Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah in the Holy Zohar: The Secret of the Seventy Bulls and the One Bull

Introduction: The Order of the Shiur

Rabbosai, good evening. Today is the eve of Shemini Atzeret, the afternoon of Hoshana Rabbah, and it’s a busy time for everyone. I too am occupied now, and among my other occupations I am occupied with learning this shiur. We have a fixed schedule every erev Shabbos, and today is also erev Shabbos, erev yom tov, but the main fixture of our shiur is on erev Shabbos, and even when yom tov falls out — and on Sukkos there are always two erev Shabboses somewhere — we continue our order in the holy Zohar, in the order of mitzvos and the order of the moadim, in honor of the day.

And what I wish to explain are about three approaches that stand in the Zohar, or are built upon the foundation of the Zohar, in order to understand the sugya of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. In truth it is one sugya, and although there are chiddushim and special points in Hoshana Rabbah that are not of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, nevertheless in general it’s all one topic. These are what are called ‘the last days of the chag’, the last days, in which we make two yamim tovim. Hoshana Rabbah itself is also the last day of the entire series of the first days of the chag, the seventh day, the day of the aravah, and all these things are connected to each other.

The Zohar’s View on Shemini Atzeret

Now I wish to expand somewhat on the view of this matter, and why — because in the holy Zohar there is no one place where the entire matter is concentrated. I myself made a collection at one time on the Zohar regarding Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, and today the tzaddikim sent, Rav Fogel and his colleagues, who send every week from the Ramak, and they also sent the collection from the various places where the Zohar speaks about Shemini Atzeret. All those passages of Zohar that deal with Shemini Atzeret we find like a tail, like the end of other derashos, and generally these are derashos on Sukkos. Sometimes there are derashos that are in a general way about all of Rosh Hashanah, about all of the seventh month, about all of Tishrei.

There is also one derasha that is a continuation of a derasha on Pesach, which mentions Shemini Atzeret, for there is a certain connection and gezeirah shavah of ‘atzeret’. For what is ‘atzeret’? It is the atzeret of Pesach, meaning the seventh day of Pesach, and besides this there is the atzeret of Shavuos, which is also called ‘atzeret’. And there is a connection to the Torah, that both are like Simchat Torah: on Shavuos we rejoice in the Torah that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us, and on Simchat Torah we rejoice in the Torah that we completed. We spoke last year whether these are two Torahs and what the difference is between them, but in any case there is a connection, and the derasha of the Zohar on Shemini Atzeret always revolves around this conversation.

Two Approaches: The Conclusion of Pesach and the Atzeret of Malchus

At the conclusion of a certain approach that the Zohar explains — let’s say, one approach that is mainly an approach of the seventh month, of the month of Tishrei — the Zohar has a fixed approach that always leads to its climax, to its purpose, to the completion of the matter, and that is Shemini Atzeret. And in another place there is also an approach of the first month, of the month of Nissan, and there too the matter concludes with ‘atzeret’, where there is also an approach of Shemini Atzeret.

In general, these two approaches are directed toward two aspects that exist in Shemini Atzeret. One aspect is from the perspective of it being like the conclusion of Pesach, where we say in it a kind of conclusion with all the moadim; for Nissan is the head of the regalim, and thus the end of the regalim, the tail of all the regalim, is Shemini Atzeret. And regarding this, Shemini Atzeret is called ‘Tiferet’. And so it says in the Zohar in Parshas Emor, that the food of Shemini Atzeret is Yaakov, meaning that all seven days are the seven sefiros that emerge from Binah, and sukkah is Binah — for sukkah is the aspect of ‘and seven days’, the mother with her seven children, ‘the mother of children rejoices’ (Psalms 113:9). And Shemini Atzeret is the aspect of Yaakov, which is the joy of Tiferet itself, rejoicing with his mate, with the Shechinah.

And this is the second point that is generally spoken of in the Zohar regarding the seventh month, regarding Shemini Atzeret, that it is the day of atzeret. ‘Atzeret’ has the connotation of malchus, as it says ‘this one shall rule over my people’ (I Samuel 9:17) — the king is like a ruler; and likewise ‘and there is no ruler’ (Deuteronomy 32:36), for ‘ruler’ or ‘treasure’, which is the same thing with the letter ayin, is a king. And Shemini Atzeret has the connotation of malchus, the day of malchus, the day of Knesses Yisrael.

