Weekly Dvar Torah: The Sweet Secret of Sukkos – The Willow

You thought the High Holidays were over?

Not so fast.

For the entire month of Elul we prepared. Rosh Hashanah, we crowned Hashem as King and received a new mission for a new year. Yom Kippur, we fasted, prayed, returned, and reached that extraordinary moment by Ne’Ila when the essence of the Jew connects with the essence of Hashem.

We blew the Shofar, cried out Shema Yisroel, Hashem Hu HaElokim, sang Napoleon’s March, and announced:

Gut Yomtov!

The Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, once asked his father, the Rebbe Rashab, on the day after Yom Kippur: “What do we have to do now?”

The Rebbe Rashab answered: “Now we really have to do Teshuvah.”

Now? What have we been doing for the last forty days?

The answer is that the High Holidays are not ending.

They are only starting.

Until now, we returned to Hashem with awe. Now we return with joy. Until now, we stood before the King. Now we come home to our Father.

And once the child has finally come home, you make a party.

That is Sukkos: Zman Simchaseinu—the time of our rejoicing. We rejoice with Hashem, and He rejoices with us.

We enter the Sukkah, completely surrounded by a Mitzvah—the divine embrace of a loving Hashem. And we take the Four Minim, representing four different kinds of Jews, bring them together, and hold them close to our heart.

The High Holidays are still going strong. Only the music has changed.

And this year, something unusual happens.

The first day of Sukkos is Shabbos.

The Torah commands, “U’lekachtem lachem bayom harishon”—you shall take the Four kinds on the first day. Yet when the first day falls on Shabbos, as it does this year, we do not take them.

And that makes something at the other end of Sukkos fascinating.

On Hoshana Rabbah we have a special observance with the Aravah, the willow. Unlike taking the Four Minim on the first day, which is a Torah commandment, the special Aravah of Hoshana Rabbah is a custom from the Prophets.

Yet our Sages arranged the calendar so that Hoshana Rabbah can never fall on Shabbos.

Think about that.

A Torah commandment can be set aside because of Shabbos, yet our Sages made sure that the Aravah custom of Hoshana Rabbah would never be lost because of Shabbos.

Why?

What is so special about a willow?

The Midrash teaches that the Four Minim represent four types of Jews. The Esrog, with taste and fragrance, represents the Jew rich in Torah and Mitzvos. The Lulav has taste, representing Torah scholarship. The Hadas has fragrance, representing Mitzvos and good deeds.

And then comes the Aravah.

No taste. No fragrance. No impressive résumé.

He is simply a Jew.

And without him, you have nothing.

Take the most beautiful Esrog, the finest Lulav and perfect Hadasim. Leave out the Aravah and you have not performed the Mitzvah.

Without the simple Jew, you missed the point.

There is something else remarkable about the Aravah.

The Torah calls it Arvei Nachal—willows of the brook. Yet the Aravah does not actually have to grow alongside a brook. Even one growing on dry land is kosher, as long as it belongs to the species that normally grows by the water.

With the Aravah, belonging to the family is enough.

The other three species must possess their own qualities. The Lulav Jew needs his own Torah, the Hadas Jew his own Mitzvos, the Esrog his own beauty.

But the Aravah says something deeper:

I belong.

Maybe I cannot show you my scholarship or produce a magnificent list of accomplishments.

But I am a Jew. I belong to the family.

The simple Jew possesses Emunah Peshutah—simple faith. And that simplicity connects directly with Peshitus Ha’atzmus—the absolute simplicity of the Essence of Hashem.

Scholarship and accomplishments differentiate between us. One knows more, another does more.

But at the essence, there are no levels.

There is only the Jew and Hashem.

That is why Aravah also echoes areiv—sweet.

The simple Jew is sweet to Hashem.

And now we understand why the Aravah cannot be allowed to disappear.

This year, on the first day of Sukkos, Shabbos tells all Four Minim: wait.

But when Hoshana Rabbah arrives and the Aravah stands alone, our Sages made sure that it can never be pushed aside by Shabbos.

There must be one moment during Sukkos when everything else disappears and we hold onto the Aravah alone.

The simple Jew. The simple faith. The simple, indestructible fact that I belong.

That is the ultimate joy of Zman Simchaseinu.

After all the work of Elul, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Hashem takes us into His embrace and reminds us that beneath all our accomplishments and learning is something even deeper.

Before everything we do, there is what we are.

A Jew.

Part of the family.

Connected directly to Hashem Himself.

So yes, Yom Kippur is over.

But the High Holidays?

They are only starting.

Only now, instead of crying about how far we have been, we dance because we have discovered how close we really are.

Have a Joyous, Simple, G-dly Yomtov,
Gut Shabbos, Gut Yomtov

Rabbi Yosef Katzman