Chag Ha’Asif: Time to Reach Out and Gather In
Another name for Sukkos in the Torah as “Chag Ha’asif/the holiday of Ingathering.” On the simple level, this is because it occurs after the summer harvest when the crops are gathered in to be stored for the year ahead. While there are those who believe that the Jewish festivals were established primarily as celebrations of the agricultural cycle, the Chassidic masters teach that on the contrary, all events in the physical world are a reflection of spiritual currents. The agricultural cycle corresponds to our spiritual work, and thus on a more fundamental level, Sukkos is called Chag Ha’asif because this is when we “gather in” all of the spiritual produce that we have been planting and harvesting throughout the high holiday season.
The Mystics explain that every time we do a mitzvah, we draw down into the world a level of transcendent divine energy that is referred to as “Sovev Kol Almin,” which means “surrounding all worlds.” Kabbalah refers to various levels of Godly light, and we are generally vitalized and sustained by a more contracted energy called “Memale Kol Almin,” which means “fills all worlds.” This is a divine flow that has been reduced, so to speak, so that it can fit into the confines of the creation. This light conducts the natural functioning of the world. “Sovev” energy is surrounds the world because it is generally too lofty to descend within it. Mitzvos, however, have the ability to altar the dynamics of the creation and to enable “Sovev” light to penetrate and illuminate the darkness.
While we sow this transcendent Sovev energy into the earth with every single mitzvah we perform throughout the year, there is a particularly powerful flow of Sovev that becomes available in the month of Elul and intensifies in Tishrei from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur. All of the vigorous spiritual work that we do throughout the high holidays draws down multitudes of heavenly blessings into the fertile soil of our soul. Even if we did not plow and plant as diligently as we could have, the season itself elicits a tremendous downpour of Sovev light that nourishes the crops that are buried within us and within every aspect of the creation.
Sukkos is Chag Ha’asif because it is the time for us to gather this abundance of transcendent flow for the time ahead. Where do we store it? Within us. How do we do so? With the Lulav and esrog. Each day of Sukkos, we go into the sukkah with the bundled four species (palm branch, willow, myrtle, and citron) and shake them three times in every direction – north, south, east, up, down, and west. Some believe that we are spreading blessing out around us. But the Chassidic masters teach that the sukkah represents the Sovev energy that encompasses us at this auspicious time, and as we reach out to each direction, we then pull the bundle back to our chest and thus draw the Sovev flow inward to store it in our heart. In this way, we stockpile the lofty energy of this holy season and carry it with us throughout the year ahead.
On this Sukkos, the name Chag Ha’asif carries an additional significance. With God’s help, in the coming days we will gather in our hostages who have been buried in the dark tunnels of the earth for two years now. May this ingathering lead to the ultimate “Ingathering of the Exiles” and the time of universal peace that is promised at the end of this long and trying exile.
— Pnei Hashem is an introduction to the deepest depths of the human experience based on the esoteric teachings of Torah. www.pneihashem.com
