In his quest for meaning Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z'l speaks:
King Solomon conscripted labourers from all Israel, 30,000 men. He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 a month. So they spent one month in Lebanon, two months at home... Solomon had 70,000 carriers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, as well as 3,300 foreman who supervised... How many people did he have building the Temple? Can you do your arithmetic? (Congregation member speaks) A lot, exactly so. Precisely so, 183,000 and some, okay? That remind you of anything? When was the last time you heard about the Israelites being turned into a labour force? (Congregation member speaks - Egypt) Correct. Hang on, we were supposed to leave Egypt, right? Solomon seems to have taken the people back into slavery.
Now, have a look here at [I Kings 9:20-23]. All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites who were not of the people of Israel, these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. But the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. Can you read that? The Torah has to tell us, King Solomon didn't make the Israelites slaves. That's quite striking, is it not? Tell me, how long did it take Solomon to build the Temple? Anyone know?
Have a look, [I Kings 6:37-38]. In the fourth year the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the 11th year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it. It took him seven years to build the Temple, okay? Now look at the very next verse in Tanach. Can you see it?
[I Kings 7:1] Solomon was building his own house for thirteen years. Is that telling you something? He spent almost twice as long building his own palace as he spent building a House for God. So the Temple was a wonderful, wonderful thing, the greatest thing ever, but it practically reduced the whole of the Israelites to slavery. So that the Torah has to tell us, well he didn't actually make them into slaves, because at the end of seven years they could go free. And he spent twice as long building a house for himself as he spent building a House for God. That is a bit of a critique, right?
Now, do you remember what God said to David, when David said, "I've got to build a Temple for God." Anyone know what God said? Have a look, David says to the Prophet Nathan, "I want to build a house for God." Nathan says, that's a great idea, go ahead and do it. But, then we read... [II Samuel 7:4-7] But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, would you build Me a house to dwell in? I haven't lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Egypt to this day. I've been moving about in a Tent for My dwelling. In all the places I've moved with the people of Israel, did I speak a word about any of the Judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, "Why haven't you built Me a house of cedar?"
I don't want a House. I'm happy with a Tent. So, we see that there is an undercurrent here. It's not the primary meaning, the Beit HaMikdash was the holiest thing ever, but there's an undercurrent that God didn't want this kind of palace. That it would turn the Israelites into a corvée, a nation of slave labourers. That it would be like every other nation in the ancient world, the modern world and everything in between. You want to announce, I'm great? You build monumental buildings. Everyone did it. Every, single nation there ever was. And God is saying to David, do you think I'm like that? Did I ever ask for such a thing? I was happy with a Tent. What was the name of that tent, by the way? It was called the Mishkan. Incidentally, how do English Bibles translate the word “Mishkan”. Anyone know? (congregation member answers: Tabernacle) “Tabernacle”. Does that remind you of something. (congregation members: Succot – the Festival of Tabernacles - Succah's) Are you with me? So, as house is to succah, so mikdash is to Mishkan as Temple is to Tabernacle. Right?
Now, I asked you a simple question. Who lived in a succah in the Torah? The Israelites, never! But what is the root of the word succah? Anyone know? What do we call the roof of a succah? S’chach. The root of succah is s’chach. Does that word appear anywhere in the Torah? The answer is yes, it appears twice. In which context, does anyone know? In the Mishkan, right?
There it is [Shemot 25:20-22] Vehayu hakeruvim, The cherubs, above the Aron [the Ark] right? The cherubs, porsay chnafayim lemalah, they spread their hands over them, sochechim bechanfayhem al-hakaporet. They comfort him. They were overshadowing, they were protecting, they were shadowing the kaporet. Al hakaporet uf’nayhem ish el-achiv el hakaporet. And the cherubs were facing one another. And that is in parshat Terumah, in which we have the command to build the Mishkan and the same words appear in parshat Vayakhel when they actually made the succah.
The only context in which s’chach appears in the Torah is in relation to the Mishkan, the tent. There is a place where, I'm not sure if it's the Temple, I'm not sure if it's the Temple, none of the commentators are sure it's the Temple, but does anyone know what harachamon we say in benching (grace after meals) on Chol HaMoed Succot? (congregation members answer) Harachamon hu yakim lanu et succat David Hannofalet. Right. You will see that that is a quote from Amos. [Amos 9:11] Bayom hahu akim et-succat David hanofellet. I will restore the succah of David that has fallen down. And remember what God said to David. I prefer living in a tent than a palace, than a House of cedar.
Now I'm going to ask you a very simple question. Which of the patriarchs lived in a house? Did Abraham live in a house? No, he lived in a tent. Did Isaac live in a house? No, he lived in a tent. You know who lived in houses? Have a look. Two angels come to Lot in Sodom. [Bereishit 19:2] Vayomer hineh na-adonay suru na el-bat avadechem... Lot lives in a house. Abraham lives in a tent. You know who else lives in a house? Look at source 28. [Bereishit 24:23] Vayomer bat-mi at hagidi na li hayesh beit avich makom lanu lalin. Abraham’s servant has come to find a wife for Isaac, who lives in a house? Laban lives in a house, Lot lives in house. Is that a good advertisement for a house? Not really, okay? Abraham lives in a tent, Isaac lives in a tent. Who is the first patriarch who lives in a house? Here is the verse, can you see it?
