Sukkos: Pesach in the fall
This piece attempts to uncover an entirely new way of looking at the significance of Sukkos in what essentially amounts to a paradigm shift about the chag
Vayikra 23:42-43
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כׇּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת. לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי י"י אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
There is no other biblical record of our forefathers ever having stayed in booths, certainly not immediately after the exodus.
The rishonim (ad loc) quote a disagreement (bavli sukkah 11b) between R Eliezer and R Akiva as to the identity of the pasuk's obscure referent:
כי בסכות הושבתי – איזו סכות היו, ר' אליעזר אומר ענני כבוד היו, ר' עקיבא אומר, סכות ממש
then saying that it works out acc to R Eliezer but acc to R Akiva what exactly are we celebrating?; see there for various solutions.
The rishonim have in common an understanding that the holiday is somehow related to hitherto unmentioned booths/clouds with the uniqueness of sukkos related to that experience.
There is a place that the Israelites camped at right after departing Egypt called sukkos (Shemos 12:37).
The Sifra seems to make this same point to Emor's בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם, commenting: מְלַמֵּד שֶׁאַף הַסֻּכָּה זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, shifting the focus from the booths/clouds to the exodus itself.
Just as we need to eat matzah that night so too must we reside in sukkos.
Sukkos is no more than a delayed exodus related holiday, commemorating what occured on that momentous night in Nissan.
They are both 7 days long (the Egyptians were drowned on the 21st of nissan, thus completing the Exodus, see shemos 14:30 with meforshim), with Ramban analogizing shavuos to shemini atzeres (vayikrah 23:36).
They are essentially the same core holiday, accentuating different aspects associated with the Exodus, recurring bianually, ensuring we never forget all the world-changing beliefs engendered by the Exodus (see Ramban to shemos 13:16).
Vayikra 23:42-43
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כׇּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת. לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי י"י אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
There is no other biblical record of our forefathers ever having stayed in booths, certainly not immediately after the exodus.
The rishonim (ad loc) quote a disagreement (bavli sukkah 11b) between R Eliezer and R Akiva as to the identity of the pasuk's obscure referent:
כי בסכות הושבתי – איזו סכות היו, ר' אליעזר אומר ענני כבוד היו, ר' עקיבא אומר, סכות ממש
then saying that it works out acc to R Eliezer but acc to R Akiva what exactly are we celebrating?; see there for various solutions.
The rishonim have in common an understanding that the holiday is somehow related to hitherto unmentioned booths/clouds with the uniqueness of sukkos related to that experience.
There is a place that the Israelites camped at right after departing Egypt called sukkos (Shemos 12:37).
The Mechilta (dR Yishmael) comments on that verse as follows: סֻכֹּתָה: סֻכּוֹת מַמָּשׁ הָיוּ . . דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים: אֵין סֻכּוֹת אֶלָּא מָקוֹם . . רַבִּי עֲקִיבָה אוֹמֵר: אֵין סֻכּוֹת אֶלָּא עֲנָנֵי כָבוֹד
These are the same tana'im disputing the same issue (albeit with their ascribed positions reversed) as recorded in the bavli plus an opinion of the Rabbis holding that it was called sukkos simply owing to its name.
This disagreement is not attached to the above mentioned leviticus verse but rather to a pasuk in Parashas Bo that talks about the Israelite travels immediately following the Exodus.
They are presumably connected (Midrash Seichel Tov, 12th century, explicitly links them [shemos 12:37]), with the Mechilta shedding light on the Bavli (which seems to be a quote from the Sifra), namely, that the referent of the vayikra verse is nothing other than the sukkos pitstop mentioned in shemos.
These are the same tana'im disputing the same issue (albeit with their ascribed positions reversed) as recorded in the bavli plus an opinion of the Rabbis holding that it was called sukkos simply owing to its name.
This disagreement is not attached to the above mentioned leviticus verse but rather to a pasuk in Parashas Bo that talks about the Israelite travels immediately following the Exodus.
They are presumably connected (Midrash Seichel Tov, 12th century, explicitly links them [shemos 12:37]), with the Mechilta shedding light on the Bavli (which seems to be a quote from the Sifra), namely, that the referent of the vayikra verse is nothing other than the sukkos pitstop mentioned in shemos.
