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The Torah prescribes multiple holidays and celebrations throughout the calendar year. While most of them have some uncommon aspect, perhaps the one that outwardly seems the most unusual is the holiday of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), celebrated a few days after Yom Kippur, starting on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei.
The holiday of Sukkot has two major unusual features. The first is the construction of a Suka (Sukkot is the plural form and hence the name of the holiday). The Suka is a hut which is meant to be a temporary domicile for 7 days with some stringent requirements regarding its construction, most notably that its roof must be porous and made of some plant material. We are meant to eat, sleep, and otherwise spend the week of Sukkot in this temporary home.
The second unusual feature is the taking of the “four species,” a citron fruit (Etrog), a frond of a date palm (Lulav), myrtle boughs (Hadas), and willow branches (Arava), and to shake them during the prayers.
The Meshech Chochma on Leviticus 23:42 analyzes the commandment of the Suka in the context of all the commandments, which for his analysis he divides into two categories. There are commandments that go against our nature and then there are commandments that are in line with our nature, but which help to strengthen or further refine our nature.
He explains that the commandment to dwell in a Suka goes very much against our nature. It is natural that after the summer harvest is over, after you’ve gathered all your produce, that you just want to rest at home in the comfort of a normal, sturdy house, which will protect you against the elements. The holiday of Sukkot literally wants to take us out of our comfort zone.
The Meshech Chochma however, learns from this a principle that applies to all commandments which go against our human inclination. He states that God Himself is the one who programmed us with our personal and collective natures. And He is also the one who gave us these “anti-nature” commandments. He knows that they will be challenging for us; for some more than others. Nonetheless, God wants us to change those natures that He gave us and to take on the challenges of His commandments which ultimately are designed to improve, refine and perfect not just our nature, but also our souls.
May we understand, accept, and succeed in the multiple tests God has designed to challenge the natures He has given us.
Shabbat Shalom
To the memory of Rabbi Nachum Rabinovich z”tl, who passed away this week.
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