Under A Temporary Shade

Dr. Michael LaitmanSukkot symbolizes joy. It is a wonderful, pleasant, light, and simple holiday that people really love. The truth is that it requires preparation in advance, but still, it is very joyful. Why is that?

First, after all the clarifications after the receiving of the Torah in Shavuot, after the 9th of Av when we saw how shattered we are—as it symbolizes the shattering of the Tablets of the Ten Commandments—it also symbolized the partition of the tablets. Then we reach the recognition of evil in the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the new year), and we make a decision that we must be corrected. And then comes the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which in Kabbalistic terms is described as the embrace of the right and the left line, as the revelation of the properties of the court, Dinim (judgment) and Hassadim (mercy), the sweetening.

Finally, there comes the festival of Sukkot, which stands for special corrections when I already can raise all my desires to bestowal. The Sukkah symbolizes this entire process. It is all very simple. I use my simplest desires in the form of branches and leaves for building a temporary home. They are worthless, but it is through using them that I build my temporary home, a Sukkah, that provides a shade over my head. The Schach (the covering of the Sukkah) is made of worthless materials that can be found everywhere.

After establishing this temporary state, I rejoice in it. Thus, it symbolizes the spiritual vessel in which I receive the Light. The Schach symbolizes the Masach (screen) since I don’t want to receive the Light directly, and the shade must be much greater than the Light, “Its shade is greater than its Light.”

I am happy since I have managed to build a Masach above me which enables me to conceal the upper abundance and remain in the shade. I, on the other hand—with the help of the Light that Reforms, of course—can hide from the pleasures in the spiritual vessel.

This process continues and I correct myself more and more in my vessels as they develop. I stay in the Sukkah with them, which means that I can open them and use them thanks to the Schach.

Then, I reach Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah). The Torah is the Light that Reforms that I received on Shavuot. I use this force to correct my vessels and now I come out of the Sukkah. In other words, I already have an unlimited Masach and I don’t need to worry about the Schach (canopy) anymore.

Coming out of the Sukkah (“hut”) symbolizes that now I am free to roam around all of reality all over the world. There is no need for a Masach over my head anymore since it is inside me now. I now sit in my vessel corrected.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/18/13, Lesson on the Topic: ”Sukkot”

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