Simchat Torah: The Great Feast of the Year

Now, almost all the derashos — and I already mentioned that there is a second point in them regarding the atzeret concerning the Simchas Torah in it — are all connected to each other. They are not separate things by themselves, one point, but always one continuation. Meaning that it’s impossible to begin hearing the Torah by a person coming to shul on Simchat Torah; for no one comes to shul on Simchat Torah, and this can be seen with one’s own eyes — no one starts from there.

And although indeed Simchat Torah is the great yom tov, the greatest joy of the entire year, as is known and as is the custom of Israel. Today this custom has weakened somewhat, and it needs to be strengthened with strength; but the custom of Israel throughout all generations was to get drunk twice a year, on Purim and on Simchat Torah, and in most places the custom on Simchat Torah was even more than on Purim. Simchat Torah was a time of feasting and joy, and there is a complete derasha on this in the Aruch LaNer, where he says that there are places where modern people, who didn’t like this, cancelled the drunkenness of Simchat Torah, and the Aruch LaNer proves against this with great sharpness, and the matter is brought in the Mishnah Berurah.

That is, the Mishnah Berurah speaks in the Shulchan Aruch, regarding the matter of birkas kohanim of the Torah reading of Simchat Torah, and it says there that the custom is that they don’t do birkas kohanim at Musaf, because the congregation is already drunk by then. And it’s clear that even every kohen — you won’t find one kohen who isn’t drunk, and a drunk person is not permitted to do birkas kohanim, and therefore the custom is to do birkas kohanim at Shacharis. And so is the custom in most Jewish communities that I know, that they do birkas kohanim at Shacharis of Simchat Torah, and why — because at Musaf they are already drunk.

And from the poskim there are those on one hand who say that certainly there is joy, great joy, but the intention is not to break all boundaries; and indeed there were many places where on Simchat Torah they didn’t hit so much. Everyone knows that at a time of joy, at a party, many times when people don’t behave properly it turns into a fight. I also saw in one person who described that in some city, in some distant town, among the Jews in the mountains of Russia somewhere, he said that there was a town there about which they said that at one time two hundred Jews lived there, but the beatings on Simchat Torah were so numerous, until one killed another, and only one hundred Jews remained in the city. I hope it wasn’t really so. They tended to hit, in the language of the Mishnah Berurah in the name of the earlier poskim, that ‘joy was turned to mourning’, and this should not be done.

But on the other hand, afterward modern people came, and it seems to me that most shuls that exist today are a bit like this — and one needs to stop from this — and they said: if so, we’ll make hakafos and that’s it, and they no longer do it properly, and they fulfilled their obligation in some way. The Mishnah Berurah brings in the name of the Kli Yakar that this is not the way, but rather one must fulfill the feast, in the language of ‘feasting and joy’ of Simchat Torah. The custom of Israel is from many generations, that one must drink and make a great feast, that Simchat Torah is the great party of the year. This is clear.

The Innovation: No One Comes to Simchat Torah

And on the other hand — and this is the innovation — to Simchat Torah no one comes. There are times when Jews come to shul, and this is a very interesting thing. The Chassidic sefarim speak about this, for the Chassidic sefarim believe that what Israel does is with intention. Everyone knows that there are times in the year when a Jew comes to shul: on such a day he comes. For example Kol Nidrei, Ne’ilah, Rosh Hashanah, and perhaps other times in the year. On the night of the Seder they don’t come to shul, but come home, for there a Jew can come, ‘a distant deed is close to him’. From a distant place Jews come, and this is a time when it’s possible to start, possible with teshuvah, possible that a Jew will start from there.

But Simchat Torah — from almost all I see, people travel to their Rebbe on Simchat Torah, but it’s understood that the avodah doesn’t begin then for anyone. To Simchat Torah no one comes to shul, a new Jew. New Jews don’t come on Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah is the second yom tov, and within the second yom tov, according to the true and original custom, in any case in chutz la’aretz — the second day within the second day is ‘V’zos HaBerachah’, Simchat Torah. The last days within the last days. Meaning that Simchat Torah is not something that one can arrive at; there is no one maamar that can be said. And this is the explanation of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah: you are a Jew all year, and so you arrived at Klal Yisrael, you went down to the beis medrash and arrived; on Hoshana Rabbah, through this and through that, you arrived. Now you can make the siyum of the Torah.

