Succos - Ushpizin of Abraham There is much for us to learn from the life of Avraham Avinu and the Torah’s accounts of his actions and interactions. ואברהם זקן בא בימים וה ברך את אברהם בכל. “And Avraham became old and he came in these days, and Hashem blessed Avraham with everything.” The Zohar comments on this verse that Avraham visits us each day of Succos, not just on the first day of Succos. What is the Zohar adding? After all, we know that all seven Ushpizin (Guests) visit us each day of Succos. The only difference each day is in who leads the group. On the first day, Avraham leads the Ushpizin; on the second day Yitzchak comes first, and so on. The Zohar’s comment means that Avraham always follows the leader. On the first day he leads the Ushpizin, and on all other days he comes directly behind the leader. This teaches us the importance of Avraham’s primary midah (attribute), which is chesed – kindness. The midah of chesed includes the midah of ahavah – love; loving Hashem, loving Torah and loving other people. We all should work on ourselves to emulate Avraham, and only after mastering themidah of kindness will we be able to succeed in Torah learning. The tzaddik Rebbe Mordechai of Czernobel zt”l once gave an insightful, homiletical interpretation on the verse that describes Avraham welcoming the three angels disguised as wayfarers. The verse says:“Take please a bit of water and wash your feet, and lean underneath the tree.” Water symbolizes Torah; the word regel – foot, can also mean routine or habitual; the word tree symbolizes atzaddik. “Take a bit of Torah,” Rebbe Mordechai said, “and wash out your habits, your midos; and lean under the protection of a tzaddik.” Why should we take only a bit of Torah? Because as long as the person still has his old habits and bad midos, he cannot learn Torah properly. First he must acquire the attributes of ahavah and yirah (loving Hashem and fearing Hashem) and only then will he be able to accomplish great things in Torah. Someone who acquires the attribute of chesed will eventually also acquire the attribute of humility, as we see with Avraham who said of himself: “And I am but dust and earth.” Because of his humility he was able to become exceptionally close to Hashem. Rebbe Uri of Strelisk would quote the verse in Tehillim (139:8): “If I will ascend to the heavens, You are there, and if I will rest in the abyss, You are there too.” He explained this verse with the following insight: If a person thinks that he has ascended to heaven, he thinks he’s great, then he should know that he is indeed there – very far away from Hashem. On the other hand, someone who thinks very little of himself, as if he’s in the abyss, he should know that Hashem is there with him, close by. וישא אברהם את עיניו וירא את המקום מרחוק. “And Avraham lifted his eyes and he saw the Place from a distance.” This verse can now be understood on a deeper level. The word Makom – Place, symbolizes Hashem. Avraham was able to “see Hashem” and come close to Him because he was humble and always thought that he was still far in the distance. ויאמר עבד אברהם אנכי. “And he [Eliezer] said, I am the servant of Avraham.” The verse uses the word “anochi” – I. Someone who has the midah of Avraham considers himself to be a humble servant. As such, he may even be entitled to use the word anochi, which is a word normally reserved for Hashem alone. Someone who doesn’t think highly of himself will not become arrogant by using the word anochi. On a humourous note, I’ve heard an interpretation of Avraham’s prayer: “May Yishmael live for You!” as follows: “May Yishmael want to live, for if the Ishmaelites [Arabs] do not care for their lives they kill other innocents as well…” We should pray that Yishmael should desire to live and not give up his life for the sake of national or religious ambitions. There is an interesting Midrash on the verse mentioned previously, how Avraham welcomed the three wayfarers and urged them to sit underneath the tree. The Midrash comments that as a reward for his hospitality by seating his guests underneath the tree, Avraham’s descendants would receive the mitzvah of Succah. This seems puzzling, because as we know a Succah cannot be built underneath a tree; it must be under the open sky. The answer to this question is that the tree doesn’t symbolise the Succah; it symbolizes a tzaddik. If the people submit themselves to a tzaddik they will be unified with achdus. The mitzvah of Succah is a reward for achdus – unity, as it says: “It is proper for all of Israel to sit in one Succah.” This doesn’t mean that we should actually sit in one Succah, but we should all be willing to sit together with each other. The greatness of achdus should never be underestimated. In the merit of keeping ourselves together with unity may we be soon merit sitting in the Succah made from the Livyason, which is reserved for the times of Moshiach. Moshiach NOW!!!
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 04:27:16 +0000
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