkah, that our only true Security is Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

Part III. Modern Day Clouds

Another Layer of Schach

Now all that is true and it’s a big accomplishment if you’ll do it. It pays to go into the sukkah just for that, to sit down and think those thoughts. And the more you do it, the more successful you are. But there’s still more. Because when we go into the sukkah and try to recapture some of that feeling, we’re not only remembering the past. As we’re looking up at the schach we should add another thought: “In addition to the fact that Hashem protected us in the midbar without any fortified cities—no fortification, no walls, and still we were the safest in our entire history—as I’m looking up at the schach I’m reminding myself also that the Ananei Kavod are overhead right now.” Ooh, that’s something new! Even in our generation, we’re protected by the Ananei Kavod.

I want to quote a few pessukim from Tehillim (31:19–21) to illustrate that. It’s talking there about when Dovid was surrounded by enemies on all sides who were slandering and chasing him down, but he’s talking now, not only for himself but on behalf of the whole nation, in all of our history: “תֵּאָלַמְנָה שִׂפְתֵי שָׁקֶר – All the lying lips should be stricken down, הַדֹּבְרוֹת עַל צַדִּיק עָתָק – those who speak falsehood against the righteous, בְּגַאֲוָה וָבוּז – with arrogance and contempt. תַּסְתִּירֵם – You, Hashem, will hide them; it means You will shelter the Jewish nation, בְּסֵתֶר פָּנֶיךָ – in the protection of Your Countenance. You will protect them מֵרֻכְסֵי אִישׁ – from the wickedness of men.

And how will Hashem protect us from the wickedness of men? תִּצְפְּנֵם בְּסֻכָּה – You will conceal them in the sukkah; You will protect them in Your sukkah. It means we are living in a world of enemies, and it’s only because we are in Hashem’s sukkah that we survive.

Anti-Israel Anti-Semites

We have always had enemies who were talking against us, all kinds of falsehoods. Every kind of canard, all the time. The UN, for instance, even now came out with a declaration that Medinas Yisroel is to blame for shooting the Arabs. “The Arabs are innocent fellows”, of course.

Now, I’m not a big patriot of Israel, but we see that the UN is one big gathering of anti-Semites. They didn’t even let Israel come into any one of their committees. The murderous Arabs, the very worst, are always poor innocent fellows and Israel is guilty. So they all came together and they made a declaration blaming Israel. And our honorable President, maybe he wasn’t too happy about it, but he also joined in.

Now, I won’t say Bush is an anti-Semite—I wouldn’t declare that in public. Could be he’s a nice man. After all, he made a Chanukah party in the White House. A Chanukah menorah in the White House! Wonderful! Maybe it’s wonderful, I don’t know. But whatever it is, the gentile peeks out sometimes from behind the mask.

An Old Story

And it’s nothing new. Not only in the UN; there’s a tremendous literature of antisemitism from the earliest times. The Greeks were the worst of all. Josephus quotes many Greek writers and their falsehoods against us. The Greeks never stopped writing against us. And they fulfilled it too. It was halacha l’maaseh for them. They tried their best to destroy us.

And they are trying their best; they have always tried their best. בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ – In every generation they have tried again and again to get rid of us. They have made very big efforts; it is only because people don’t know about history that they forget about these things, they are unaware. Emperor Hadrian tried his best and he was a very powerful man; he had the Roman Empire at his disposal and he tried his best to stamp out the Jewish people. Not to mention Haman and all the rest of them.

Not only in ancient times. There’s a book called, “The Foot of Pride,” by Malcolm Hay and it gives there a long list of stories of the ‘kind-hearted’ church, how the popes and priests and bishops stirred up hatred against the innocent Jews. Don’t you know that in every place all over Europe, there were mob massacres? They organized mobs and massacred Jews. The pilgrims and the crusaders everywhere massacred Jews.

Just recently, when the Jews were led out to the slaughter in Europe, the church bells pealed in happiness. They rang the church bells especially for the occasion and their gentile populace walked out with sticks with nails in the end of them and they were lambasting the Jews with the nail sticks to help the Jews be happier on their way to the death march. True stories. We have witnesses still alive today. The populace hit them with sticks with nails in the end of them.

Now, I’m not saying everybody. There always are some good gentiles in the world, no question about it. But the populace was as wicked as could be.

Still Standing

And yet, we’re still here. The enemies who slandered us disappeared already. They’re gone. Greece of today is not the Greece of antiquity. Greece is entirely lost. All their gods have gone lost. Their religion and culture have gone lost.

