Reb Ginsbourg: SUKKOT: Why is this holiday called "Sukkot"? (2023)

Why is this holiday called "Sukkot"? (2023)

And why did the Tur say that Sukkot is for Yaakov Avinu?

The Tur, one of the greatest halakhic decisors, makes an intriguing comment:’The three regalim were established as against our three forefathers: Pesach against Avraham Avinu, as it is written ( Vayera 18:6):’Hasten, take three seah of meal and fine flour, knead and make cakes’, and this was on Pesach; Shavuot, against Yitzchak, as the shofar blown at Matan Torah, was the shofar of the ram of Yitzchak; and Sukkot, as against Yaakov Avinu, as it is written (Vayishlach 33:17): ‘And for his cattle, he built Sukkot: booths’.

Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger queries:’This is a great wonder, as the Torah specifically states why these three festivals were called by their names..’Sukkot’, because of the sukkot in which Hashem caused our fathers to dwell, when they left Egypt!

‘The Shelah Hakadosh, comments on this Tur:’It demands to be expounded, as, on its face, it is difficult, as the Torah relates why it gave the names it did, to these festivals..’Sukkot - because He caused us to dwell..’.

"Therefore’ comments Rav Shlezinger, ‘I think that the intention of the Tur, was to teach us to have in mind on each festival, the fathers of our nation, so that we, their descendants, will follow in their ways.

‘’Sukkot against Yaakov’: since this festival is at the time when the crops are gathered into the granaries, and the houses are full of abundant good, more than at other times of the year, and this - as the Torah teaches - can lead to haughtiness, and to ‘forgetting’ Hashem; therefore, Sukkot is against Yaakov, in respect of whom it is said:’and for his cattle he made sukkot’, meaning: for the נפש הבהמית: for the ‘animal’ element in him, he made these temporary dwellings; just as we learn elsewhere in the Torah, that Yaakov sought only the bare material necessities for himself, as represented by the temporary, minimal sukkah.’

Rav Yitzchak Mirsky adds:’Yaakov Avinu innovated what our correct hashkafa should be. This is the lesson of our passuk: as Yaakov parted from Esav:’’And Yaakov sojourned towards סכתה: Sukkota, and he built a house for himself, and sukkot for his cattle.’

The Rav brings the translation of Targum Yonatan ben Uziel, to expound this passuk:’And he built for himself a house’: a Bet Midrash, ‘and for his cattle, he erected sukkot’: temporary structures.’

Comments the Rav:’The house that he built, was not for his residence, but a Bet Midrash, thereby declaring that this world is only a temporary world, and that the only permanent thing in it, is its spiritual aspect : of Torah and the house of study; all other edifices are ephemeral.

‘The Malbi’m adds - on this passuk -‘For himself, he erected a proper house, where he sat to serve Hashem; but for his cattle and possessions, he only made temporary structures: סוכות, because his engagement with the cattle was, to him, secondary and temporary, just like the temporary nature of the sukkah’.

Concludes Rav Mirsky: ’We now understand why the place was called ‘Sukkot’, Sukkot’, because, by building there the permanent house, for a Bet Midrash, and the temporary structures - the Sukkot - for his cattle, he introduced to the world the truth, that the affairs of the physical world are ephemeral and passing; and to emphasize this to all, place was called by that name.

The meaning of our passuk, then, is:’And Yaakov sojourned Sukkota’, and the reason it was named ‘Sukkot’, was because for his cattle he erected there sukkot. The innovation he thereby introduced to the nations of the world, was no doubt strange to them, because they didn’t see this world as temporary, but to the contrary, as being their whole focus, and their house ‘their castle’.

Rav Moshe Sternbuch, on our passuk, similarly comments:’’And he built for himself a house - an allusion to the fact, that although Yaakov Avinu was a sojourner, and on his travels, he took care foremost for spiritual matters, to build for himself a house as a sanctuary, the role of man in this world being to build an eternal house for the world-to-come; but for his cattle, and his material possessions which are a passing matter, for them he built sukkot.

‘Read the Targum Yonatan ben Uziel, who expounds that the house Yaakov Avinu built, was a Bet Midrash, to be for him an established place, even though he was only to use it for the eighteen months of his stay there.’

The Siftei Cohen adds sweetness to our appreciation of our passuk, saying:’Yaakov Avinu willingly gave all his material possessions to Esav, in exchange for Esav’s share in Me’arat Hamechpela; and, this being his hashkafa, he despised physical excesses, seeking only the bare necessities.

