The Sukkah: Between the Collective and the Individual

The Clouds of Glory, the Individual Sukkah, and the Messianic Future

Two Opinions About the Meaning of the Sukkah

There are two opinions recorded in the Talmud regarding the reason we were commanded to dwell in a Sukkah for the duration of the Festival of Sukkot.

According to one opinion, the Sukkah commemorates the Clouds of Glory that surrounded and protected the Jewish people when they journeyed through the desert.

The other opinion maintains that the Sukkah commemorates the actual booths in which the Jewish people dwelt during their forty years of sojourn in the desert.

According to the first opinion, our Sukkot are a symbolic reminder of the miraculous Clouds of Glory. According to the second opinion, we are actually emulating the physical shelters in which our ancestors lived.

It would seem that the dispute revolves around whether the emphasis should be placed on remembering a miracle or on recognizing and appreciating the way G-d provides for us within a seemingly natural setting.

Another possibility is that the dispute concerns which aspect of the Sukkah’s protection we are meant to emphasize: the spiritual or the physical.

To be sure, the Clouds of Glory provided physical protection and other tangible benefits. Yet that physical protection came from a supernatural and spiritual source. By contrast, the booths in which the Jewish people lived were physical structures of a seemingly ordinary nature.

Thus, the two opinions may represent two different dimensions of Divine providence: one in which G-d’s protection is openly miraculous, and another in which Divine protection is concealed within the ordinary structures of physical life.

A Parallel Dispute: The Exodus as Spiritual or Physical Liberation

It may be suggested that these two opinions parallel the two opinions regarding the Passover commandment to remember the Exodus by recounting the story of our redemption.

The Mishnah states that when telling the story of the Exodus, we must begin with the negative aspects of our bondage. According to Rav, we begin by describing the spiritual degradation from which we were redeemed and conclude with our spiritual liberation. Shmuel disagrees and maintains that the emphasis should be placed on our physical bondage and our physical liberation.

The same distinction can be discerned regarding Sukkot.

One approach emphasizes the spiritual and supernatural protection represented by the Clouds of Glory. The other emphasizes the physical experience of living in actual booths.

In both cases, the Torah presents us with two dimensions of redemption and Divine providence: the spiritual reality behind the physical world, and the physical reality through which G-d chooses to reveal Himself.

But What Was So Miraculous About the Booths?

However, the opinion that maintains that we are commemorating the actual huts in which our ancestors dwelt requires further clarification.

What was so extraordinary about these temporary shelters? What was so difficult about constructing booths in the desert? What was so spectacular about this miracle that it deserves its own Festival—a Festival that the Torah identifies as “the season of our rejoicing”?

At first glance, it does not appear to have been a miracle at all.

It may be suggested that the significance of the booths was that, by providing each person with a home, G-d gave each individual an identity.

The Jewish people could easily have been viewed as one enormous mass of humanity traveling through the desert. But a home transforms a person from an anonymous member of a collective into an individual with a distinct identity.

The Talmud teaches that a person without a home is not considered a complete person. A home is not merely a physical structure; it provides a person with a place in the world and with a sense of individuality and dignity.

By giving the Jewish people individual booths, G-d was, in effect, telling each person: You are an individual. You matter as an individual. Your personal space and identity are significant before G-d.

The Privacy of the Sukkah

This emphasis on individuality is reflected in another remarkable teaching of our Sages.

When the Jewish people constructed their booths, nobody built his Sukkah in such a manner that he could see into the Sukkah of his neighbor. Even in the midst of the collective journey through the desert, they respected one another’s privacy.

So significant was this virtue that the gentile prophet Bilam was compelled to praise the Jewish people with the famous words:

“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel.”

Bilam was impressed not merely by the beauty of their tents, but by the way in which the Jewish people organized their encampment so that one person did not intrude into the private space of another.

Respect for another person’s privacy is itself a testament to the dignity of the individual.

The Clouds of Glory surrounded the entire nation, giving the Jewish people a powerful collective identity. The Sukkot, by contrast, emphasized their individual identities.

And perhaps this is precisely the deeper significance of the second opinion: the miracle was not simply that G-d gave the Jewish people shelter. The miracle was that He enabled each individual to have a place of his or her own within the collective Jewish experience.

One Sukkah for All of Israel—and a Sukkah for Each Individual

There is an apparent paradox here.

On the one hand, the Talmud teaches that, theoretically, all of Israel can dwell in one Sukkah. This reflects the collective dimension of the Sukkah. We are all enveloped by the same Divine protection.

This is also reflected in our evening prayers, when we ask: “Spread over us the Sukkah of Your peace.”

The Sukkah represents an encompassing Divine light that surrounds all of us.

This is the dimension represented by the Clouds of Glory: G-d surrounds the entire Jewish people with one encompassing protection.

Yet, at the same time, every individual enters into his or her own personal Sukkah.

Some Sukkot are sturdy, beautifully constructed, and built in accordance with the strictest halachic requirements. Others are flimsy and can barely meet the minimum requirements necessary to make them kosher. And there are countless Sukkot that fall somewhere in between.

This is not merely a physical distinction. It can also be understood as a metaphor for the different spiritual circumstances of individual Jews.

Every person has his or her own Sukkah.

Every person has his or her own spiritual strengths, weaknesses, challenges, circumstances, and capacity to receive and internalize Divine light.

The Sukkah of the Ba’al Shem Tov

The opinion that emphasizes the individual Sukkot in which our ancestors dwelt teaches us that each individual Sukkah is indispensable and cherished by G-d, even when it is far from perfect.

A remarkable story concerning the Ba’al Shem Tov, together with the Rebbe’s commentary on the story, expresses this idea poignantly.