Hoshana Rabbah: A Special ‘Late Yom Kippur’

There is a new pshat in this as to why the congregation exerts itself on Hoshana Rabbah. They make there a kind of state of Yamim Noraim, they wear the kittel, they cry out a bit ‘Hoshana’, and they say a bit of the nusach of Yamim Noraim, in their melody. And people say: what is this? This is a time of joy, and it’s not separated at all from the entire sefer of Hoshana Rabbah. It’s impossible! But it says that this is the day of judgment, the sealing of judgment. How can both be maintained?

And I have a new answer, and one of the answers — and it seems to me that this is in Midrash Tehillim, which is one of the early sources regarding Hoshana Rabbah — says thus: The Jews, the goal is that they should arrive at Shemini Atzeret, and it’s impossible to arrive at Shemini Atzeret. On Shemini Atzeret they dance with the Torah; this is not something one comes to, but rather it’s the end of something — from within something one arrives at it. And so most Jews already arrived already in Elul, at Selichos, like that midrash. The great ones of Israel, the important ones who already went out to greet the King, to greet the messenger, already from Elul they did teshuvah at Selichos; this is the good Jew.

Afterward there are other Jews who arrived on erev Rosh Hashanah. And there are Jews who came only on the holy day, on Yom Kippur, to shul. And for those who didn’t want to — after Yom Kippur comes Simchas Torah; and there are Jews who even then don’t come. So the Jews thought of a plan and said thus: On erev Shemini Atzeret we’ll make a special ‘late Yom Kippur’ for all those Jews who still have some measure left in Yom Kippur, or who didn’t arrive at Yom Kippur at all — for Yom Kippur is too severe. With lulav, with hoshanos, indeed there is some white kittel here, but it’s not that same level of Yom Kippur, and it’s impossible for everyone to convince himself. And then he does come to shul, comes on erev Shemini Atzeret, and cries his cry, and says ‘Hoshana for Your sake our God hoshana’. And now from this Simchas Torah is made, it makes itself. Simchas Torah makes itself.

And if one needs to say a derasha — why do we rejoice? One can say derashos even on Tishah B’Av; why do we cry? I don’t know, and even then I say a derasha that has no reason. But why do we rejoice? There is no logic in it. And so is the reality, everything is a derasha.

And so what? For each person his own aspect, his own point, what he struggled and toiled with on Rosh Hashanah, what he toiled with all year, what he learned in his Torah all year — from this his Simchas Torah is made, the siyum of the Torah, the end, which is different for each and every person.

The Midrash of the Pesikta: ‘You Have Increased the Nation, You Have Made it Honorable’

One point that many derashos speak about, many already in the midrash, and I wish to expand on it somewhat — namely the midrash, the Pesikta, upon which everything is built on this yom tov. The Pesikta of Shemini Atzeret opens with the verse ‘You have increased the nation, Hashem, You have increased the nation, You have made it honorable’ (Isaiah 26:15). The Holy One, blessed be He, added to the nation, He added something to it, ‘You have made it honorable’ — He honored it. And the midrash elaborates in various ways.

And the point that is at the head of all the ways is that the midrash understands that Shemini Atzeret is an addition. They already rejoiced seven days, everything is already there; they already brought lulav, they already offered seventy bulls, they already did — meaning they already did what one can describe as the greatest party that can be, the greatest joy that can be, the greatest celebration, everything that could possibly be they already did. And afterward, ‘and I will add to all Your praise’ (Psalms 71:14), the Torah came and said ‘on the eighth day it shall be an atzeret for you’ (Numbers 29:35), one more piece.

This is the essence: all those Torahs that are built on the basic dynamic, on the basic approach — why is Shemini Atzeret a thing in itself? Because Shemini Atzeret is that He added one more, ‘one more day’, He added one more thing. And what is the pshat? The midrash says, first of all — this is the first point — one needs to understand a simple thing: one needs to be a person of such a type, that when you are given one more time of joy, you know what you want to do with it, and you rejoice in a good thing.

The Story of the Gentile in Radin

The midrash elaborates: The Holy One, blessed be He, gave good things to Pharaoh — what did Pharaoh do? Did he say anything, or dance in hakafos? When the Holy One, blessed be He, gives a yom tov, and they say that today will be the great party of the year — by another person, and even by those Jews who are so many, it’s not that same level.