‘This is why he built a house, to fulfill his need for contemplation, and made it a Bet Midrash, just as he did in every place in which he sojourned - as the Torah relates, that when he descended to Egypt, he sent Yehuda ahead, to establish a house of srudy and instruction.

‘However, for his cattle, he erected booths: סכות, to show that these matters have no permanence in this world, as the place where a person dwells in this world is only a temporary abode, and that you should only take in it the bare necessities - because this world is the world of ‘doing’, and the world-to-come, is the world of reward.

‘This is why he erected the sukkot, to warn his descendants as to this. He therefore built the house of study to teach them the positive mitzvot and the negative mitzvot: succot is a positive mitzvah, and the anagram of t: שם המקום סכתה, שס׳ה: ‘the name of the place was sukkota’, has the numerical value of 365 - the number of the negative mitzvot.’

The zechut of concluding our enquiry, goes to Rav Matityahu Solomon.

He asks:’The Tur writes that the festivals are agaInst the Avot, and that Sukkot is against Yaakov Avinu, because it Is written:’and for his cattle he erected sukkot’.

‘But what connection can we find, between the sukkot that Yaakov Avinu built for his cattle, and our chag Succot? It appears to be simply a linguistic coincidence, and therefore demands understanding.’

He answers: ‘This can be gleaned if we carefully study what our Parasha teaches us, about Yaakov Avinu.

‘We read of his struggle with an adversary, and our Sages expound that this was the result of Yaakov Avinu returning, for small vessels he had left behind. They explain that he returned for these seemingly worthless vessels, because ‘the righteous, as they distance themselves from any trace of theft’, have to toil very hard for the minimum physical necessities, and this toil is at the expense of their Torah study.

‘The reason that these vessels were so precious in the eyes of Yaakov Avinu, is that the righteous treasure all that comes to them, seeing it as coming to them by Hashem’s hashgacha pratit, for their service of Hashem.

‘This is the fundamental difference between the outlooks of Yaakov and Esav. Our Sages relate that, by agreement, Yaakov and Esav ‘divided’ the worlds between them, Esav ‘taking’ this world, for his share, and Yaakov ‘taking’ the world-to-come, for his portion.

‘When Esav saw all the cattle and possessions that Yaakov had acquired, he charged him with ‘breaking’ their agreement, claimimg that they had agreed that this world belonged to Esav.

‘Yaakov answered hIm:’No, my brother, it is all that has come from the hand of Hashem, to use as the need arises in this world’. On hearing this, Esav was appeased, that Yaakov had not gone back on their agreement.

‘This was also the reason for the adversary coming to do battle with Yaakov - our Sages relating that he was the ‘angel’ of Esav. When he saw that Yaakov had returned for the worthless containers, he assumed that Yaakov was breaking his agreement with Esav, seeking to enjoy the material pleasures of this world, which ‘belonged’ to Esav.

‘Yaakov triumphed in that battle, as the Torah relates, and as long as his descendants follow in his ways, utilizing the possessions of this world with which Hashem has blessed them, only to fulfil their role in the world-to-come, Esav will not be able to defeat them.

‘We can now answer the question we asked at the outset: the connection between the sukkot which Yaakov Avinu erected for his cattle, and the name of our chag. As the Targum Yonatan ben Uziel expounds, the ‘house’ that Yaakov built, was to teach that for a house of study, you build a permanent structure, because it is the main concern; but for the cattle, you only erect temporary booths, as they are secondary.

‘Yaakov Avinu did all this to save his descendants from the influence of Esav, so as to not be seduced by the yetzer of this world.

‘How apt, then, is the insight brought by the Tur, that our festival, Sukkot, is against Yaakov Avinu, because the underlying message of Sukkot is to teach us, that our permanent place in this world is the house of Torah, and, on this chag, Hashem commands us:’Go out of your permanent home, and sit in the temporary booth’, to teach the temporariness of this world.

‘Is this not the very same great lesson that Yaakov Avinu teaches, when he made sukkot for his cattle, that we might well say, in reverse, that the Torah called our chag by the name of ‘Sukkot’, so that we should recall the deeds of our Avot, to realize the temporary nature of this world - and it therefore called the chag:’Sukkot’.’

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/377648

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