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Succot -- Its power for good or evil:
- The mitzvah of succah can bring us to experience the radiance of God's
abundance through ruach hakodesh, the spirit of holiness. This experience
is a special state of enlightenment granted to certain people when they are
worthy of contact with levels of Godliness that transcend the levels of attainment
they have reached through their own efforts. For there are levels of Divine
wisdom that are granted to people simply through God's beneficence, without
their having to work to acquire that level specifically. Indeed man's whole
task in this world is to work on himself until he is worthy of being granted
these transcendental levels. This is the true joy of the World to Come (21:3).
- The merit of the mitzvah of succah brings purity of heart. When your
heart is pure it is easy to express yourself before God. You will always
find new and original words and prayers (156).
- The succah is a segulah for having children. The succah brings relief
from strife and divisiveness. Falsehood is cast aside and truth gains the
upper hand. The true Teacher of the age is revealed, and the whole world
comes to return to God and `serve Him with one consent' (Zephania 3:9) (Likutey
Moharan I, 48).
- Intense prayer, the Land of Israel, and the mitzva of succah are in
essence one concept. The three ideas are interdependent (Ibid.).
- A person who is negligent in fulfilling the mitzva of succah closes
himself off from the beneficence that God bestows upon men. Instead he falls
to the level of an animal, receiving only what animals receive. This causes
the death of cattle and other animals before their proper time, God forbid
(266).
- A person who fulfills the mitzva of succah fittingly can engage in
building without running the risk of being harmed. Building is a dangerous
occupation, but the precept of succah gives protection (Ibid.).
- From the succah comes Torah. Therefore when we enter the succah we
become suffused with Torah (Ibid.).
- The mitzvah of the four kinds, the lulav, etrog, hadassim and aravoth,
brings about a relevation of Da'at, the knowledge of God. Through the mitzvah
of the four kinds we can come to realize how the whole earth is filled with
God's glory. We can see Godliness everywhere, even in the languages of the
gentiles. People on every level, even the lowest, can come to acknowledge
God and draw closer to Him. This mitzva helps us to bind our hearts to the
knowledge of God and in this way to bring the heart under our control. This
is what brings us to love God, and through loving God we show the truest
love to ourselves. Then we can rise to receive the light of the love which
is in Da'at. This is the `hidden light' stored up for the righteous. Through
glimpsing it, the hidden Tzaddikim and the hidden Torah are revealed, and
abundant peace spreads forth in the world (33).
- The etrog derives its beauty from the true Tzaddik. He is the `head
of the house' over the entire world. It follows that if you acquire a fine
etrog which has all the marks of beauty, you will be worthy of drawing close
to the Tzaddik. You will be merged in him and your eyes will be opened. It
works the other way also: if you are close to the true Tzaddikim, you will
be worthy of a beautiful etrog, and in this way you will be able to fulfill
this precious and awesome mitzvah fittingly (Likutey Moharan II, 67).
- You should search far and wide for a fine etrog that has
all the marks of beauty. You must weep and cry on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
to be worthy of such an etrog. It is impossible for us to understand the
great preciousness and profound holiness of the mitzva of etrog. The human
mind is simply unable to
fathom it. Know that by fulfilling this mitzvah in all its beauty you will
be worthy of bringing closer the day when our holy Temple will be rebuilt
in splendour and glory. May it be God's will to rebuild it speedily in our
days, Amen (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom 87).
- For a discussion of Hoshanah Rabbah and Simchat Torah, see Likutey
Moharan I, 74.
- Shemini Atzeret brings about the tikkun of Judgement. In essence this
is a tikkun for the holy Covenant (See Rosh Hashanah 9).
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