Q:
What intention should we have when we sit in the sukkah?
A:
When we sit in the sukkah, the Torah tells us what our thoughts should be. The Torah says that the reason we sit in the sukkah is “לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דּוֹרוֹתֵיכֶם — in order that your generations should know, כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל — that I put your forefathers into sukkahs, into tents and huts, when I took them out of Egypt.”
And that means the following: Hashem says, “When I took your forefathers out of Egypt, they were more secure and safer than any subsequent time in history.” Pay attention — during the forty years in the Midbar, they were more secure against foreign enemies than any other time in our history. In the Midbar, where they had no fortifications, they were safer than any other time! They lived in an open camp and were vulnerable to attack from anyone. All the nations knew that they were carrying all the wealth of Mitzrayim, yet they weren’t attacked. Moshe Rabbeinu never lost a battle. Their camp of the Am Yisrael was invulnerable because there was a Sukkah overhead. And that was the Ananei Kavod, the Clouds of Glory, the clouds of the Presence of Hashem that were protecting them.
And that’s what the sukkah that we sit in symbolizes. We sit in the sukkah under the s’chach and we say, “This sukkah is a pretty flimsy protection. There’s no roof of masonry and there’s no iron door. There’s nothing.” And yet, that flimsy sukkah overhead represents the idea that it is Hashem Who is protecting our nation throughout all the generations. So even though you may live in your brick house all year long and you bolt your doors every night — and you should bolt your doors every night — sitting in the sukkah for seven days teaches us that our brick walls and our iron doors are all just imagination. Because really it is only Hakadosh Baruch Hu who is protecting us.
And even though many nations rise up against us, in the end they will all be frustrated. And that’s because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם — His presence goes with us forever, and that’s why we’ll be around forever.
(September 1976)
