Transcript

ולית אנן ידעין מאן הוא נצח. אלא מאן דנסיב באיין בידיה אנן ידעין דהוא נצוחייא. כך ישראל ואומות העולם באים ומקטרגים לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא בראש השנה ולית אנן ידעין מאן נצח. אלא במה שישראל יוצאין מלפני הקדוש ברוך הוא ולולביהן ואתרוגיהן בידן אנו ידעין דישראל אינון נצוחייא. לפיכך משה מזהיר לישראל ואמר להם ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון.

This Midrash quoted in Parshat Emor by the דעת זקנים מבעלי התוספות says that the mitzvah of arba minim symbolizes the fact that Klal Yisrael prevails in the din of the Yamim Noraim and that the umos ha-olam are vanquished. Question is, where do Chazal see any remez that on Yamim Noraim is any kind of confrontation, is any kind of contest? Our sense of Yamim Noraim is כל באי עולם עוברים לפניו כבני מרון, that everyone is judged, but not that there are ba'alei devarim who are pitted against each other. And yet it's clear from the Midrash above that every Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is the nimshal of שנים שנכנסו אצל הדיין, of two litigants who appear before a dayan. So it could simply be because of the perennial state of shibud malkhus. But the Midrash has something deeper in mind as well. When Esav insists on a bracha even though he was already preempted by Yakov, so Yitzchak Avinu tells him

ועל חרבך תחיה ואת אחיך תעבד והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך.

So what does the last half of the pasuk mean? Vehaya ka'asher tarid, Rashi says tarid is lashon tza'ak like arid besichi. Klomer, that is to say,

כשיעברו ישראל על התורה ויהיה לך פתחון פה להצטער על הברכות שנטל,

so then ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך. So vehaya ka'asher tarid means when you'll have reason to be distressed that Yakov preempted you and getting the bracha because Yakov is not showing himself worthy of the bracha, so then Yitzchak Avinu says then and only then you will successfully be porek ol, ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך. So what does this pasuk mean? What this pasuk means is that the fate and destiny of Toldos Esav and Toldos Yakov are inextricably intertwined. And more precisely that Esav has no independent ko'ach. The source of the ko'ach hara which exists in Esav, which allows Esav le-hara is vehaya ka'asher tarid. Vehaya ka'asher tarid, when כשיעברו ישראל על התורה, then that energizes Esav, that gives Esav a ko'ach of ופרקת עלו מעל צוארך. Similarly we find the same thing by Yishmael and Toldos Yishmael. The Malakh Hashem tells Hagar:

והוא יהיה פרא אדם ידו בכל ויד כל בו ועל פני כל אחיו ישכן.

So what does it mean that ידו בכל ויד כל בו? So the Ibn Ezra says, quoted by the Ramban as well: yado va-kol שינצח הכל בכוחו ve-achar... ואחר כך ויד כל בו meaning as the Ramban amplifies in quoting the Ibn Ezra

שינצח מתחילה כל הגויים ואחר כך ויד כל בו שינוצח בסוף.