Edom hated us. Midyan hated us. Moav hated us. And they’re all gone. Bavel is gone and Persia is gone. They’re all disappearing one after the other. But we’re still here.

It’s good to hear what a goy says about this. Mark Twain wrote an essay once and he said like this: ‘The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

He was asking, how does such a thing happen? How is it that the Jewish people traveled through the wilderness of the nations for so many years—not forty years; thousands of years—and were protected?

Protected by Hashem

And the answer—it’s not his answer; he doesn’t have an answer, only a question—but the answer is Sukkos. The answer is the Ananei Kavod. It’s because Hashem keeps us in His sukkah. Overhead are the Ananei Kavod and they are protecting us exactly as they did in the midbar. הַפּוֹרֵס סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל – He spreads a sukkah of peace over us and that’s the only reason we’re still here.

And that’s what we should be thinking about when we walk into that little edifice that we erected, and we look up at the schach. The schach is reminding us that we are forever protected by Hashem. And only Him! And if there’s ever a breach, it’s only because He wanted it so. That’s a great lesson; to know that we don’t have any security except for the Sukkah of Hashem.

And so everybody is talking; simchas yom tov, very good. The sukkah is a sociable place; why not? However, you want to do a little bit more, so you’re sitting and thinking. “I’m looking at the schach and I know that it’s mamash the Ananei Kavod overhead. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is overhead right now. I won’t see it like we saw it in the Midbar, but He’s overhead, absolutely.”

Unprotected by the Constitution

Otherwise, we’re not secure. You think the Constitution is protecting us? The Constitution is a sukkah that has no schach and no walls. It’s nothing. You see what the judges are doing with the Constitution. It’s a plaything in their hands. Any little judge can today legislate and make new rules and break the Constitution. He says, “I read it into the Constitution.” And so the Constitution is meaningless today. Even with the Constitution, don’t think that the white people in the Midwest can’t make trouble. If they get fed up with the liberals, the Socialists, and they make a revolution, who knows what could be?

Don’t be fooled by the ‘teshuvah’ they do by building Holocaust museums. All it does is give the gentiles more ideas. They’re licking their chops, “Oh, why didn’t we think about that?” The American scientists could make better gas chambers than the Germans did chas v’shalom. And so it’s only Hakadosh Baruch Hu Who can protect us. He’s our Constitution. He’s our Security. We’re going to survive only because He sits us in His sukkah.

We exist in the most unprotected of circumstances; we are most vulnerable because we are a little people compared to all the nations of the world. And especially in exile, we surely are vulnerable; we don’t have any army to protect us, and we are at the whim, at the pleasure, of all the nations. And so we live in a sukkah in Olam Hazeh and that sukkah seems to be a flimsy existence. But actually it is the strongest kind of dwelling; because the sukkah is the promise that the Almighty made that we are going to be forever. He promised that. The nations will come and go, but the Am Hashem will endure forever. And that’s what the sukkah represents.

Working on Sukkos

And that’s part of our job—it’s included in לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דוֹרוֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסוּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. People think yom tov, chol hamoed, is vacation. No! There’s work to be done! Just like whenever they raised their eyes in the Midbar, they could see a sign of Hashem’s protection, the Ananei Kavod; so too, when you raise your eyes to the schach, you have to think Hashem is hovering over us too. Not one time. Again and again and again. לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ – ‘You should know’ means you should gain a palpable awareness, a sensory feeling that the Shechina is overhead at all times protecting our nation. And the schach will aid you to gain that perception, that we’re living in Him.

Like Moshe Rabbeinu said: תְּפִילָּה לְמֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלוֹקִים ה’ מָעוֹן אַתָּה הָיִיתָ לָּנוּ – You were our dwelling, Hashem (Tehillim 90:1). We didn’t have any dwelling. You were our dwelling. We lived in You, in the Ananei Kavod, under the Shechina. But not only then; מָעוֹן אַתָּה הָיִיתָ לָּנוּ – You are our dwelling for us, בְּכָל דּוֹר וְדוֹר – in every generation. Hashem is still a dwelling for us. הַפּוֹרֵס סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ – He spreads out His sukkah over us. He’s a sukkah over the whole world and He sees that everything should be done for the benefit of the Am Yisroel. Everything that Hashem does is only for the purpose of the Am Yisroel. It’s stated again and again in the Torah.

