The Four External and Internal Lights

The Sukkah is the symbol of the future Messianic Age. Its four walls are expressive of four agents that brings us to the period of Redemption. They are Teshuvah, Tefilah, Tzedakah and Torah. Hence the ideal four wall configuration construction of the Sukkah alludes to these four agents of Redemption.

Three Configurations

The Holiday of Sukkos is so called because of its central Mitzvah of dwelling in a Sukkah for seven days.

A Sukkah has three configurations.

The Biblical obligation requires that the Sukkah consist of, at least, two complete walls and one incomplete one.

Rabbinical legislation requires that we have three complete walls.

Jewish custom, however, is to build a Sukkah with four walls.

The Shaloh (the classic work by Rabbi Yeshayahu Hurwitz, a 17th century Sage) writes that these three configurations are hinted in the word Sukkah, which consists of 3 letters Samach, chof and hei.

The Samach, is totally enclosed like the four walled Sukkah.

The chof is enclosed on three sides and open on one side.

The hei, has two whole lines and a fragment of a third line.

Shaloh explains that a Jew ideally has four powerful “walls.” They are: Teshuvah (repentance, or more accurately: return, Tefilah-prayer, tzedakah-charity, and Torah.

But not everybody has the mental capacity to study Torah. For these individuals they have a three walled Sukkah, Teshuvah, Tefilah and Tzedakah.

But what about simple and poor Jews who lack the knowledge of Torah and cannot really make any significant contributions to Tzedakah? They have to be content with a two walled Sukkah consisting of Teshuvah and Tefilah, and a nominal third wall, i.e., a small amount of Tzedakah because even the poor have to give something.

The Sukkah of the Future

The Sukkah is seen in Midrashic literature based on Biblical references, as the symbol of the future Messianic Age. It follows then that these four walls are expressive of four agents that brings us to the period of Redemption.

Our Sages tell us that when the Jewish people will do Teshuvah they will be redeemed.

One of the ways we hasten the Redemption is by prayer. Indeed our prayers are replete with requests and heartfelt pleas for Moshiach.

Our Sages also declare that Tzedakah hastens the Redemption. Just as we care for others, G-d will show His love for us and perform the ultimate charitable act by redeeming us from Galus-captivity.

Torah study, particularly the laws of Torah and its mystical teachings, are also seen by our Sages as agents of Redemption.

Hence the construction of the Sukkah, the ideal four wall configuration, alludes to the four agents of Redemption.

Repairing the Breaches

When we survey the criteria for Moshiach, enumerated by Maimonides, he includes “reinforcing the breaches [of Torah observance].” The term “breaches” implies there is a wall that is showing some cracks. Moshiach’s role is to repair those breaches and ensure that all four walls are intact. Moshiach, as any Jewish leader in the past, leads by example, and we too follow in his way of reinforcing the breaches in the walls of Judaism.

Moshiach works to strengthen Judaism specifically in these four areas of Teshuvah, Tefilah-prayer, Tzedakah-charity, and Torah. Moshiach focuses on getting all of the Jewish people to return to the path of Torah and to the core of their souls. Moshiach arouses us to be fed up with Galus and to desire and therefore pray incessantly for the Redemption. Moshiach stresses the importance of connecting every event in our lives with Tzedakah. And Moshiach reveals new dimensions and vistas in Torah knowledge and demands of us to do the same.

The Four Walls and the Four Species

During the Holiday of Sukkos we are commanded to take four species of plants, hold them and wave them in all six directions.

The fact that there are ideally four walls to a Sukkah and we are to take the Four Species is not a coincidence. It is logical to assume that they parallel each other.

The Midrash explains that the Lulav, which comes from a date palm, is suggestive of Torah study, because dates have a sweet taste symbolizing the sweet taste of Torah.

The Esrog, which the Midrash states resembles the heart, is suggestive of prayer, which the Talmud refers to as “service of the heart.”

The myrtles which are blessed with a good fragrance, the Midrash says, are symbolic of one’s good deeds, most specifically Tzedakah.

The poor willow, which has neither taste nor fragrance, is said to represent the Jew who has no knowledge and no good deeds to speak of. He or she is the person who has hit rock bottom. The “willow Jew” wants to do Teshuvah and be attached to the Lulav, the symbol of the Torah scholar and spiritual leader.

