Sukkos – A holiday, a place, or a mindset?

Sukkos is here, the excitement is palpable as we move into our outdoor homes. We stay in the semi-unprotected outdoors to commemorate what happens so many years ago, כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל.  We left Egypt and Hashem carried us through the desert with the ענני הכבוד. But what if there was an event that we were commemorating that was more narrowed down in time than something that happened every day for 40 years? After all, Pesach and Shavuos celebrate specific points in time, why for Sukkos do we throw all the miraculous shelter we had for 40 years into one 7-day festival?

As it turns out, there is a time-specific event that we are celebrating. The Jews leave Egypt and the Pasuk tells us ויסעו בני ישראל מרעמסס סכתה כשש מאות אלף רגלי הגברים לבד מטף. The Jews left from Ramses and traveled to Sukkos with about 600,000 men not including children. Isn’t that interesting? The Jews went to a place called Sukkos as their first stop on the way out of Egypt. When the Pasuk says כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל there is a beautiful double entendre. Yes, Hashem housed us in the ענני הכבוד for 40 years, but He also sheltered us that first night we ran out of Egypt. As bad as it was being slaves, at least we knew that there would be a roof over our heads and food to put into our mouths. But as we followed Moshe and Hashem into the desert that was no longer guaranteed. We needed to trust that Hashem who we had just met would provide shelter and food for us. That first night outside of Egypt was when we first threw ourselves into Hashem’s arms and He hugged us with the ענני הכבוד in the warmest embrace, and this act of trust on our part and reciprocated care and love from Hashem is what we are celebrating on this Yom Tov. One seemingly minor question, why does the Torah tell us that there were 600,000 men not including the children? Whenever the Torah says men it means someone over 20, why the emphasis on the children? Keep that on the back of your mind for now.

Let’s about Sukkos the place now. Rashi tells us that this Sukkos was 120 מיל (roughly 100 miles) from Egypt and Hashem carried us there within the hour of when we left Egypt. Why did Hashem feel the need to miraculously carry us 100 miles in an hour? Why not let us walk at a regular pace? And there must be something specific about Sukkos that Hashem had us stop exactly there, what was so special about this place? Turns out, this is not the first time Sukkos appears in the Torah. בראשית לג’ יז’:  Right after Yakov runs away from Lavan, he meets Esav, and after the gifts that he sends and their meeting Esav tells Yakov “come with me, let’s travel together”. Yakov declines since he has young children and cattle to care for, and if Esav will try to rush them, all the children will die from the stress of travel. Then we hear that Esav went to הר שעיר and Yakov traveled to a place called Sukkos, and he built houses for his family and huts (סוכות) for the cattle, which is why they named the place Sukkos.

What we have here is Yakov declining to join forces with his powerful brother due to his familial obligations. Yakov is someone who does not take family lightly, after all, his children are his future. And I think this is why Hashem took us to Sukkos specifically when we left Egypt. They were a nation literally a few hours old, the gripping fear of not knowing what would be must have been absolutely terrifying. Sure, now we know that they got the ענני הכבוד and the מן and that they had water from the rolling rock. But those first few steps into the black desert with only a frighteningly mighty God promising you a land flowing with milk and honey must have been terrifying. But Hashem gave them a sign. As they took those few steps suddenly, they were 100 miles away in the place of Sukkos, the place where their grandfather and great-grandfather Yakov had settled for 18 months to care for his family. Hashem was telling us, don’t worry, I’ll take care of you. You’ll only be here in Sukkos for one night but you too will have families and children and you will also be able to care for them.

But it goes one level deeper, and this is really cool. Let’s recap: Many years before the Jewish nation would camp in Sukkos, Yakov would make huts for his animals in that same place. Then, years later in that same place, Hashem gave us the ענני הכבוד which enclosed us like a hut. And we know that the סוכה is representative of the ענני הכבוד so when Yakov made סוכות he was laying the groundwork for his children to earn the ענני הכבוד so many years later. We also know that the ענני הכבוד came in the zchus of Aharon and that when he died the ענני הכבוד left. And when this happened עמלק came and fought with the Jews.

So, we have Yakov meeting with Esav (the grandfather of Amalek), refusing to travel with him, and making sukkos huts (which we are suggesting was the precursor to the ענני הכבוד), then they split ways and the Jews go down to Egypt. Then the first night that they leave Egypt, Hashem takes them back to Sukkos and gives them the real ענני הכבוד which they keep until Aharon dies. And who shows up as soon as the ענני הכבוד leave? Amalek. It’s almost as though this place Sukkos and the ענני הכבוד hold back Amalek.

There is a theme with Amalek which I think ties all of this together nicely. Every time Amalek is at war with us, we hear about the concept of tomorrow, מחר. Moshe tells Yehoshua “tomorrow I will stand up on top of the valley”. When Dovid Hamelech kills out Amalek it says “And Dovid killed them from morning till until evening of the following day (למחרתם)”. Esther tells Achashverosh “please come with Haman to a party that I will make and tomorrow I will do as the king asks”. Why so many mentions of the word tomorrow?

Our first encounter with Esav is the sale of the בכורה when he says to himself, tomorrow I will die anyway, what do I need this birthright for? That was the moment when Esav abused the concept of tomorrow. We are meant to live with the future in mind but know that it is up to Hashem to provide for us in the future and not to throw the future to the wind. This is the reason we battle with Amalek “tomorrow”, it is our version of tomorrow versus theirs. They say “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you will die”. But we know that we have children, families, even financial responsibilities that require our attention both today and tomorrow.

Coming back full circle, what Yakov was saying to his brother was that I can’t travel with you because I have small children with me, and even though I personally can keep up with you, my sense of self extends to those who are relying on me and therefore I can’t travel with you. He was laying the groundwork for the Jewish version of tomorrow. And that is why Hashem took us to the place of Sukkos, where Yakov camped for 18 months with his family and children. Hashem was saying to us, keep in mind the “tomorrow” that Yakov set up a few generations ago. I know that you are frightened in the desert, but I will be here with you and care for you. And not only for you but for your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren too. You are in Sukkos now, the place of “tomorrow”. And therefore, the Torah tells us ויסעו בני ישראל מרעמסס סכתה כשש מאות אלף רגלי הגברים לבד מטף the Torah is emphasizing that the children are our responsibility. The message of that first night was a reminder for us of the family lives that we are meant to live, but more importantly, that we are the children of Hashem, and that He will always care for us as His own.

May we all enjoy our time in the Sukkah with our families and may we feel Hashem embracing us as a father embraces his child.