And so, as you enter the sukkah, you’re doing all the good things, Jewish minhagim, very good, everything; simchas yom tov, very good. But don’t neglect the opportunity of thinking the lesson, that Hashem protects our nation forever and ever.

And despite the fact that many nations rise up against us, in the end they will all be frustrated because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם. His Ananei Kavod are with us forever; He’s protecting us exactly as He did in the midbar and that’s the only reason why no matter what the goyim try to do against us, we are going to exist, and we will live longer than the gentiles. They’ll all go out of existence eventually and yakiru v’yeidu, everybody will recognize that Hashem is the One that protected us in all the centuries. And we’ll recognize that we lived in a sukkah forever and ever.

A Private Sukkah

Now, I want to add a point before we go on. It’s important to understand that just as our nation in general is protected by the sukkah, in addition each person should know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has a sukkah around him personally.

Now, maybe you’re too young to realize that. Someday you’ll look back on your life’s history and you’ll be amazed at the things that happened that protected you and caused things to turn out in the best way for you.

I won’t take up your time now but I could tell you stories that happened to me again and again. I have at least a dozen instances when Hashem did something to me that at the time I thought it was a loss, a failure for me, and these twelve failures were actually Hashem saving me. Twelve times in my career that Hashem was my sukkah, my Ananei Kavod. There were more than that, but twelve times I remember I tried to do something and had I succeeded, I wouldn’t be here today. I would be ruined. Who saved me? כִּי יִצְפְּנֵנִי בְּסֻכֹּה בְּיוֹם רָעָה יַסְתִּרֵנִי בְּסֵתֶר אָהֳלוֹ.

Relive Your History

So everybody must know when you’re sitting in the sukkah, Hashem is the sukkah over you. It means each person should think, individually, how Hashem is protecting him all his life. It’s a good idea, as you sit in a sukkah, to think, “How did I come and sit in the sukkah? So many young people like myself are not in the sukkah today. Where are they? I don’t know. I was zocheh to sit in the sukkah.

“I was zocheh to sit in the yeshiva.” The yeshiva is a sukkah. Oh, it’s a zechus! How did I come to the yeshiva? So many people are not in a yeshiva. Sometimes you have a second cousin, what happened to him? Rachmanus on him. But you? Baruch Hashem. You have to think how lucky you are that you belong among the frum Jews. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is keeping you in His sukkah. He’s protecting you.

Of course He’s doing it commensurate, in measure, of your own virtue. The way you try, that’s how much He’s helping you. And it doesn’t mean each person utilizes it. Sometimes Hashem is doing the best for you, and you don’t utilize it. It’s not His fault. He’s doing the best for you, however. He’s your Ananei Kavod.

And the more you work on this, the more you’ll find. “Baruch Hashem that You were a sukkah to me. I remember when You sent me the right person, the right teacher. Sometimes you sent me the right sefer or friend; sometimes the right rabbi, the right shul.” Hashem is the One Who protected you and brought you to where you are today. Baruch Hashem, baruch Hashem! Hashem is giving us His full attention, each one of us, and He’s doing what’s best for us.

Now is the Time

Now, that understanding, that da’as, is an achievement of the mind and a perfection of character. Unfortunately, when you come to the Next World, you’ll regret not having thought about that. It’ll be too late then—you won’t get any reward when you’ll recognize it in Olam Haba. You’ll look back and you’ll see again and again that you had the opportunity to think. “Why did I fail to see that truth, how Hashem was helping me at every step? He was protecting me, mamash, עַל גּוֹזָלָיו יְרַחֵף – like the eagle hovers over its nest, it spreads its wings to cover its little goslings (Devarim 32:11).” That’s how Hakadosh Baruch Hu is protecting you—there’s a cloud overhead to protect you, a sukkas shlomecha all around you for your benefit.

And therefore it’s so important while you’re alive to utilize the opportunity—if you do it in your lifetime, that’s the best thing. And when Sukkos comes, that’s the best time to think about it. Every yom tov has a certain amount of opportunities, but the opportunity of Sukkos is especially dedicated to this idea that we’re in the sukkah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

Our sukkah, the schach, the flimsy little cover, is enough because the Ananei Kavod, the Clouds of Glory of the Shechina, is stronger than any material. The Jew will be around forever! It doesn’t mean every Jew; individuals may chalilah go lost, but we are here forever.