The Mechilta itself says (loc cit) that the Israelites covered the ground from ramses to sukkos in an instant:
This is an entirely new perspective on the chag of sukkos.
It is no longer a celebratory commemoration of an otherwise unmentioned stay in booths/clouds, with an emphasis on the booths/clouds per se, but rather a celebratory commemoration of yetzias mitzrayim itself, with our residing in sukkos meant to evoke an association with the first place we stayed as newly freed people.
כְּהֶרֶף עַיִן נָסְעוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵרַעְמְסֵס לְסֻכּוֹת, acc to which (with Ramban affirming [shemos 12:39]) they must have actually baked their unleavened dough in sukkos (and presumably consumed it there—they ate matzah in sukkos!).
This is an entirely new perspective on the chag of sukkos.
It is no longer a celebratory commemoration of an otherwise unmentioned stay in booths/clouds, with an emphasis on the booths/clouds per se, but rather a celebratory commemoration of yetzias mitzrayim itself, with our residing in sukkos meant to evoke an association with the first place we stayed as newly freed people.
In this conception sukkos is about yetzias mitzrayim, not booths and clouds per se.
The emphasis shifts from בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי to בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.
The Sifra seems to make this same point to Emor's בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם, commenting: מְלַמֵּד שֶׁאַף הַסֻּכָּה זֵכֶר לִיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, shifting the focus from the booths/clouds to the exodus itself.
Sifra requires derashos so that we don't require pesach and sukkos to both have matzah and sukkah.
In this reading sukkos is essentially pesach in the fall, with the Jewish annual cycle clocking not one but two major 7 day chagim, timed to arrive every half year, to behaviorally remind us of that seminal event in our history—the Exodus.
The halacha is that although sukkah dwelling is for the most part voluntary, on the first night (the 15th of the 7th month—Tishrei) it is obligatory, based on a hermeneutical derivation from pesach where the Torah spells out that one must eat matzah on the 15th of the 1st month—Nissan.
According to the above stated idea we now possess a new depth of understanding in this alliteratively based halacha. Pesach is no longer unrelated to Sukkos, but rather they both celebrate the same glorious night in Nissan. Just as matzah was a central theme that night so too was the place referred to as sukkos, on whose land the bnei yisroel tasted freedom for the first time.
The halacha is that although sukkah dwelling is for the most part voluntary, on the first night (the 15th of the 7th month—Tishrei) it is obligatory, based on a hermeneutical derivation from pesach where the Torah spells out that one must eat matzah on the 15th of the 1st month—Nissan.
According to the above stated idea we now possess a new depth of understanding in this alliteratively based halacha. Pesach is no longer unrelated to Sukkos, but rather they both celebrate the same glorious night in Nissan. Just as matzah was a central theme that night so too was the place referred to as sukkos, on whose land the bnei yisroel tasted freedom for the first time.
Just as we need to eat matzah that night so too must we reside in sukkos.
Sukkos is no more than a delayed exodus related holiday, commemorating what occured on that momentous night in Nissan.
They are both 7 days long (the Egyptians were drowned on the 21st of nissan, thus completing the Exodus, see shemos 14:30 with meforshim), with Ramban analogizing shavuos to shemini atzeres (vayikrah 23:36).
They are essentially the same core holiday, accentuating different aspects associated with the Exodus, recurring bianually, ensuring we never forget all the world-changing beliefs engendered by the Exodus (see Ramban to shemos 13:16).
I so appreciate this idea of sitting in the sukkah celebrating our newfound freedom! And that it's exactly 6 months later as a biannual celebration of the exodus really answers the question of why in the fall
ReplyDeleteA guten moed. Enjoyed the vort very much but before I comment need to make sure I really got it so what are the definitions of these words that appeared in your dvar Torah
Delete1) Hermeneutical
2) Alliteratively (is that just a typo for alternatively)
3) Seminal (I think I may know that one but hey, once I am asking ...
