Question: What is the essence of the connection between faith and the “covering of the Sukkah” (Schach)?

Answer: Schach and faith are one and the same. If they are the same thing, what connection can there be between them? If they were two different things, I would explain the connection between them, but this is simply one and the same phenomenon. We are not speaking at all about a material roof made of plants. When we speak of the covering of the Sukkah, we are referring to the screen that a person builds above his head.

Schach symbolizes things that were once alive and growing, but have now died, things that have reached the end of their life cycle. A person once enjoyed these things, but now they are dead to him; the spirit of life has departed from them. In his eyes, they have lost all importance and are entirely unsuitable for his advancement. He then takes these things, which have no importance for him anymore, and raises them above his head.

The Schach is constructed of objects that have practically no use: scraps of wood, leaves, and branches that cannot be used for anything other than perhaps burning them to heat a little water. What else can be done with these objects? It is impossible to build something from them. The covering of the Sukkah is not made from standard building material, such as solid timber. There are specific laws concerning this.

When a person raises things that have no importance according to the perceptions of his desire to receive above his head, it means that he is proceeding by faith above reason. Then the Schach is faith, while his knowledge is located inside the Sukkah.

A person is ready to work with his knowledge, which is smaller than his faith, or to use it only in accordance with the measure of his faith. This is called having his entire vessel of reception under the cover of the decision not to receive for himself, under the cover of the Schach, the screen. Then a person sits in the shade of the Sukkah, whose shade must be greater than the sunlight entering it. There must be so little sunlight in the Sukkah that it is almost imperceptible.

Today, we cover the Sukkah with thin slats. Rabash made sure that they were placed so closely together that almost no light could enter through them. It was not a matter of seeing the sky or the stars, only the faintest trace of light. I once asked why. It looked almost like a house. The roof was unattractive, but it was truly a roof. I was told that this was the custom: to make it very dense.

This is one of the symbols indicating the immense power and strength of the canopy, the force of mercy. This is what one must be concerned with rather than the amount of light filtering through the roof.
[362077]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson for the holiday of Sukkot, 9/26/26

Related Material:
Sukkah—Construction Of The Spiritual Vessel
Sukkot–The Symbol Of The Corrected Kli
Sukkot—A Special Opportunity to Correct the World

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Holidays, Spiritual Work | Add Comment →