Beit Midrash

  • Torah Portion and Tanach
  • Ha'azinu
To dedicate this lesson

Hut One, Hut Two..

Moshe’s final speech is really biting & critical. So much talk about all the negative things that can & will happen to us if we stray from G-d. I ask you: Is this really how Moshe wants to be remembered?

undefined

Rabbi Stewart Weiss

Tishrei 9 5782
No sooner have we put our Shofar back on the shelf than we have to take out our Sukkah-building tools, & then select our Lulav & Etrog. Hey G-d, hey Torah: How about a little break, will You?! We’ve just been through 40 days on the mountain of Selichot, Teshuva, feasting & fasting; why pile it on now with Sukkot? What’s the rush? After all, there seems to be no reason why Sukkot must follow immediately upon Yom Kippur. We traveled in these pre-fabs for 40 years; so why not pick a more opportune date to remember them?

I’ll get back to this in a minute. But first, more questions!

Moshe’s final speech, particularly in the last few chapters, is really charif – biting & critical. So much talk about all the negative things that can & will happen to us if we stray from G-d. I ask you: Is this really how Moshe wants to be remembered? And more than that, should my prime motivation in acting G-dly be to avoid punishment? Just as I should not perform Mitzvot for their reward, so I should not refrain from violating them because of the punishments! So let’s try to sort this all out.

Essentially, there are no punishments – or rewards – in Judaism. There are rather consequences. That’s right; consequences that naturally flow from our actions. Each & every action. That is why even a righteous person will be negatively affected when he does a sin, for every sin must perforce bring results in its wake, as does every positive act.

It’s not a punishment, per se; it is what happens when we do what we do. Distance yourself from Hashem, & you remove yourself from His protective force-field, you fall into depression, you end up too "far away" to collect His brachot. But get closer to Him, join Him in His palace, & good things are right there for the taking.

That’s what Moshe is trying desperately to teach us, but not for the sake of being critical. He wants us to thrive & grow & be safe; he is warning us for our own good, because he loves us. He "sees" the truth, & so he tries to get us to see it, too.

Hashem wants the best for us, of course. So he gave us the Sukka, davka right after Yom Kippur. If our tefilot were lacking, if we are now in for tough consequences, then let the Sukka be a kind of "mini-Exile," a kapara & expiation for our sins. But if we deserve merit, then the Sukka is a living demonstration that we can & will survive even in cramped circumstances, even if G-d forbid we are forced out of our personal or collective homes.

Jewish history, with its shaky walls & protective cover above us is, after all, a Sukka!

Either way you cut it, there’s no reason to grouse when you leave your house; it’s great to get back to the shack.
את המידע הדפסתי באמצעות אתר yeshiva.org.il