I told the story: In Radin, in the yeshiva, there was a gentile who worked there in maintenance, in the labors of the yeshiva. On erev Simchas Torah this was the custom, by the way, also in all the yeshivos — it too has weakened greatly until our days, and not so much remained until our days — that they distribute whiskey, complete hakafos, I don’t know if they actually get drunk, but they fulfill the custom of drinking at hakafos. And so was the custom in all of Lithuania and among the Chassidim, that the Rebbe Reb Elimelech wanted to cancel it from the side of abstinence, but in most places this was the custom.

And see — the gentile of Radin, of the yeshiva there, saw what they bought for Simchas Torah, kinds of boxes of food and drink like these. And when they came in the morning to Simchas Torah, the congregation came to shul, and the gentile was supposed to light, and behold the gentile is not there, ‘and the child is not’ (Genesis 37:30). He’s not there, and I had to light myself, I don’t know. After yom tov the gentile returned. They asked him: what happened? You work here, you simply left from your place of work? The gentile said that he doesn’t know: he saw on erev yom tov what they bought there, and he knows that by them, from that type of package, from that order from the liquor stores, people don’t come out alive from such a party. About half of the party comes out dead. He didn’t want to take a risk, and therefore he left.

And it’s understood that at the Jewish party not only did nothing happen to anyone, but on the contrary — they danced with the Torah, they made all the awakening that Jews make on Simchas Torah. It’s very difficult to grasp even the edges of the matters, and there are many levels in this. A Jew is of such a type, the midrash says, ‘You have increased the nation, You have made it honorable’ (Isaiah 26:15). When the Holy One, blessed be He, adds — it depends on which nation. To a nation, to one who doesn’t understand. And the intention is not specifically to a gentile, but rather to one who doesn’t understand, for this is the essence — one who doesn’t understand what is done at such a joy.

And therefore there are those whose entire joy is strange to certain people, who don’t know what to do on such a day when they get drunk all day; they don’t know what to do. ‘You have increased the nation, You have made it honorable’. And what does a Jew do? In Volozhin the custom was — what do they do on Simchas Torah? They fall prostrate. I don’t know why not; let it be the best day, let me have no more memory. As one can see by us on Purim: this is what a Jew does on Purim in the afternoon, he begins to say Yom Kippur. Indeed I questioned this at a farbrengen the night before, but this shows that one needs to be the type of person who knows what to do with one more day. This is the essence: one more day, one more day, not because something is needed, but one more day. This comes from the power of this. This is the basic dynamic of Shemini Atzeret.

One Thing of the Zohar in Three Ways

Now, clothed upon this dynamic, upon this foundation, upon this skeleton, there are several derashos in the midrashim, and several ways in the Zohar. The Zohar generally takes one thing from among them — in almost all places the Zohar takes this one thing, and I am saying this one thing in three ways. And in truth it would be proper to speak in more ways, but it seems to me that I have already given somewhat expanded matters.

The one thing that the Zohar brings is the midrash that Rashi brings. Rashi brings it in his version, and the congregation knows it in Rashi’s version: that it is a parable of a king who invited all kinds of guests, and he already finished with his guests, the Holy One, blessed be He, or the king, or the host in the parable, said to his children: make me a small party, ‘and let us rejoice, I and you’, ‘your departure is difficult for me’ (Rashi on Numbers 29:36) — we’re still not going, we still need to rejoice a bit. This is the simple pshat that Rashi brings.

And the Zohar understood the language. So is the midrash — it is one midrash, and there are seven, eight, ten midrashim on the same idea, but not on exactly the same idea, but rather on the same dynamic in other Torahs. But the Zohar took this thing very much. This is the Yiddish translation, the simple pshat of the Zohar in this.

The Seventy Bulls Corresponding to the Seventy Nations

And one needs to understand both sides of the matter, the matter is not so simple. I think that the Zohar emphasizes only one side, but one needs to understand. Israel offers seventy bulls. On Sukkos where we don’t offer seventy bulls, I received from a great tzaddik that one needs to have this intention in the wavings, that there needs to be the aspect of decreasing and going. And therefore one who knows that the first day when one waves lulav is very joyful, and afterward it decreases and goes — and people think: “if I were a proper Jew, everything would be equal” — what is this? Even in the Beis HaMikdash it was so: on the first day they offered thirteen bulls, and already they stand at seven. It doesn’t remain the same, and it cannot remain, for this is the order.