But again here too the Pasuk depicts Yishmael as the very essence of Yishmael is that Yishmael exists in struggle, in contest, always trying to oppress, to suppress, to destroy, yado bakol and there is no, there is no metzius of neutrality. That's how the Pasuk depicts toldos Yishmael. Yado bakol the Ibn Ezra says remarkably that this is what in the famous machzeh nevuah of Daniel with the daled chayos which allude to the daled malchuyos that it's Yishmael which is represented by the chaya revi'is the Ibn Ezra goes on to say וכן מפורש בדניאל כי היא החיה הרביעית. So it's the same idea again as והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עולו מעל צוארך again that they exist in struggle and as is clear from the Pasuk by toldos Eisav and the same is true here by toldos Yishmael as well. Again the shoresh is not some kind of independent koach hara but it's rooted in vehaya ka'asher tarid. When Yisrael over amal haTorah so then that lack of tov, that imperfection, that inadequacy in the tov is what nourishes rachmana litzlan the koach hara. Thinking back several years ago some of you will recall on Purim we discussed that this is one understanding of on Purim what the mitzvah of עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי so what does it mean? What it means is that a person reaches a deeper profound understanding that there's no two separate sources of koach, one for arur Haman and one for baruch Mordechai that are pitted against each other but there's really one source of koach and it's only to the extent that the baruch Mordechai doesn't harness its koach correctly the way it should, the way the Torah challenges us to, that it's then that that koach is diverted to the arur Haman. And similarly in the machzor of Yamim Noraim of וכל הרשעה כולה כעשן תכלה the imagery of ke-ashan like smoke. So when a strong wind comes so smoke dissipates as though it were דבר שאין בו ממשות. That's a very strange image that we should use for the bi'ur hara for destruction of ra as a wind dissipates something which is ein bo mamashus but that too reflects the same idea that we're talking about of ידו בכל יד כל בו of והיה כאשר תריד ופרקת עולו מעל צוארך of עד דלא ידע בין ארור המן לברוך מרדכי that really there is no independent koach hara in the world and if only tov will be perfected so then it will become apparent that hachol harisha kula is takeh ke-ashan tichleh will be consumed and will simply evaporate ke-ashan as smoke is scattered or dissipated by a strong wind. And finally there are many many mareh mekomos all of which corroborate and further illustrate this. Rav Chaim Volozhiner in Nefesh HaChaim quotes a Chazal addressing as it were Nevuchadnezzar and Titus with regard to the churban habayis and saying kimcha techina tachanta that you are grinding flour which has already been ground. What does that mean? So Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains it was only when as a result of our chatoim the Beis HaMikdash of ma'ala was destroyed because of our aveiros only then Nevuchadnezzar and Titus have any koach to lift a hand against the בית המקדש של מטה. The exact same idea. And that's clearly what's evident in our Midrash as well of the משל ששניים שנכנסו לדין, shnayim shenichnesu ledin, because again, the koach hara in the world has no independent existence and therefore it exists in struggle, in conflict with koach hatov, and that's why the Midrash portrays again, the Yom Hadin of Yamim Noraim as an adjudication between the two. The relevance of this idea of the Midrash seems to me to be self-evident. And since even when the situation seems to warrant it, mixing Torah and politics is very dangerous and very volatile, so I think it's best that we forego any analysis but suffice it to say that our response to the current crisis in Eretz Yisrael certainly has to be to deepen our attachment to the Mokom Hamikdash, to deepen and intensify our attachment to Yerushalayim, in particular the Ir Ha'atikah, to Shabbos, to Kedushas Shabbos, and to the extent that we're successful in perfecting ourselves and acheinu Bnei Yisrael in that attachment to the Mokom Hamikdash, that attachment to Yerushalayim, that appreciation and safeguarding of Kedushas Shabbos, to that extent, there doesn't exist any koach in the world that can try to threaten it or that can try to challenge it. And Sukkos is an especially appropriate time for intensifying this connection with the Mokom Hamikdash. I'd just like to spend just a few more minutes very, very briefly explaining that. Hillel spoke before about the question why it is given that Simchas Beis Hashoeivah was really restricted to Mikdash, why it is that we celebrate a Simchas Beis Hashoeivah universally now. And certainly there is a zecher lamikdash. There certainly is a component of zecher lamikdash. There is however another remez as well. The Rishonim as you all know are troubled with the fact that we have a special gezeiras hakasuv of חג הסכות תעשה לך למעוטי גזולה, why don't we just disqualify a sukkah gezulah because mitzvah habo'ah ba'aveirah? What do we need a special posuk? The Ritva quotes a teretz, he quotes from Tosafos that you only say mitzvah habo'ah ba'aveirah by a mitzvah which comes שבא לרצות כמו קרבן ולולב. But mitzvah habo'ah ba'aveirah is inapplicable to a mitzvah such as sukkah. It's inapplicable to a mitzvah such as sukkah. Now ritzui, the Rav used to explain is a technical concept associated with korbanos. That's why he always used to explain in the Shmoneh Esrei the two brachos of Shomeia Tefillah and Retzei seemingly redundant. They both ask that Hakadosh Baruch Hu should accept our tefillos. So the Rav explained that in Shomeia Tefillah we ask that Hakadosh Baruch Hu accept our accept our tfillah bimkom korban. And that accounts for the apparent redundancy. So Retzei again, there are one or two seeming exceptions which are required require explanation. But Retzei generally, the Rav said, has to do with korban. So it's something remarkable. Lulav has that quality of ritzui which otherwise only happens in the Beis Hamikdash. In the Kovetz Chiddushei Torah, the Rav explains the machlokes Rishonim whether or not all the psulim that we have on Yom Tov Rishon with all those psulim noheg on Yom Tov Sheini or kol shiva in Mikdash. Let's say whether was there a din of lachem kol shiva in Mikdash. All the dinim that we have in Lulav Hagazul, were all of those dinim in effect kol shiva in Mikdash. So that's a machlokes Rishonim. What's the nekudas hamachlokes? So the Rav explains that Rashi and Tosfos who are of the opinion that every din that we have on the first day of Succos, all those dinim were were in effect kol shiva in Mikdash, that basically the mitzvah of ושמחתם לפני ה' אלהיכם שבעת ימים and our mitzvah ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון is hainu hach. But whereas the mitzvah is only נוהגת בגבולין יום אחד, that same mitzvah is noheges in Mikdash kol shiva. And hence, all the dinim, including lachem, are operative kol shiva in Mikdash. Now what that points at, again it wasn't the context for the Rav to talk about it so he doesn't talk about it there in that dvar Torah, but what that points to le'chora is that be'emes Lulav, again as indicated by the fact that it has this quality of ritzui, is really a mitzvah of Mikdash. It's really a mitzvas Mikdash and the tremendous chiddush of Chag Hasuccos is that the Torah says that that mitzvas Mikdash can happen outside of Mikdash. It can happen anywhere in the world. But what you're really doing, what you're really participating in, what you're really experiencing is something which is unique to Mikdash and the Torah says this one time of the year that happens anywhere. Similarly, again once one is attuned to this idea, so then the Gemara in Succah on