Part IV. Year-Round Clouds

Sky’s the Limit

Now, Sukkos is seven days, eight days, and then we go back to regular living. It’ll be Cheshvan soon—Cheshvan doesn’t have any yomim tovim—and that means that we have to make a plan how to take these Sukkos lessons with us all year long. During Elul and the Yomim Noraim we built tall towers, big skyscrapers of achievements, and on Sukkos we solidified them and built them even higher; but now we need a plan for the winter, for the rest of the year.

There’s a din in the Gemara that when you daven you have to have find a room where there are windows. אַל יִתְפַּלֵּל אָדָם אֶלָּא בְּבַיִת שֶׁיֵּשׁ שָׁם חַלּוֹנוֹת – Don’t daven in a room without windows (Brachos 34b). And the purpose is you should see the sky. A very important lesson. You have to see the sky. It doesn’t mean you have to look at it all the time, but the sky has to be visible. And that’s a halacha that requires an explanation.

But first, another puzzle. You remember when Yonah was travelling on the ship and they discovered that he was the one who was the cause of the terrible hurricane—they threw lots and it fell on him—and the ship was about to sink only because of him, so they asked Yonah, “Who is your Elokim?”

So what did Yonah answer? He said, “אֱלֹקֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם אֲנִי יָרֵא – I fear the Elokim of the sky” (Yonah 1:9). That’s how Yonah said it. “My G-d is in the sky.”

Now, if you’d be a philosopher, a smart aleck, so you’d say, “Is Elokim in shamayim? Hashem is everywhere; not only in the shamayim.” But Yonah was wiser than the philosopher and he said, “Elokei hashomayim – My G-d is in the sky.”

The Secret of the Matter

And that brings us to one of the very great functions of nature. In the sefer Chovos Halevovos, he makes a statement that the physical existence of things possess also a spiritual existence. Whatever object you see, in addition to its obvious, palpable qualities—its size, its shape, its properties, physical and chemical—in addition, it also possesses a certain spiritual quality. And these two, the ruchniyus and the gashmiyus are intertwined in every object.

Now if you’ll ask me to explain this fully, I must admit that I am not capable. Even when it comes to physical things, I cannot explain much, and when it comes to spiritual things, even less. And when it comes to something that’s a combination of physical and spiritual, I can explain even less than that.

But when it comes to the shamayim, the sky, it’s an open possuk that הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד אֵ-ל — the skies are speaking about the glory of Hashem (Tehillim 19:2). It means when you look up you are expected to see a demonstration of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

Now, shamayim of course has physical functions. There’s a wide expanse, two hundred miles of air that envelopes the earth. There’s a great deal of water vapor and things we can’t see. The troposphere and stratosphere have different functions than the mesosphere and thermosphere. And the exosphere, that’s something else. Higher up is the magnetosphere, magnetic fields between here and the other planets and maybe in space too.

The sky is also like a sieve, it sifts out the harmful effects of the sun’s rays as they come down; the sunlight, as it comes through the miles and miles of atmosphere, it comes down to the earth, with a quality suited to the necessity of the earth. There’s very much to say about the sky and whatever it is, it’s all included in the shamayim.

The Secret of the Sky

But that’s only the gashmiyus functions. The most important purpose of the sky is hashamayim mesaprim kevod Kel. That’s the spirit of the matter, the ruchniyus of shamayim, and that most important function is the one that’s most neglected by us.

You have to realize that the importance of the skies is to make us think about Hashem. Yeshaya Hanavi says, שְׂאוּ מָרוֹם עֵינֵיכֶם – Lift up your eyes on high, וּרְאוּ – and see, מִי בָרָא אֵלֶּה – Who made these (Yeshaya 40:26)? When you look up into the sky, whether it’s the stars or the planets or the clouds or the blue sky, whether you’re looking in a very big telescope and you’re studying the Milky Way, the most important purpose is to make you aware of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

And so, because Yonah knew what the sky is for, he said, “I fear the Elokei hashamayim.” That’s why you say ‘yarei Shamayim.’ What’s a yarei Shamayim? It’s yarei Hashem, not yarei Shamayim? The answer is Hashem is symbolized by the shamayim. That’s how we’re supposed to think. “I look up at the shamayim and I think of Elokim.” And it’s halacha l’maaseh too. That’s why when you daven, you have to have a room where you can see the shamayim through the windows. שֶׁיִּסְתַּכֵּל כְּלַפֵּי שָׁמַיִם וְלִבּוֹ נִכְנָע — So that you should look at the sky and remind yourself about the Yosheiv ba’shamayim (Rashi, ibid.)