4) Exodus (just kidding)
Ty. Comment to follow
😅 in response to 10:56, looking forward 😄
DeleteOk so I do think there is a lot of truth in linking the two holidays I even seem to vaguely remember a "Hava Amina" somewhere that based on the hekesh we should be required to eat matza on the first night of sukkos
DeleteHaving said that, I would still like to see the dwelling in huts to be more than just the first stop they made after leaving Egypt Maybe some merging of all the beautiful Chazal about it being Hashems dwelling place - maybe along the lines that the first place they went after the Exodus was straight into an embrace from Hashem kind of idea.
Just a thought
Yaasher koach
To 10:23, thank you for your insightful comment. Just to restate your point: if, as I'm claiming, they're essentially the same holiday, then why aren't they celebrated in the same manner? To build on your example, we should all—women included, like by Pesach—partake of matzah in the sukkah in Nissan and in Tishrei, having all the memorable exodus associations coalesce together? That leads you to think that theres something else going on with sukkos that is related to the sukkah itself (similar to how matzah is connected with a particular aspect of the Exodus—חפזון—and isnt merely a siman b'almah, to use the vernacular). Powerful point. Indeed, the Mechilta dRashbi to shemos 12:37 uses similar imagery!: סכתה – ר' עקיבה אומר סכות ממש עשו להן בסכות: ר' אליעזר אומר סכות ענני כבוד באו וחנו על גבי רעמסס.
Deleteמשלו משל למה הדבר דומה לחתן שהביא אפריון לפתח ביתה של כלה כדי שתכנס לו מיד:
Similarly, see קיצור פענח רזא to vayikra 23:43: כי בסוכות הושבתי וגו' – בדרך פשוט היכן מצינו שהושיבם הקב"ה בסוכות הוא שנאמר ויסעו ב"י מרעמסס סכותה שבנס נשאם על כנפי נשרים ביום א' מהלך ג' ימים עד סוכות, זהו למען ידעו דורותיכם שצריך לזכור הנס, הר"ר יוסף בן קמחי, מצאתי. They both have in common the point you're making (in the latter source less so as it isnt intrinsic to the sukkah). That's to say that the main event is the sukkah part with the going out part less so. That works in those sources. However, in the Mechilta dR Yishmael that I based the write-up on, there's the shitah of the chachamim that needs to be addressed. They hold that all sukkos represents is the name of a place, nothing more. No booths and certainly no clouds. That being the case, the idea of a duplicate passover seemed like the only workable solution in their opinion. That stated, one can still very well argue that perhaps R E and R A take issue with the Rabbis for precisely your reason, resulting in a fundamental disagreement on the nature of the chag. That may very well be the case, as is reflected in Rashbi's Mechilta. I preferred to limit the scope of their disagreement to essentially one of semantics. Namely, that the Rabbis were fine with dwelling in sukkos being evocative of sukkos the place, which does seem a bit tenuous (altho קפ"ר above would lichorah need to subscribe to that notion as well), whereas Rabbis E & A wanted it to possess a stronger connection. As it relates to the bavli, which seems to be drawn directly from the sifra, it does not mention that opinion of the rabbis, nor the emotive language of Mechilta dRashbi, and could presumably go either way. However, in the piece I quoted language from the sifra which seems to come down on the side of yetzias mitzrayim being the ikkar. Ok, that was quite the ramble. In any event, your point is well taken and sourced, and something that I would need to ruminate on. I appreciate the thought provoking comment. Thanks for stopping by! I look forward to any future visits 😊
In light of your comment, I think I'd assign more weight to sukkos (בשיטת החכמים), a la R Yosef Kimchi, albeit not the inherent significance you're angling for (which works better in the ענני הכבוד shitah). That's to say, that just as pesach, with its matzah, commemorates the חפזון with which we left mitzrayim, so too does sukkos emphasize another aspect of it, namely, the speed with which HaShem put distance between us and the Egyptians, by bringing us to sukkos in a flash, which was a few days journey from Egypt. According to this both sukkos and pesach have in common that they're primarily celebrations of the Exodus with their respective rituals meant to remind us of the extraordinary manner with which the Exodus was carried out—the haste on the way out, and the speed of travel upon departure.
ReplyDelete