892. An Article for Sukkot
“You shall sit in Sukkot [huts] for seven days; every citizen in Israel shall sit in Sukkot so your generations may know that I placed the sons of Israel in Sukkot when I brought them out from the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:42-43). Rabbi Eliezer says, “Actual Sukkot,” and Rabbi Akiva, “Clouds of glory.”
How can there be such a gap between them? One interprets a corporeal Sukkah [sing. for Sukkot], and one interprets a spiritual Sukkah, which is “clouds of glory.” However, they are Panim [anterior/face] and Achoraim [posterior/back]. On the part of the awakening from below, the making of the Sukkah is an actual Sukkah. On the part of the awakening from above, it is the “seven clouds of glory.”
“Sit” means “dwell,” as in “The concealed things belong to the Lord our God.” The sages of ethics interpret that the matter of “Go out from permanent residence and sit in temporary residence” is so they will know and notice that this world is like a motel and temporary lodging.
It is written in Psalms: “You hide them in concealment of the face from the conspiracies of man; You conceal them in a Sukkah [hut] from the strife of tongues.” RASHI interpreted “the conspiracies of man” as “the connection of wicked, who connive in order to harm them.”
We should understand what is “concealment of the face,” since the rule is that the face is revealed, and how is the face related to the Creator? Also, what is the meaning of “You conceal them in a Sukkah from the strife of tongues”? What is the difference between Sukkah and concealment of the face? We find the words, “sitting in the upper concealment,” and the meaning of “upper concealment”; what is “lower concealment”? We also find, “His concealment is straightness.”
We should ask, If it is concealment, how do we know that it is straightness and not a circle (perhaps this is the meaning of Yosher and Igulim [straightness and circles, respectively], where in the quality of Igulim there is no concealment, but the light shines equally to the small and to the great, and this is the Reshimot [recollection] from the world of Tzimtzum [restriction])?
“Straightness” means according to the line that was done in the Tzimtzum. Accordingly, what we see, that there is concealment, is straight, as in “straight thinking.” (The matter of Panim means revealing of the Panim and concealment of the Panim.) The Sukkah is made of four walls and a thatch, but the place of the Sukkah is ready, for one can build one’s sukkah on the ground, which is the substance, and on this substance we make a form, the form of a Sukkah.
We should understand the meaning of walls and the thatch, which is waste of barn and vineyard.
It is known that there are four sides, and above and below. These are called HGT and Malchut, and Netzah above and Hod below.
In the Shema reading, we say “In the name of the Lord, God of Israel, Mi-KeEl [Michael] to my right, and Gavri-El [Gabriel] to my left, and Uri-El [Uriel] before me, and Raf-El [Rafael] behind, and over my head, the Shechina of God.” Why is nothing said concerning below, which corresponds to Hod? Below is discerned as the ground, which is man. If he does a Kosher [proper] Sukkah, he is regarded as Hod, called “the beauty of the Sukkah.” But if not, the Hod [beauty] becomes Daveh [pain-stricken, same letters as Hod].
In other words, nothing should be implied concerning the place of the earth. Rather, what one extends and aims in all five Behinot [discernments/qualities], in this way it will appear in the earth, which is the quality of man, who extends from the root of Malchut, called “she has nothing of her own.” In other words, she has nothing of herself except what she is given. Thus, it depends on the form of the Sukkah.