Let’s Get Practical

Now, what I’m telling you is not merely something, a machshavah to hear; it’s something to practice. And why only davening? When you walk in the street, look for a moment in the sky. It should remind you of Hashem. Look at the sky! That’s what it’s for—it’s there to make you think of Hashem.

That’s how you become a yarei shamayim, a person who fears Hashem with a physical feeling! Not merely a philosopher who knows there’s Hashem someplace, a word, an idea. Hashem becomes to you the most real of all realities!

And that’s a very big function of man in this world, to take the great intellectual concept of a Creator and make it real. Of course we believe in Hashem, certainly but if you would believe in Him like you believe in your uncle in the Bronx that you never see—let’s say you have an uncle in the Bronx; you never saw him, you don’t visit him, he doesn’t visit you, you never called him, he’s an uncle somewhere in the Bronx—if you believe in Hashem like you believe in that uncle, you’re pretty good. I want to compliment you. If you actually succeed in doing that, then you already have de’ah. To be aware of Hashem palpably is a very great achievement.

Hashem is waiting for that! ה’ מִשָּׁמַיִם הִשְׁקִיף עַל בְּנֵי אָדָם – Hashem looks down from heaven at us, לִרְאוֹת הֲיֵשׁ מַשְׂכִּיל – to see if there is any wise man, דּוֹרֵשׁ אֱלוֹקִים – thinking about Elokim He’s m’shamayim hishkif! Why does it say m’shamayim? Because that’s how we’re expected to imagine. He’s looking down from the blue sky, peeking from behind the clouds, “Are you thinking about Me?” He looks and looks. “Is there anyone thinking about Me?”

And so we say, “Yes, Hashem. We’re thinking about You! And you know how we’re doing it? We’re utilizing the sky for what You intended it for when You created it, as a mashal—I hesitate to say ‘mashal’—as a parallel, a reminder, for You.”

Cheshvan Clouds

And that brings us back to the sukkah, to taking the lesson of sukkah with us all year long. Because in the Midbar when the Bnei Yisroel looked up to the sky what was the first thing they saw? They saw the Ananei Hakavod, the clouds of kavod overhead. They understood in the most physical and real sense that they were living under Hakadosh Baruch Hu’s sukkah of protection.

That’s what it means ‘Clouds of Kavod’. The Rambam says in Moreh Nevuchim that the word kavod whenever it’s talking about Hashem, it means to be aware of Hashem. And he says that the expression עַנָנֵי כָּבוֹד – the clouds of glory, means ‘clouds that make you think about Hashem’. Any kind of demonstration, any kind of phenomenon, any kind of event or object that will make people think about Hashem and become aware of Hashem, that’s called kvod Hashem. And so those clouds that were overhead in the midbar—not clouds of rain; special Ananei Kavod by day and Ananei Eish at night—were always there to remind the Bnei Yisroel of Hashem.

Now they were in the midbar with Moshe Rabbeinu. They had a Mishkan. They had mann. They learned Torah all day. And so they had other ways of reminding themselves. Nevertheless this additional way was important because it enveloped them; it was a covering and made their hargasha even stronger.

The Cloud Cover

Now don’t laugh when I tell you, but we have to learn that this is an example for us today. It says in Tehillim הַמְּכַסֶּה שָׁמַיִם בְּעָבִים – Hashem covers the skies with clouds (Tehillim 147:8). Now, if someone will ask, what’s the purpose of the clouds, so we know that the clouds are full of all good things. הַמֵּכִין לָאָרֶץ מָטָר – Hashem is preparing rain for the world (ibid.). There are strawberries and cherries in those clouds. There are pears and peaches and pineapples and bread, wheat and oats and rye. All good things. Bananas are coming down in the rain. The clouds are our food.

Now, all that is absolutely true but there’s something else, even more important in the clouds. “He covers the sky with clouds” to remind us that He’s a Sukkah of Protection for us. That’s how we should utilize a cloudy day. The clouds should remind you of the Ananei Kavod. Just like in the Midbar the Bnei Yisroel looked up and saw the Ananei Kavod and they were inspired to awareness of Hashem, to emunah and bitachon, to the da’as that Hashem is their eternal sukkah, their eternal protection, we also have to be inspired when we see the clouds.

Look up and see. Hashem is covering the skies with clouds. Don’t be sad on a cloudy day. Don’t be moody. On the contrary, Hashem is giving a demonstration that He’s there. Look up and think to yourself, “That’s Hashem’s clouds. They’re put here for a purpose, to remind me about Him.” The more clouds the more you should be impressed.