And what is the pshat in this? The Gemara says a wonderful thing. Indeed it bothers a person: how is it possible that his awakening in the wavings goes down a bit each day? They say to him: come here, you need to understand this awakening — for whom do they offer seventy bulls? Not corresponding to Israel, but corresponding to the seventy nations. And what does it mean corresponding to the seventy nations? On this the midrash says, ‘in return for my love they oppose me, but I am prayer’ (Psalms 109:4). We love the nations, we pray for them.

A person — and we already spoke about this on Rosh Hashanah — is part of the entire world, and all seventy nations are placed within a person. The Zohar, and the Tikkunei Zohar, and the Shaar HaOros explain that the leaves of the lulav — the lulav has a spine, the spinal column, which is the central soul, but what it has in leaves, and it has other things that are not taken with the lulav, leaves and fruits — this indicates the seventy nations. The branches of the lulav indicate all seventy nations, all the angels, all the princes. And a Jew needs to take responsibility for all of them.

What does a Jew do when he is in a good state? He goes to his Beis HaMikdash, goes on Sukkos to the beis medrash, prays for all seventy nations, that they should all have a good year. And the nations, for some reason — a bit we owe them, a bit they owe us — don’t get along with this. They are not pleased, there is no such thing, they are angry. ‘In return for my love they oppose me’, so says the midrash. And therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says, ‘and on the eighth day it shall be an atzeret for you’. ‘For you’ — an atzeret shall be for you. On the eighth day you will not bring bulls, thousands of bulls, but rather there remains ‘one bull, one ram’ (Numbers 29:36) corresponding to you.

Second Version: You Forgot to Pray for Yourself

But there are more versions. Another version of the midrash is that Israel says, or the Holy One, blessed be He, says to Israel: “You already prayed for everyone, and you forgot to pray for yourself.” There is such an aspect, and there also needs to be such a perspective. A person comes to a great state, and prays for everything, and in the end one needs to remind him: “Ahh, put to your heart also yourself, also your children”, because he is in the greatness of the mind and is no longer thinking about himself. And this is ‘an atzeret shall be for you’.

The Reality of Israel in Exile

The Zohar emphasized very much in most of the derashos this point, which is everything surrounding it. The simple pshat is that the Zohar understood — and certainly this is the state of Israel in exile, and there is no need to apologize for this. We want — and there is always the conversation, how much one needs to speak and prove to the nations, and to say that the chosenness, ‘You have chosen us from all the nations’, is an investigation that needs to be taken seriously. And one doesn’t need to be ashamed, and one doesn’t need to justify that the reality of Israel as ‘a scattered sheep’ (Jeremiah 50:17) among the seventy nations, which has already been for a long time, and is still so in various ways — this is the reality.

And Israel feel automatically, and so they explain in the midrashim, and the Zohar explains almost everything: As if on Rosh Hashanah there is a din Torah, ‘to do justice with His people’ (I Kings 8:59). And what is the din Torah? There are Israel and there are the nations; who will win? Will Israel win the war this year, or will the nations win. This is the pshat. ‘Victory in battle’ — all this, as if they emerge meritorious in judgment, what is revealed, they win in judgment, that Israel should win this year.

And with all this they offer — and the Zohar has various approaches to understand why, if so, they offer seventy bulls for the seventy nations. But the essence I already said, and there are more matters in this, like the goat to Azazel, on the contrary — that they should have abundance, as it says in the midrash, that the nations should play ball all day, for as long as he plays ball he doesn’t quarrel with Jews. He has nothing to do, problems begin. And this is one thing, that it’s always better this way.

People think that one needs to pray that the nations shouldn’t have money. But when the nations are wealthy, when it’s good for them — it’s better for everyone, and it’s better when we dwell in America, and one needs to pray for this; for when there is a recession in America, and when there is less money, when they lose a war, in everything — Israel are always the victim. This is the reality.

And so, one of the reasons — and perhaps this is already a selfish reason, not as great a level as we said before — but by a Jew this is not the way to pray that it should be good for Israel and bad for the nations. When it’s bad for the nations, it’s also bad for Israel, because they are part of the same world. And on the contrary, it’s worse for Israel when it’s bad for the nations, because they take it out on us. One needs to pray for this.

