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Taking It with Us
The Talmud tells us that at the Simchas Beis Hashoeve on Sukos dancing was reserved for the leaders of the generation. This was a Simcha the likes of which no other simcha can be compared. Raban Shimon ben Gamliel would dance in the middle. He would stand on his thumbs for long periods of time with his feet in the air and the crowd would cheer him on. What a Rabbi! Interestingly this great simcha took place during the Roman occupation, even more interesting was that Raban Shimon ben Gamliel was the first of the 10 martyrs that the Romans took, the same year as the simcha. But he was happy and he danced.
I’d like to share a thought with you. The whole Yom Kippur our feet are on the ground but our heads are in Shamayim, our hands extend to the heavens in prayer. On Sukos the great leader turned the whole thing upside down, his feet, his foundation pointed to the sky, his hands, his tools for action were entrenched in the ground. He choreographed a symbolism for life. He was part of this earth. He’ll enjoy it, and if need be he’ll suffer for it but at all times he’ll sanctify it.
Sukos should really take place right after Pesach, after all that is when we went out into the desert and were protected by the clouds of Glory. Conventionally we explain that we would do this in April but it’s not the right weather. Everyone goes outside in the spring as the weather turns beautiful, but we want to prove a point so we go outside when it doesn’t make sense.
The Vilna Gaon has a different explanation that is truly remarkable. It’s true that the clouds of Hashem began protecting us when we left Egypt, but then we sinned. When we built the Golden Calf the clouds went away. That was on the 17th of Tamuz. We started to do Teshuva and finally on Yom Kippur, we were forgiven. Men and women began bringing donations for the Mishkan and 5 days later the Jewish people starting building the Mishkan. When G-d saw the building of the Mishkan he returned the clouds to protect us. That is why, says the Gaon, we celebrate now. It is not the clouds that we celebrate but the return of the clouds.
Isn’t it interesting that the clouds, G-d’s protection, didn’t return on Yom Kippur when Hashem said Salachti? Why did Hashem wait until we started building the Mishkan to give us back our sukkah? Yesterday’s principle stands true. On Yom Kippur we were all theoretically good Jews, but then the gold and the silver started to pour in. The test began, are we going to build another calf or are we going to sanctify it to G-d? Are we going to leave the spirituality to Yom Kippur or are we going to take it with us? When we started building a Mishkan, a portable Shul, G-d knew that Yom Kippur took. So He gave us His clouds back.
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