The Miracles Behind the Materialism

Now I understand the habit of our minds are materialistic habits. We think like non-Jews think, but a Jew has to change his mind. Isn’t it a miracle that rain comes from the oceans but it’s desalinated and purified and it’s fit to drink? Isn’t it a miracle that it becomes food when it falls down, that the water and sunshine get together with the carbon dioxide in the air to make food?!

The apikorsim talk about the miracles of ‘nature’, about ‘the great phenomena that are so complicated and so purposeful’, but they don’t want to admit that it’s the yad Hashem. But we, we say הַמְּכַסֶּה שָׁמַיִם בְּעָבִים – It’s He Who covers the skies with clouds, הַמֵּכִין לָאָרֶץ מָטָר – and He prepares rain for the earth. We utilize the clouds to see the Designer and Architect Who stands behind the scenes. יוֹשֵׁב בְּסֵתֶר עֶלְיוֹן – He’s standing behind the scenes.

Like it says about Hakadosh Baruch Hu, לַעֲשׂוֹת לָרוּחַ מִשְׁקָל וּמַיִם תִּכֵּן בְּמִדָּה – He makes a weight for the wind and He measures out the weight of the water (Iyov 28:25). It means when He wants, the water becomes lighter than air. How can water become lighter than air? When it becomes water vapor. So He gives a different weight for the water and the water becomes vapor and rises and becomes clouds.

And then the winds are called in. עוֹשֶׂה מַלְאָכָיו רוּחוֹת – He makes His messengers the winds (Tehillim 104:4), and the wind begins to blow these masses of water vapor. Most of the clouds form over the ocean, but nobody is going to plant on the ocean and therefore the clouds are blown inland over the continents. And so when you see the clouds scudding over the sky, being chased by the winds, what’s it all about? It’s about Hashem to let you know what’s going on here. כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתְךָ יֹאמְרוּ – They’re busy speaking of the glory of Your Kingdom. It means You’re a king and You’re in charge and everything is under Your supervision. It’s working perfectly because You are the King that rules over them. Not only for rain and food! It reminds me that You’re ruling over everything!

A Gantz Yuhr Sukkos

And so it’s not Sukkos anymore. It’s isru chag. It’s Chanukah. You can make this accomplishment every day in the year, not only on Sukkos. It’s a regular Tuesday afternoon and overhead you see the sky. Whenever you pass in the street, look up at the sky, at the clouds, and they will remind you that you’re under the clouds of Hashem’s glory.

You’re looking out of the window and you see winter clouds, spring clouds, fall clouds. The sky is your sukkah all the time, all the days of your life. That’s what it’s for! And don’t disdain it; because every drop of Awareness is a drop of gold, even more valuable than gold. It’s gold of greatness.

A Sukkah in the House

And that way, even when you go into your home—a man who lives in a secure home, he looks up at his ceiling, his roof, but he doesn’t forget that it’s a facade, it’s nothing. He reminds himself that once כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל; we once sat in sukkos and overhead there was nothing but Ananei Kavod, the clouds of glory, and it protected us.

And even though he locks his door at night, he knows that כִּי חִיזַּק בְּרִיחֵי שְׁעָרָיִךְ – Hashem is the One Who fortifies the bars of your gates. They had bars on the gates of the cities but Dovid Hamelech told them, “When you are lowering those heavy bars in place and you retire for the night and you feel secure behind the walls of the city; forget about it! It’s Hashem Who is protecting you. כִּי חִיזַּק – Because He is the One Who is strengthening those bars.”

 

Sukkos Forever

And therefore, we’re ready now for the yom tov of Sukkos and we’re going to do the opposite of tearing down the achievements we made during Elul and the Yomim Noraim. In fact we’re ready now to build up even higher on what we accomplished because Sukkos is especially dedicated for this idea that we’re in the sukkah of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

And so when you’re in the sukkah and you’re thinking all the thoughts we spoke about here tonight, you’re not only making a successful yom tov; you’re preparing also for a successful career. Because when you appreciate it and utilize the yom tov of Sukkos as much as possible to gain an awareness of that great fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is overhead and He is the One Who is guarding us and protecting us forever and ever, that’s the beginning of a happy and successful career in this world and the Next World too.

Have a Wonderful Sukkos

This week’s booklet is based on tapes:

15 – Spirit of Matter | 614 – The Sukkah | 756 – The World and the Sukkah | E-237 – Reenacting the Great Events in our History | E-250 – In His Eternal Sukkah