Sechach [Thatch]
The Walls of the Sukkah [Hut]
Sukkah Is Temporary Residence
The Four Species
Ushpizin (Guests)
1. RABASH, Article No. 284, “I Have a Minor Mitzva [commandment], Whose Name Is Sukkah”
Sukkah comes from the word Sechach [thatch], which covers the mind, since faith is considered specifically above reason.
2. RABASH, Letter No. 36
The thatch is the shadow of faith, called “faith above reason.” This is opposite to reason, for reason brings him into waste, to barn, and to winery.
That is, from the perspective of reason, the way the corporeal eyes see it, there is room for waste of barn and winery. This in itself makes a shadow, and he sits under it. That is, he makes for himself a seat out of all those lowest and worst things, and through the waste observes the Mitzva (commandment) of Sukkah.
Most importantly, he derives joy from this Mitzva because faith above reason is called “joy of Mitzva.” It follows that all the quandaries and questions that exist in reality are corrected in the Sukkah, for without them it is impossible to make a thatch.
3. RABASH, Letter No. 36
The thatch, called “shade,” is made specifically from the waste of barn and winery. This is the meaning of what we say in the prayer inside the Sukkah, “And to take refuge from rain and torrent.” It means that faith saves a person from all the harm doers, since harm doers are alien thoughts and alien views, and faith is built specifically on waste. Only in this way is there refuge from rain and torrent; otherwise, one follows the trends of the world.
4. RABASH, Letter No. 36
The torrent is something that sustains the earth, since people who are still are nourished only by reason, and only reason sustains them. Where reason does not reach, they cannot hold out, and this reason keeps these people still.
But one who wishes to be as the vegetative must not accept this reason as support, since that torrent is unsuitable for one who wishes to walk on the path of truth. And if a person fails and takes support from that reason, he will immediately suffer a descent and a fall to the bottom of hell.
However, the still can keep them and do not suffer any falls. This is why they always seek reason, to support their work. In order not to fail in this reason, which is called “torrent,” there is power in the above-mentioned thatch, as we say, “to take refuge from rain and torrent.”
5. RABASH, Letter No. 12b
A Sukkah means thatch, which is the waste of barn and winery. A thatch is called “shade,” and shade is called “concealment of the face.” In order not to have the bread of shame, we have room for work, meaning that we can engage in Torah and Mitzvot although we feel no flavor or vitality. Naturally, afterwards we can receive the vitality and not blemish the gift, meaning that the gift will not be blemished due to the shame that is present in the receiver.
6. RABASH, Letter No. 36
Sukkah is the “shadow of faith,” and with respect to the judgment, its shade must be bigger than its sun.
It is also known that the sun implies knowing, and the moon implies faith. It is as our sages said, “Israel count by the moon, and the nations of the world count by the sun.” That is, each time we see the sun, and that it is more than the shade, we must cover more so that the shade will be more than the sun.
7. RABASH, Letter No. 36
And if one is rewarded and does not add shade on his own, there is mercy on him from above and the sun is covered for him. But then a person becomes angry because he understands otherwise. According to the person’s reason, if he has sun, he wishes to have more sun, but “My thoughts are not your thoughts,” and he is given more shade.
And if a person overcomes the shade, he is given “a sun,” and then he must add shade. If he does not add, he is given shade from above, and so forth until he is rewarded with eternal Dvekut (adhesion).
8. RABASH, Letter No. 36
We must exert excessively to receive the shade and say it is a holy shade, that all this shade came from above and not from the Sitra Achra, that it was given so he would be able to assume faith. At that time it is called “shadow of faith” and it is holy, as in, “The ways of the Lord are straight, the righteous walk in them and the wicked will fail in it.”
9. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 97, “Waste of Barn and Winery”
Sukkot is considered gladness, considered “rejoicing Gevurot,” which is repentance from love, when sins become for him as merits.
10. RABASH, Article No. 892, “An Article for Sukkot”
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. […] 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.
11. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article no. 96, “What Is Waste of Barn and Winery, in the Work?”
Sukkot is temporary residence. This means that one who has already been awarded permanent residence and has nothing more to do, as with the matter of the first to count the iniquities, the advice is to leave for temporary residence, as when he was on his way to the house of God, before he arrived at the permanent residence. At that time, he constantly needed to reach the Creator’s palace, and he had guests, when his work was in the form of “a passing visitor.”
And now he can extend from the past work, when he was always thankful and praising the Creator for the Creator always bringing him closer, and from this he had gladness. Now, on Sukkot, he can extend the gladness he had then. This is the meaning of temporary residence. This is why they said, “Leave the permanent residence and dwell in temporary residence.”
12. Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 51
The commandment, “Go out of the permanent housing and sit in temporary housing.” That is, know that it is only temporary housing, and “the outcast one will not be cast out from Him.” It is as was said, “Even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, be wicked in your own eyes.” This is also the meaning of the words, “And you will be only glad.”
This is why the festival of harvest [Sukkot] is called “the time of our joy,” to tell you that one should sit in the shade of a Sukkah in great joy, just as in the king’s house, the kingdom’s most eminent. “Sit” is as “dwell,” without any difference whatsoever.
And yet, he should know that he is sitting in the shade of a Sukkah, meaning the waste of barn and winery. However, “Under His shade I delighted to sit,” since he hears His word, “Go out of the permanent housing and sit in temporary housing,” and both are words of the living God. Then his exit delights him as much as his entry.
13. Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 51
The meaning of the Mitzva [commandment], “Sit,” as in “dwell,” meaning as King David asked, “that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord.” The “House of the Lord” is the Shechina [Divinity], […] When they are granted the most, then You are to him like a home, constant and eternal.
The Creator wished to say to His servants, “Go out of the permanent housing and sit in temporary housing,” meaning only under His shade. This is the meaning of a “light Mitzva [commandment],” the Mitzva of the Sukkah [hut], where a person sits under the shade of the waste of barn and winery, which is the actual shade of the Creator. Although they contradict one another—for in corporeal eyes and in corporeal hands we see and feel that the shade comes from the waste, in truth it is the Creator Himself. However, from the perspective of the receiver, it is necessary that those two opposite forms will be depicted in him.
14. RABASH, Article No. 893, “The Fruit of a Citrus Tree”
The fruit of a citrus tree. These four kinds, some of them have taste and smell, like the citron, which corresponds to the righteous, in whom there is the spirit of Torah and the taste of good deeds.
The tree on which the palm branch grows has a taste, but no smell. This corresponds to the intermediate in Israel, in whom there is the taste of Mitzvot [commandments] but not the spirit of Torah. The myrtle has a smell but no taste. It corresponds to those who have the spirit of Torah but no Mitzvot. The willow has neither taste nor smell. This corresponds to the uneducated people, in whom there is neither the spirit of Torah nor the taste of Mitzvot. We gather the four together, implying that the Creator does not reconcile with Israel until they are all one bundle.
15. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 85, “What Is the Fruit of a Citrus Tree, in the Work?”
It is written, “And you shall take you on the first day the fruit of a citrus tree, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook”. […]
Kapot [pans] mean Kefia [coercion], when one assumes the kingdom of heaven coercively. This means that even when reason disagrees, he goes above reason. This is called “coercive mating.” Tmarim [palm trees] comes from the word Morah [fear], which is fear (by way of “and God has made it that He will be feared”). Because of this, it is called Lulav [palm branch]. This means that before one is rewarded, he has two hearts. And this is called Lo Lev [no heart], meaning that the heart is not devoted solely to the Creator. When he is rewarded with the Lo [“no” or “to Him”], meaning a heart that is for the Creator, this is the Lulav. Also, one should say, “When will my deeds come to be as the deeds of my fathers?” Through it, one is rewarded with being a branch of the holy fathers, and this is the meaning of “boughs of thick trees,” which are the three myrtles.
Yet, at the same time, one should be in the form of “willows of the brook,” tasteless and scentless. And one should delight in this work, even though he feels no flavor or fragrance in this work. And then this work is called “the letters of Your unified name,” by which we are rewarded with complete unification with the Creator.
16. Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 19, “What Is ‘The Creator Hates the Bodies,’ in the Work?”
We see about the citron that the adornment is in it precisely before it is suitable for eating. However, when it is suitable for eating, there is no adornment in it anymore.
This comes to tell us about the work of the first to count the iniquities. This means that precisely when one works in the form of “And you shall take for you,” meaning the work during the acceptance of the burden of the kingdom of heaven, when the body resists this work, then there is room for the joy of adornment.
This means that during this work the adornment is apparent. This means that if he has gladness from this work, it is because he considers this work as adornment, and not as disgrace.
17. RABASH, Article No. 22 (1991),“What Is ‘A Lily Among the Thorns,’ in the Work?”
The willows in the Lulav [palm branch used festively on Sukkot] imply that the work should be done in the manner of willows. Although the willows have neither taste nor smell, as Baal HaSulam said of what is written (in Hoshaana), “To entertain You with the willows of the brook.” That is, even if he feels no flavor in the work, and it is like the willows of the brook, devoid of taste or smell, during the work, they should be to man as great entertainments. This is called “unconditional surrender,” and this is the meaning of what is written, “rejoice before Him,” meaning be happy as though they have great attainments. This is the meaning of entertainment before the Creator, and thus we should believe.
18. RABASH, Article No. 624, Ushpizin
Baal HaSulam interpreted the matter of Ushpizin [Sukkot guests], that it is a matter that is introduced in The Zohar, a way by which to pass, for the light of Hochma cannot shine in it consistently.
This is the meaning of “luck,” that “Sons, life, and nourishment depend on luck,” as written in The Study of the Ten Sefirot (Part 13). This comes from the words, “Water will pour out from his buckets.” Pouring means that it is only dripping, meaning it illuminates intermittently, whereas a stream means illuminating ceaselessly.
For this reason, the guests love that he will have a spacious place. But when they come and the place is narrow, they cannot enter. This means that the light of Hochma cannot shine unless by clothing of Hassadim, and Hassadim is called “wide,” as explained in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. The light of Hochma is called Ushpizin; therefore, if he has no Hassadim, it cannot clothe.
19. Zohar for All, VaYechi [Jacob Lived], “Four Species”, Item 227
All of those four species are the guests. They are the seven Sefirot HGT NHYM that the holy people invited on this day, as we pray during the days of Sukkot prior to the meal and say, “Come, you high guests.” They must be found because he invited them and one prays the prayer to the King in them. And he attains them through the four species, which imply to these Sefirot.