חג הסוכות שבעת ימים לה' כשם שחל שם שמים על החגיגה כך חל שם שמים על הסוכה.

So again it's remarkable. Succah has a kedusha, and what kind of kedusha? A kedusha with the Taz's demarcation, the Taz's understanding of it, but it's a kedusha which is dumya dekedushas korban, dumya dekedushas chagiga. Again, something unique to Mikdash, something which you don't encounter outside of Mikdash, outside of korban. That's embodied in Succah. And perhaps the most striking this morning in the Hoshanos. So the samach of the Hoshanos was הושענא סוכה שלם הושענא. So what does succa shalem refer to? The succah of Shalem. So if you take a look in the Otzar Tfillos, so he points out that this phrase is based on a pasuk in Tehillim, ויהי בשלם סכו ומעונתו בציון. That his, Hashem's succah was in Shalem. Again, which is another name or an earlier name for Yerushalayim. And according to some what the pasuk in Tehillim means is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's succah, i.e. his Beis Hamikdash was in Yerushalayim. So the term succah denotes Mikdash. Succah is another name for Beis Hamikdash. And again according to some meforshim, that's also the pshat in the pasuk in Amos of ביום ההוא אקים את סוכת דויד הנופלת. Again, that succah and the succas David hanofeles according to some meforshim it means malchus beis David and succah is a moshal to malchus beis David. But according to other meforshim, succas David means the Beis Hamikdash. That's what succas David means. So the very mitzvah of succah, the very mitzvah of succah is a remetz to Mikdash, is modeled on Mikdash. The Mikdash is ikrei Sukkah and that's our Mitzvah of Yeshivas Sukkah. So what all of these things point to again, the element of Ritzoy by Lulav, the fact that the Mitzvah of Mikdash kol shiva is extended geographically Bigvulin bayom rishon, the fact that Sukkah has a kedusha of chagiga, the fact that Sukkah means Beis HaMikdash is that be'emes Sukkah is a Yom Tov of Beis HaMikdash and the remarkable, remarkable quality of the Yom Tov of Sukkah is that we're able to observe it outside of the Beis HaMikdash wherever we are. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu says here's an opportunity unique and unparalleled opportunity again to experience and fulfill what are basically mitzvos haMikdash בכל מקום ובכל זמן. And mistama that too underlies our minhag of a Simchas Beis HaShoeiva. Again, even though Simchas Beis HaShoeiva was in Mikdash, was in Mikdash, but the entire foundation of the Yom Tov of Sukkos is that even outside of Mikdash one participates in and one partakes in those special experiences of Mikdash. That's the greatness and that's the avodah of Chag HaSukkos. Halevai through our kiyum of Simchas Beis HaShoeiva, of simchas hachag בתוך שאר כל ישראל, that that should intensify our connection, our bond, our attachment to the Makom HaMikdash and should bring, should lead to a geulah sheleimah bimheira beyameinu Amen.