And after the whole thing — that we pray for them from these reasons and from additional reasons — they say: fine, but there still remains ‘when shall I also make for my own house’ (Genesis 30:30), as Yaakov Avinu said, he takes a bit also for himself. This is the secret of Shemini Atzeret, ‘on the eighth day an atzeret shall be for you’, and then this is like the completion of the victory. As the Zohar speaks about the joy, that it is a time of joy. ‘Time of joy’ means altogether an elevated time, and this is the point — an elevated time in which we rejoice, rejoice, give abundance to the entire world. But one needs to also rejoice with the Holy One, blessed be He, Israel themselves. This is Israel for us. We already took responsibility for everything surrounding us. This is the simple pshat of the Zohar, one pshat, the simplest, the one thing.

The Deep Levels in the Chassidic Sefarim

And it’s understood that the Chassidic sefarim, which always elevate something deeper in the same matter, reveal in it two more levels. And I will say the two levels — and this will be my shiur for today — two more levels in the point, in the point of the seventy nations and one nation, in the seventy bulls and the one bull. There are in this two more hints, two more explanations that are in the Chassidic sefarim, both of them deeper structures of the same thing itself.

First Level: Turn from Evil and Do Good

The first thing, and I’ll say it in the practical way — and I don’t remember where the thing is written, I think this way myself that this is how it fits, but I don’t have a clear source to tell the congregation where to look into the approach — the first pshat according to Chassidus is that there are many avodahs. We spoke a bit on erev Rosh Hashanah, that there is ‘turn from evil and do good’. ‘Turn from evil’ is that we push away the kelippos, ‘do good’ is that we draw down the light of holiness, the light of good. And as a person begins, so is the order, that ‘turn from evil’ is said before ‘and do good’ (Psalms 34:15). And it’s not specifically because this is the order, but rather that this is better, and this is the reality.

When people begin, there is an order. There is the king, ‘an old and foolish king’ (Ecclesiastes 4:13) of the yetzer hara, and a person is ‘a wild donkey of a man is born’ (Job 11:12), and generally they begin with many kelippos. A person begins to know himself, and grasps how many yetzer haras, how many foolishnesses are placed in his head, and tries to shake himself from them. And this is a very large part of the avodah, and this is the avodah of tekias shofar that we spoke about a bit on erev Rosh Hashanah — one avodah, ‘to confuse the Satan’. We fight, we shout at him, we anger the yetzer hara, we learn Torah, we draw him to the beis medrash, in all kinds of ways. But we fight, we deal with the evil, with the negativity, with the gevuros in the world. And so it is at the beginning of the avodah, and this is a very large part of the avodah.

And the meaning of this according to pnimiyus is that we fight with the seventy nations. The seventy nations are seventy types of yetzer hara. These are not the seventy nations of now that are spoken about in the politics of the world, but in pnimiyus — and certainly the thing has a connection, that each one has his own yetzer hara — in pnimiyus there are seventy types of yetzer hara, which we hope will go and become smaller and go and become smaller. And how do the yetzer haras go and become small and small? At first we fight with them directly: we blow shofar at them, we fast and subjugate the body, we subjugate the body on Yom Kippur, and the yetzer hara goes down a bit. But Sukkos — this is the true way of bringing down the yetzer hara — is to offer oneself and to rejoice. And the end of this thing is Shemini Atzeret.

Meaning that instead of going and speaking how bad the thing is, this kelipah and another kelipah, this madness and another madness — we speak how good the thing is, and how good it is for us, and even in the kelippos that we spoke about. Instead of saying how many bad things there are on the internet, one needs to say how good the internet itself is, and how the Holy One, blessed be He, made it possible to learn so much Torah, and artificial intelligence, and in all the ways that there are

and artificial intelligence, and in all the ways that there are more, the technology, and the cars, and the buses, and the airplanes, and the rockets. All this improves life so much, ‘on a good day be in good’ (Ecclesiastes 7:14), how good the thing is.

And the more a person rejoices in this, the evil falls — the Rashba, that the nature of evil is sadness, ‘in all sadness there will be profit’ (Proverbs 14:23), for evil is sadness, ‘their idols are silver and gold’ (Psalms 115:4), their sadness; the reality of evil is a reality of sadness, and the reality of evil is the opposite, ingratitude, the opposite of recognizing the good. And when we rejoice, we rejoice in the gift of Hashem, ‘each man according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of Hashem your God which He gave you’ (Deuteronomy 16:17), we rejoice in the blessing of Hashem. The blessing of Hashem is the internet, and the technology, and the money, and the children, everything that a person has — this is the blessing of Hashem.

