The gematria of השטן/The Accuser is 364. The sages tell us that the Accuser is only allowed to speak against us 364 days a year. On Yom Kippur, though, he is silenced. What about just שטן (you know, satan, the devil, the serpent, etc)? Wouldn't it be great to get another five days without an accuser watching our every move? We get that also! The five days from Yom Kippur through the first day of Sukkos, the accuser doesn't get much traction. Since we are busy with the mitzvos of Sukkos, HaShem lets our unintentional sins slide because we are so busy with the mitzvos of building a sukkah and getting the four species.
If it were just the quantity of mitzvos, though, that hardly explains fending off the prince of darkness. After all, Pesach has lots and lots of mitzvos and requires much more preparation. Every Shabbos also has lots of preparation. (My daughter explained Shabbos to a non-Jewish co-worker as "basically Thanksgiving, but every week.) Yet the Accuser is on full duty. What is different about Sukkos?
Wait... this just in... each and every kiddush for each and every holiday declares that an essential dimension of the holiness of this day is as a memorial to the exodus from Mitzrayim. The halacha is to start public review of the halachos of Pesach 30 days before the Yom Tov. From Pesach we immediately begin the count to Matan Torah at Shavuos/Sefirah period. Not long after Shavuos, we enter into the three weeks culminating in Tisha b'Av. After Tisha b'Av , s'lichos are right around the corner. (At the vasikin minyan, in fact, we immediately interrupt our normal daily halacha learning schedule to begin learning Hilchos Rosh HaShanah.) The Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and... Sukkos. Perhaps instead of asking what is different about Sukkos, it would be better to phrase the question as: What makes Sukkos the fitting cap to everything we have been working on since Pesach and so weakens the grip of our yeitzer ha'ra that the accuser can be silenced?
There is a joke about a guy hiking by himself in the mountains. Suddenly he slips, slides over a cliff and just manages to catch the branch sticking out of the cliff. He is now 10 feet below the precipice, hanging over a rocky ravine in the middle of nowhere by himself. He starts calling in panic, "Can anyone help me?!" He hears a voice from the sky, warm and comforting, "I can help you." "Is that you, HaShem?!" "Yes, I hear you and I can help you." "Baruch HaShem! Thank you, thank you!" "I just need you to believe in Me." "Believe in You? Of course!" "Ok, then, let go of the branch." .... "Is there anyone else who can help me?!"
We are that guy. With critical differences. HaShem begins by showing His love for us by retrieving us from the spiritual desert of Mitzrayim with open miracles; all for our benefit. He brought us through the Yam Suf with more open miracles. We experienced the national prophetic experience of receiving the Torah. We made mistakes -- big ones -- but our connection remained strong and we annually renew our commitment that HaShem is our King and we are His nation. We work through and review our mistakes and work to change. HaShem accepts our prayers and we are close again. Then HaShem says, leave your house. Build a temporary structure and live outside. Take the four species that represent HaShem's mastery over all aspects of our daily lives and cut them off from their natural source.
In other words: Let go of the branch.
That is the beauty of this season and that simple act of leaving our homes. By going into the sukkah, we show that our prayers and declarations of fealty were not empty words. We look forward every year to letting go of that branch and experiencing true and everlasting freedom.
Comments