Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Sukkah Of Sedom

Chazal say (Pesaikta Derav Cahana) כל מי שמקיים מצות סוכה בעולם הזה, אף הקב"ה נותן לו חלק לעתיד לבוא בסוכתה של סדום, מה שהקב"ה עתיד לחלק אותה לצדיקים שבטים שְׁכָמִים, שנאמר אלקים דבר בקדשו אעלוזה אחלקה שכם ועמק סוכות אמדד -תהילים ס:ח.  What is the connection between סדום and sukkot?  

The holiday of Sukkot is called זמן שמחתנו because of the extra time the Torah says simcha in regard to Sukkot.  Why does it have increased joy?  The Midrash says since it is around the time of the harvest it is a happy time for people are happy to harvest the crops.  What about those of us who are not farmers?  The Rebbe (Likutay Sichos volume 29) says that the time of harvest is also a time of spiritual harvest.  Pesach is the time when the foundation of emunah was set in place, Shavuot is the time of receiving the Torah but Sukkot is the time when the mitzvot take a physical form.  We transform even our daily activities into a mitzvah by merely being inside of a sukkah.  The great simcha is of the ability that we have the capability of transforming gashmi life into ruchnious.    

The Gemarah Avodah Zarah (3a) says that Hashem will test the gentiles with the mitzvah of sukkah which does not have much חסרון כיס and they will end up kicking the sukkah.  The Sifsay Chayim explains that the gentiles only understand ruchni or gashmi, they can't fathom a fusion of the two.  That is what it means it is a mitzvah that does not have חסרון כיס, there is nothing being given up for the sake of ruchni, instead it has כיס, a receptacle, a person receives from the mitzvah.  It is gashmi being used for ruhniout.  This is something that the gentiles can't fathom.  

In many seforim they draw parallels between the taveh of Noach and the sukkah.  The sin of the dor of the mabal was as the Gemarah Sanhedrin (108b) says תנו רבנן: דור המבול לא נתגאו אלא בשביל רוב טובה שהשפיע להם הקב"ה.  They were inundated with too much gashmious and this led to their downfall.  The gashmious led them astray.  

A sukkah brings about shalom, ופרוס עלינו סוכת שלומיך.  Shalom is the unification of opposite forces.  The unification of gashmious and ruchnious is brought about via the sukkah.  

The sin of סדום was יד עני ואביון לא החזיקה (Yechezkal 16:49.)  The city of Sedom was the opposite of shalom.  The motto of Sedom is שלי שלי שלך שלך.  They do not believe in the fusion of opposites.  One who properly sits in the sukkah, understands the message of the sukkah, will merit to bring the unification to Sedom as well.  As has been noted the word סדום can stand for סוכת דוד ומלך משיח.  It through the avodah of Sukkot that the sukkot David is raised by Mashiach. 

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