The minhag of inviting ushpizin to the Sukkah, highlights a fundamental, but perhaps overlooked, element of the mitzvah of Sukkah: In Devarim (16:14) we are told to rejoice as a community on Sukkos. Not just as individual Jewish families reliving our history of “Ki ba’sukkos hoshavti …” (Vayikra 23:43), but as a community inclusive of the more vulnerable members of our own society. “Rejoice…with strangers, converts, orphans and widows.” They, too, are integral to our joy. The Zohar tells us, Rav Hamnuna Sabba would encourage these holy guests – the spirits of our Avos and great leaders – to join the other guests in our celebration of Sukkos.
There is no Hebrew word for “history.” There is the modern Hebrew’s “historiya,” but the Torah doesn’t seem to afford any significance to history qua history. The closest term we have is the word “toldos” which might be best translated as a legacy. When history is merely an accounting of what was, it’s insignificant. But when those events of the past have begotten something meaningful, they become a legacy. We sit in a sukkah now with anyone who needs a meal because 3,000 years ago our fledgling nation looked around and said: if G-d chose us all, then we must be here for one another. Today, thousands of years later, we remind ourselves that the true joy of Sukkos can only be achieved when it’s shared with everyone. And then, as we enjoy sharing our limited enclosure, we take it all in and we smile and we say to our Avos HaKedoshim: “Join us.” This is the legacy that you began… that we are lucky enough to continue…
