Part 4:
Morning Lesson September 20, 2021, Transcription
Sukkot - Selected Excerpts from the Sources
1. R. From all the holidays that we celebrate this month, there are so many, there is one more holiday that today we begin to celebrate, it is called Sukkot. Just like you understand already, all of these holidays that the nation of Israel has are a result of the wisdom of Kabbalah. What is Sukkot? It is a symbol for a spiritual vessel. Just like we need with our desire to receive that besides the desire to receive there is only the Creator. We need from our desire to receive to build such a form that the Creator can fill it, this desire to receive to be revealed in it. That we, the desire to receive will develop ourselves, that we will understand who the Creator is and what does He want from us, and how we can be in connection with Him. How we can reach from our degree. That we are created beings in such a manner that we are like sand that we will reach the degree that we are like the Creator. That Adam, man, needs to be like the Creator in all manners and so along with this we have to learn how to do this with the vessel. The vessel is, as we have learned, the desire to receive that we build it by a restriction, screen and reflected light. We just learned about it in the Preface of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.
There is a sign to our desire to receive that we build which is called a Sukkah. Sukkah (singular, Sukkot is plural) is a structure which gives us an example of what is called our inner vessels that we need to attain. We have such a tradition that we build not in our hearts, connecting all of our hearts, but rather building it like kids. To build a structure called a Sukkah and this is a sign for our corrected heart, our corrected soul. This is how we do it. Once a year there is a tradition to make such a symbol. From what? So first of all, from the most simple things possible, from natural things. It can't be metal, it can't be concrete or any such things. Rather wood and stone, of those things that are on the earth. This is an example for our vessel of the corrupted soul called the Sukkah. It is a tradition that is seemingly like a childish one that we are building something that is corporal. It is a symbol of what we are meaning to build spiritually, so we have this tradition. Rather this form that the kabbalists have passed on to us, all sorts of stories about the Sukkah, about the structure, from this we can learn what is a soul and what it is composed of. What are the states that we can build and what to do with it? So, let’s read a few excerpts, not much that we have about Sukkot and whatever you want you can ask about. It is interesting that the Kabbalists very much respected this holiday of Sukkot. Baal HaSulam and Rabash took great care every year in September, at this time of the year, to have a nice, good sukkah that is a symbol of the attitude of man towards the correction of the soul.
Excerpt 1 (5:25)
2. R. (5:57) We build it this way (Rav drawing), we put the four pillars, the poles. On them we tie, not with nails but with natural materials, we tie them, these logs, let's say. Afterwards we place leaves on top. Here on the side, we also make some walls and that is called a Sukkah but everything is from wood. It is only for a week. What we do usually is that people come and they put a table inside and they sit and have some wine and some treats and sit and have a meal. This is actually the holiday. That we are not at home but that we want to move everything to the Sukkah. Once again, the symbol for the Sukkah itself is the soul. The 4 phases are the four walls. There are many rules about this. It is difficult to express what needs to be done on the soul with this. But the Kabbalists explain to us, in many cases, about these Sukkah. How much it can be in height - it is talking about the soul. How much it can be in all sorts of forms. There are many things here that maybe we will learn this sometime. Because it is all talking about the soul. The main thing is the Schach, (above our heads), the thatch, the covering, made from those leaves.
Excerpt 2 (9:00)
3. R. (10:19) We understand this symbolizes something important, the correction of the soul. What could be greater than this? Here we seemingly respect this depiction. Of course, it is not about building these things but it is an example, an expression of the structure of the soul, that from within this we can ask why it is this way or that way. The Kabbalists, from generation to generation, when they attain the correction of the vessels, the ten Sefirot that are reaching more and more for correct phases that correct between them in a correct manner, all the private souls and the groups come together in order to express it. They found examples in our world for it and now we have a mutual language that we can explain the matter.
4. S. (11:38) Why was it so important for Baal HaSulam and Rabash to build the sukkah since we learned that Kabbalah is the internality of the Torah?
R. We consider a few symbols in our world. First and foremost are Passover and Sukkot. This is what I saw by Rabash in a very important manner. He didn't care so much about the course of the year but was very careful with the matter of Sukkot and Passover. Passover is the exit from the will to receive to the intention to bestow, called exiting slavery to freedom, and Sukkot symbolizes that we have already reached correction of the entire vessel. The sukkah has four walls, the four phases, and we have reached a screen that is on the entire will to receive, that is called the thatch. We are inside, within the soul, meaning on the outside we have nothing left, we have entirely corrected the soul with the Creator. Then we celebrate Sukkot seven days and in these seven days we invite the Sefirot that are above the roof, Keter, Hochma, and Bina, and Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut within them. We seemingly celebrate the entrance of the light from the GAR of the degree to VAK, to the Guf of the Partzuf of the degree of the soul.
Excerpt 3 (14:34)
5. R. (14:46) Meaning from leaves and all sorts of branches, all sorts of things that we take from the trees and we make a roof out of it and cover the sukkah.
Reader continues “This is the meaning of what we say….”
Excerpt 3 again
6. S. (16:38) What does it mean that the screen protects you from alien thoughts and harm doers?
R. You have a screen. What is the screen built from? You have a screen and protection from alien thoughts and harm doers from the foreign, alien thoughts that you overcame.
S. The upper light comes to the screen so why are there alien thoughts?
R. They are yours, not of the upper light. The screen guards you, protects you from foreign thoughts. There are no foreign thoughts in the upper light.
7. S. (17:35) What effect do the traditional rituals have on the soul for Gmar Tikkun?
R. Nothing, no importance. The only thing that is important for us is to explain how we correct the soul from this example. Just that. We are talking about the correction of the soul and we can explain it with the example of the sukkah. What parts build the soul and how much can it be corrected; who belongs to this more; who is smaller or bigger; children, women, kids, everything. We can explain all of this by using the Sukkah as an example, a means for an explanation.
8. S. (18:47) What is the thought or the last action we need before we enter this spiritual degree? How can we abandon our personal feelings before the congress and get ready to be one world ten?
R. We need to ask everyone and listen to the friends' answers. We can advance to the congress and ask everyone to think about it, maybe to talk about it in the tens, and every ten send their answer. I don’t think this Congress needs to be just a few lessons that we sit and listen to but rather the Congress needs to be that we intend to connect. We cannot always be in the intention for connection, as we are still just human beings and each is under different influences. We need to direct and intend that in these two days all of us together will think about our life, our goal, and how to approach the goal, and how to connect with the Creator. All of these things. I hope that you will ask and we will work on this answer.