Now, listen, this has to be one of the strangest verses in the whole Torah. Listen carefully, [Bereishit 33:17] VaYaacov nassa succotah, and Jacob travelled to Succot, vayiven lo bayit, and he made for himself a house, the first patriarch to make for himself a house, ulemiknayhu assah succot, but for his cattle, he made succot. And he is about to celebrate the fact that he's the first patriarch to build a house. What do you think he's going to call the place? Beit something or other, right? Beit-El? Beit-Lechem? You name it. What does he call the place? Al kain kara shem hamakim Succot! Succot! There you are, you just bought a house in Hampstead Garden and you name it after your garage. I mean, have you ever seen anything more extraordinary? And what is Jacob telling us, the whole time? Jews don't have to live in houses to feel secure. I'm happy to live in succot, my animals live in succot, I'm happy to live there.
What does God say in parshas Behar? When you come to the land, the Land, you will never own it in perpetuity. Why? Ki li ha’aretz ki geirim vetoshavim atem imadi [Vayikra 25:23] “You are mere strangers and temporary residents, as far as I'm concerned.”
In other words, even though you live safely in the Land of Israel, never forget where you came from. Never settle down that you become complacent. Veram veshavevcha veshachachta, So that your heart is upraised and you forget where you came from and who you owe this to. Never forget. In the immortal words of the Beatles’ last recording, get back to where you once belonged.
So just as, in Israel, they were supposed to remember the forty years of wandering in the desert, now you begin to see this extraordinary thing, that just as, even though they are worshipping in the Temple Solomon built, don't forget how you first once had God living in your midst, in a succah, called the Mishkan, called the Tabernacle. You do not need great buildings of cedar and stone to find God. You can live in a little Mishkan or a portacabin, courtesy of Ikea, I have to tell you. And still God will be there. If, of course, you're keruvim [cherubs] whose face was ish el re’eihu. You turn face to face to your human being. That is where the Shechinah, the presssence of God lives. You remember where the Keruvim were facing in Solomon's Temple? They were not facing one another, they were facing peneihem el haBayit. They were facing the House, they were not looking at each other.
The Gemara in Bava Batra, [daf 99a] says, when Israel do the will of God, the cherubs face each other. When they don't do the will of God, they face the Bayit (House). That is an extraordinary Gemara. It's telling us that the Mishkan was closer to what Hashem wanted than Solomon's Temple. And what Succot is telling us is: Succot is when the Israelites went to the Temple and celebrated the produce of the fields and they thanked HaKadosh Baruch Hu, but they never forgot where they came from. Because every time a nation forgets its youth, its childhood, the hard times they had when they were struggling to make a go, they become decadent and they eventually decline and fall. But Jews never are allowed to do that because it's enough that you’re gerim and toshavim, that you’re temporary residence, and you're always asking Me [i.e. God] for another year of life. And it's enough, don't think you've got a great, big Temple, as good as the Egyptians, and the Mesopotamians. I tell you, I'm good enough with a Mishkan. Because that is the succah, that's the s’chach, that memory of the Mishkan is good enough for Me.
And we now understand exactly the argument of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer. What is a succah? Rabbi Akiva is right. A succah was a succah mamash. Not a hut the Israelites lived in but the Mishkan, the portable, temporary dwelling that God dwelled in. And Rabbi Eliezer was right when he said annanei kavod. Because where were the annanei kavod? (Congregation member answers) Do you think they covered the people? If you look in the Torah, you will see they covered the Mishkan.
As long as they were in camp, the Cloud was over the Mishkan. When it moved beyond the Mishkan, then it was time to travel on. The Mishkan was a temporary dwelling.
But the odd thing is that the Temple was a permanent dwelling and yet it was destroyed twice, and we don't have it anymore. But the Mishkan, which could move anywhere, because God is everywhere, became the symbol of the shul that you can build in Jerusalem, but also, not bad, in Hampstead Garden Suburb. That became the permanent symbol. The temporary became permanent and the permanent turned out only to be temporary.
Ki besuccot hoshavti et Bnei Yisrael - when I brought them out of Egypt [Vayikra 23:42] It wasn't the Israelites who lived in a succah, it was God who lived in a succah. And the succah is telling us something absolutely unbelievable. That you don't need to have megabucks to buy a home for God. All you need is a garden shed and a bit of faith. And you have your schach and they overshadow you the way the cherubs overshadowed the Ark. And between the Keruvim is the Clouds of Glory.
The simplest, poorest Jew, who turns his face to his brother or sister, and builds a little succah is bathed in Clouds of Glory. And he has built his own, private equivalent of the Mishkan.
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