The Ba’al Shem Tov’s Sukkah was severely criticized by the scholars of Mezhibuzh, who claimed that it was not kosher. The Ba’al Shem Tov argued that his Sukkah was indeed kosher according to halachic sources, but his detractors were not convinced.

The Ba’al Shem Tov then opened his hand and produced a note stating:

“The Sukkah of the Ba’al Shem Tov is kosher,” signed by the angel Metatron.

The Rebbe raises a fundamental question: Why would the Ba’al Shem Tov, who was extraordinarily meticulous in his observance of mitzvot, deliberately construct a Sukkah that was only minimally kosher—one that even great scholars considered invalid?

Why would the Ba’al Shem Tov choose to construct a Sukkah that barely satisfied the requirements of halachah when he certainly possessed the ability to perform the mitzvah in a far more ideal manner, conforming even to the more stringent opinions?

The First Day When Sins Begin to Count

The Rebbe answers this question by referring to a Midrashic interpretation of the Torah’s description of Sukkot as being observed “on the first day.”

Why does the Torah call Sukkot “the first day” when it is actually celebrated on the fifteenth day of the month of Tishrei?

The Midrash explains that it is the first day on which sins begin to count.

After Yom Kippur, our slate of sins has been wiped clean. The days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot are occupied with preparing for the Festival. During those days, we continue to bask in the extraordinary spiritual light revealed on Yom Kippur.

But when Sukkot arrives, a new accounting begins.

The first day of Sukkot is therefore the first day of a new spiritual accounting.

This teaching sheds profound light on the meaning of the Sukkah.

The Sukkah as a Protective Shield

During the days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, we remain enveloped in the spiritual atmosphere and Divine illumination of Yom Kippur. We are, so to speak, protected and shielded from sin by an encompassing Divine light.

But when Sukkot begins, each of us must enter into our own individual Sukkah.

The Sukkah is constructed for the purpose of providing shade—to shield us from the intensity of the sun.

On the spiritual level, the Sukkah represents the Divine protection that shields us from the harmful influences of the outside world. More specifically, it shields us from the heat, the passion for materiality.

Yet not every Sukkah accomplishes this objective in the same manner.

Some of our Sukkot are sturdy and beautifully constructed. Others are flimsy. Some do not conform to the strictest standards of halachah and barely meet the minimum requirements necessary to make them kosher.

And this is precisely the point.

The Rebbe’s interpretation of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s Sukkah teaches us that he, by constructing a minimally kosher Sukkah, entered into the less-than-perfect Sukkah.

The Mission of the Jewish Leader

This also contains a profound lesson regarding Jewish leadership.

It is the responsibility and mission of a Jewish leader to figuratively enter into the less-than-ideal Sukkot of his people.

It is not sufficient to remain within the magnificent, all-encompassing Clouds of Glory and proclaim that the entire Jewish people are one.

That collective unity is indispensable, but it does not tell the entire story.

We must also recognize individual identities.

Every Jew has a personal Sukkah.

Every Jew has individual needs, individual challenges, individual circumstances, and an individual capacity to receive Divine inspiration.

A true Jewish leader must therefore operate on both levels.

He must inspire the entire Jewish people collectively while simultaneously entering into the personal world of each individual.

The Clouds of Glory teach us that we are one people.

The individual Sukkah teaches us that every Jew is one individual person before G-d.

The greatness of Jewish leadership is the ability to hold these two truths together.

The Sukkah and the Messianic Age

The Sukkah is also a powerful metaphor for the future Messianic Age.

Our Sages teach that in the World to Come, G-d will make a great Sukkah from the skin of the Leviathan, in which the righteous will partake of a magnificent feast.

This image points to the collective dimension of the Sukkah.

All Jews will ultimately be gathered together under one Divine shelter. The divisions, fragmentation, and alienation that characterize our present exile will disappear, and the encompassing Divine light will be revealed.

But there is another dimension to the Messianic redemption.

The prophets describe a future in which G-d will not merely gather the Jewish people collectively, but will relate to each individual personally.

Moshiach’s coming will therefore reveal both dimensions of the Sukkah: the collective and the individual.

On one level, all of humanity will recognize the oneness of G-d and the unity of His creation. On another level, every individual will experience a personal relationship with the Divine that reflects his or her unique identity and spiritual mission.

The Ultimate Unity: One People, Many Individuals

The two opinions concerning the reason for the Sukkah are therefore not merely a technical dispute about the historical event that we commemorate.

They reveal two dimensions of Jewish existence.

The Clouds of Glory represent the encompassing Divine presence that unites the entire Jewish people. They teach us that, despite our differences, we are all enveloped by one Divine protection.

The individual Sukkot represent the uniqueness of every Jew. They teach us that unity does not mean the obliteration of individuality. On the contrary, true Jewish unity is achieved when each individual is able to preserve his or her distinct identity while remaining part of the collective.

This is also the deeper meaning of the Sukkah as a symbol of the Messianic future.

Moshiach will reveal both the one Sukkah that encompasses all of Israel and the personal Sukkah of every individual Jew.

We will experience the ultimate unity without sacrificing individuality, and the ultimate individuality without sacrificing unity.

The Sukkah therefore teaches us one of the deepest paradoxes of Jewish existence: we are simultaneously one people and many individuals, collectively enveloped by the Divine Presence while each person remains uniquely precious in the eyes of G-d.

And perhaps this is why Sukkot is uniquely designated as “Zman Simchateinu—the Season of Our Rejoicing.”

Our deepest joy comes when we discover that our individual identity is not threatened by Jewish unity, and that our unity does not require us to surrender our individuality.

The Clouds of Glory tell us that we are one.
The individual Sukkah tells us that each of us matters.
The Messianic Age will reveal the ultimate harmony between the two.