Sukkot & Simchat Torah 5786
Sukkot and Simchat Torah are really special days. So let’s take a deeper look into it so we can appreciate it even more.
The First 6 Days of Sukkot
We are commanded to shake The Four Spieces on Sukkot because The pasuk says “And you shall take for yourselves on the First Day the fruit of a beautiful tree, the branches of date palms, branches of the myrtle tree, and branches of the willow tree, and you shall rejoice before Hashem, your G-d, for Seven Days.” (Vayikra 23:40)
The 4 Spieces represent different members of the Jewish People. As seen in the midrash (Vayikra Rabba 30:12), the etrog, with its smell and taste, represents a Jew with “Torah and good deeds,” The hadasim and lulav represent Jews with good deeds but no Torah or no Torah but good deeds, and the arava, which has neither a nice smell nor a good taste, represents those Jews who have no Torah or good deeds. This beautiful midrash explains that when taken together, “they atone one for the other.” Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook (1865-1935), as cited by Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neria (Mo’adei Ha-Ra’aya, p. 128), offers a unique explanation. He says that holding these four Spieces in a tight bond represents the unity that is Hashem’s goal for the Jewish People. The bond represents the conversion of a set of separate individuals into a People, which is far greater than any individual in both the Crown of Torah and the Crown of Good Deeds, and is far more deserving than any individual of the blessings of Hashem.
The seventh day of Sukkot
The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah, and is considered the final day of the divine “judgment” in which the fate of the new year is determined. It is the day when the verdict that was issued on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is finalized.
The Midrash tells us that Hashem told Avraham: “If atonement is not granted to your children on Rosh Hashanah, I will grant it on Yom Kippur; if they do not attain atonement on Yom Kippur, it will be given on Hoshana Rabbah.”
Rabbi Kook, further wrote in explaining the Midrash in Vayikra Rabba which we cited above. That the role of the arava is slightly different. The arava represents the “am ha’aretz” – the simple Jew, who often demonstrates intuitive, healthy, and natural religious instincts (see Sukka 43b). On Hoshana Rabba, Rabbi Kook explains, we do not “beat the aravot,” but “beat WITH the aravot,” invoking that simple religious fervor in our pleas for rain, which is something we are very hopeful for going into the Winter Season.
Simchat Torah
We read the Torah in a one-year cycle. As soon as we finish it, we begin again. Simchas Torah (literally, “joy of the Torah”) is the day that we complete – and restart – our reading of the Torah. On this beautiful day we sing and dance for hours around the bima (the platform where the Torah is read), carry the Torah Scroll, and express our joy at having the opportunity to come so close to Hashem.
Over the course of Sukkot, seventy bulls were offered in the Temple – thirteen on the first day, twelve on the second, etc. These seventy bulls were offered on behalf of the seventy nations of the world. On Shemini Atzeres, which is Simchat Torah, however, a single bull was offered on behalf of the Jewish people.
The Talmud (Succah 55b) explains that Sukkot is celebrated on behalf of the entire world, but Shemini Atzeres is the Jewish people’s private after-party. Hashem invites us to remain behind one more day, after everyone else has gone, in order to spend some quality time with Him, one-on-One. Simchat Torah this year marks 2 years in the Hebrew Calendar since the October 7th massacre. This year may all the Hostages that were just returned and the Jewish People only know peace, happiness and joy.
For most of the resources I used for this Article please read the following Divrei Torah.
https://aish.com/sukkot/, https://aish.com/what-is-sukkot-customs-blessings-lulav-etrog/ https://aish.com/shmini-azeret-and-simchat-torah/# https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/984606/jewish/Sukkot-Simchat-Torah-2025.htm https://etzion.org.il/en/halakha/orach-chaim/holidays/hoshanot https://www.ou.org/holidays/all-about-shemini-atzeres-and-simchas-torah/