Why Two Sets of Four?

One might ask, why the need for two sets of four; the four walls of the Sukkah and the four species?

We observe the Mitzvah of Sukkah by entering in it and allowing it to surround and encompass us. The Four Species, by contrast, we take into our hands, wave it in all directions and then literally bring it close to our hearts.

The physical ways of observing these two Mitzvos reflect their diverse spiritual effects, which relate to two necessary sources of influence in our lives.

The Sukkah which surrounds us represents enveloping ourselves in aspects of holiness that are above and beyond us. When something surrounds us it means that we are taken over by a force greater than ourselves.

Translated into simple terms this means that we should always seek out inspiration from levels, people and experiences that are higher than ourselves and bask in their light. The Sukkah generates an encompassing Divine aura into those who enter into it.

Moreover, the Kabbalists reveal that the Cloud of Incense that fills the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur “converts” into the schach-covering of our Sukkos. On Sukkos we inter into an ethereal existence, even “with our boots” as a famous Chassidic saying puts it. Just being in this atmosphere inspires and elevates us.

There is however a second aspect of the Holiday of Sukkos where we take the encompassing, other-worldly experience and inspiration and bring it close to our heart. When we take the Four Species, wave them and then bring them physically to our heart we thereby mimic a spiritual dynamic where the peripheral experience of holiness of the Sukkah penetrates into our hearts.

So while the four walled Sukkah and the Four Species may have something in common, as discussed earlier, they serve two interdependent functions. The Sukkah elevates us to a higher state of consciousness, while the Four Species allow us to internalize it.

Don’t Place the Schach Too High

However, when we deal with the higher consciousness generated by the Sukkah, there can be an impediment if we come into the Sukkah with the wrong attitude. Sometimes we don’t feel that we can relate to other-worldly or more spiritual influences.

To allay this concern the Mishnah states that “schach of a Sukkah placed higher than 20 cubits is invalid.” One of the reasons for this is that the Torah wants us to “know that we are sitting in a Sukkah.” Something placed that high will not be noticed.

The message this law conveys is that if one places the schach too high he or she is insinuating that the message the Sukkah is beyond our reach.

There is a tendency for people to dismiss certain challenges and goals in two opposite ways.

Some will say “it is beneath my station in life to deal with petty matters. I am better and higher than that.” Our egos cause us to take ourselves too seriously. We then fail to recognize that we can sometimes go low and need to deal with issues that we think are the provenance of others.

However, there is an opposite response to some of our challenges which appears to come from humility. In this mode the person says, “How can I be expected to reach that lofty perch, when I know how limited and insignificant I am. That challenge is for greater people than me.”

Without judging that individual’s humility, the message of the Sukkah serves as a powerful rejoinder to that mindset. The Sukkah with its lofty schach perched atop its four walls is both above us but within eyesight and within reach.

Once we place the schach beyond 20 cubits, which symbolizes that it is in another elusive sphere, we miss the whole idea of the Sukkah. The Sukkah allows us to bask in and enjoy G-d’s sublime, encompassing and protective power. Our entering into the Sukkah has been compared to G-d taking us into His embrace after we dedicated ourselves to Him in the preceding days of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.

The Parallel to Moshiach

The Sukkah and Four Species complement each other. While we enjoy being in G-d’s embrace we take some of that love and inspiration and bring it into our hearts; internalize it by taking the Four Species and bringing them close to our heart.

The same attitude can be found with regard to Moshiach. Some feel that it is a concept difficult to relate to. It is metaphorically speaking higher than “20 cubits;” it is elusive. Some will say, “let it happen when it happens, but it is not something to which we can relate.”

The message of the Sukkah, the symbol of the Messianic future, is that it is indeed accessible to us not only in terms of time. In addition, we can all bask now in its light by studying the Torah’s teachings about the Messianic Age, praying for it, giving tzedakah and doing Teshuvah.

But, as with the Festival of Sukkos, we cannot be content our exposure to Messianic ideals, we must also bring them closer to our hearts.

This Festival of Sukkos let us enjoy both the encompassing and internalizing light of G-d in the Third Bais Hamikdash with the imminent true and complete Redemption through Moshiach.

From the book Light from the Future: Sukkos by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.