As the festive Holiday of Succos comes close, automatically, thoughts and memories of my mother o.b.m., who passed away 39 years ago during the Holiday, are stirred up within me and my family.
I’ll share with you a glimpse of my magnificent mother. In the fall of 1980, during a Friday night Shabbos meal in our home in Brooklyn, my sister, Tamar, was in the kitchen and heard some strange movement in the back of the house. She came back into the dining room and after checking that everyone was present at the table she told my father her concern. My father got up to check and just as he passed the master bedroom he noticed a robber exiting the bedroom window. In no time the thief was gone with all my mother’s jewelry, including her precious diamond engagement ring.
That Saturday night I called home from the Scranton Yeshiva where I was attending, and my mother told me the drama that occurred. I sympathized with her over the loss of her jewelry and said to her, “It must be so hard for you.”
She then shared with me the following. “Dovid, yes I’ll miss it all, but you should know, I was not attached to any of it.” She continued, “You know when I started not being attached to material possessions? It was when Bubby (my father’s mother) passed away. Her jewelry was left to me, and as I was going through the pieces, I came across a few pieces that we had bought for Bubby as gifts. I thought to myself, ‘Here I am on the receiving end of the same jewelry that we had bought for her.’ It then became clear to me, that although I appreciate wearing nice jewelry, I no longer had an attachment to it, because it’s transient.” My mother continued, “What is most important to me is my connection to family, friends, my Pre 1A students, Torah, Mitzvos, good deeds, fine character, and serving Hashem with Simcha. This is what is everlasting!”
I recently called my sister and asked her to review the details of what occurred that Friday night. I told her my conversation that I had with my mother after it happened. My sister said to me, “Come to think of it, never did I hear her said, ‘oh, I wish I could have had my jewelry.’”
My mother was very talented. She was creative and artistic and used these talents to beautify Mitzvos, such as projects with her students or decorating something in our home to enhance a Mitzvah.
Her talent was most evident in how she decorated our Succah. The walls were covered with drapes and she exquisitely designed each of the names of the seven Ushpizen that were hung on the walls of the Succah. I must say that the design for the name Dovid, was certainly the nicest 😊
The Mitzvah of sitting in the Succah has a dichotomy feature to it.
On the one hand the Sechach roof/covering of the Succah must be from raw material that had grown from the ground but is now detached and had not been made into any type of vessel. The Sechach covering should provide more shade than sunlight, and one should be able to see the stars at night. Even if one places more Sechach than the minimum amount, by all accounts, it is a flimsy roof, and when it rains, it comes through the Sechach. The structure is certainly temporary.
On the other hand, our Sages tell us that one should live in the succah as he does in his house. This means that a Succah is one’s primary dwelling during the Succos Holiday. This gives us the impression that a Succah is deemed a permanent dwelling.
So, what is a Succah, temporary or permanent?
The answer is…it is both.
While the construction of the Succah is rather temporary, the Succah is to be viewed as one’s home. Because of this, cooking pots, which are generally not brought into one’s dining room, may not be taken into the Succah. The Succah is to be decorated in an appropriate fashion as one is drawn to decorate a house.
The temporary nature of the Succah reminds us of the six spiritual clouds that G-d provided to protect us during our 40 years of travel through the desert. During the course of the Holiday, through our sitting in the Succah, we are also encased in a spiritual sheath that infuses us and strengthens us with belief in G-d’s protective Hand for us throughout the year. The temporary nature of the Succah directs us not to get caught up in what we perceive as permanent structures and possessions. It is only what we amass spiritually, and kindness that we bestow on others that is truly eternal.
The permanent nature of the Succah teaches us that although we are living in the space of the temporary world of the Succah we are instructed to be able to live, dine, eat, converse and sing in the regular fashion of contentment as we do in our homes. Succos is the time when we are instructed to fuse these two concepts together and we take great delight in feeling a special closeness with the Almighty.
Succos is a time of doing Mitzvos with Simcha, such as taking the four species, reciting Hallel and celebrating throughout the holiday. We thus fulfil the Torah’s command that during the Holiday of Succos one is to be B’Simcha – Happy, Joyful and thankful for all the blessings G-d provides for us!