This is the first thing. And one who has inner comprehension, one who knows a bit something and has understanding, how much more so that he rejoices in this. And the more we rejoice, the thing goes down, and this is the conclusion. Meaning that at first we go directly — in the ten days of teshuvah we deal directly with the gevuros, and afterward, as you grasp a thing, we deal with it by increasing the joy each day, and the more we increase the joy, the kelipah goes down a bit.

Second Level: Good Because It’s Good

Until we arrive at Shemini Atzeret, which is the true and complete way of avodah. Indeed Sukkos is already the way of avodah in truth, but the completion of the matter is the other way of avodah, in which a person says — now, when he prays on Shemini Atzeret, when he dances with the Torah on Shemini Atzeret, when he eats a meal on Shemini Atzeret, when he converses with his friends, when he takes responsibility for his children on Shemini Atzeret, every mitzvah that he does — he doesn’t do it because thereby he will go from a kelipah, because he will go from some crookedness, some ‘to straighten the crookedness in the heart’. He does it simply because it’s good.

This is a joy of such a type that is very difficult to explain, because in order to explain an action one always needs opposition. Everyone knows that an action comes with conflict — there was a bad thing, and now it’s good. Not so: this is not good because it was once bad, but rather this is good because it is good. What is good because it is good — this is the meaning of ‘the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah’. Generally the unification that we make is like an exit from exile, the Shechinah exits from exile — good because it was once bad. This is Pesach, and also a bit the first days of Sukkos. But Shemini Atzeret means that it’s good because it is good. The midrash says, ‘on a good day be in good’ (Ecclesiastes 7:14) — when it’s good, it is good. One doesn’t need to add anything to this. This is the second aspect.

Third Level: Within the Good Part — Removing the Garments

The third aspect, even deeper — and this is written in the Bnei Yissaschar at length, and in other Chassidic sefarim, but the Bnei Yissaschar is the one who elaborates most in this way — is an even deeper aspect. We are already speaking within the good part, we are not speaking at all from the evil, but rather we are speaking within the good part: that everything we comprehend, everything in which we do rejoice — we rejoice in Torah, we rejoice in the Shechinah, we rejoice in mitzvos, we rejoice in our comprehensions, we rejoice in our physical abundance — all this is only like parables, we are only grasping garments.

And the parable of the Bnei Yissaschar is like ‘one small meal’, like the parable of a bride: that before the chuppah, around the chuppah, when the friends, the bridesmaids, dress her in beautiful clothes with jewelry, and make a whole situation, and dance around her, and all kinds of external things bring the joy. But at the time of yichud, at the time of the point of yichud, that ‘everyone knows why the bride enters the chuppah’ (Kesubos 8b), at the time of yichud she removes, no friend enters, no person enters, no one comes to dance there, she removes even the clothes, she removes even the jewelry, nothing remains, but rather ‘let us rejoice, I and you’.

And the nimshal of this — and one needs to detail it in our actual avodah, and one needs to think about this, and there are pesukim that say this — the nimshal of this is that one doesn’t need explanations, simple pshat. When one says, “Why are you so happy at the wedding?” he says a Chassidic thing, “This is a garment, this is beautiful jewelry.” ‘The adornments of the bride’, ‘the breaking of the tablets are the adornments of the bride’, when the twenty-four books are the adornments of the bride — the thing is beautiful. But the thing itself is the thing that the adornments are for it, the thing that the explanations are for it, the thing that all that awakening is for it. This is not awakening, this is not joy, this is not Torah, these are not kavanos — this is simple. It’s called naked, it’s called pure, it is stripped. This is the deep pshat in the Chassidic sefarim on the eighth day of atzeret.

The Secret of “And You Shall Take” — The Final Commandment in Parashat Pekudei

Introduction: A Brief Pre-Holiday Lecture

Since this is the eve of a holiday, and time is not abundant, we will suffice with a brief lecture. This lecture is being given on the eve of Sukkot concerning the secret of the verse and commandment ‘and you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a beautiful tree’ (Leviticus 23:40). We have already studied two lectures on this topic more closely aligned with the plain meaning, not according to the way of the Zohar, and now I simply wish to present to you the words of the holy Zohar in Pekudei.

We learned that this is the final commandment. Indeed, there was a section that was omitted in the previous lecture, it seems to me, but in any case this is the final commandment in the Zohar, from among the book of commandments that the Zohar wrote in Parashat Pekudei of the Master of the Universe. The final commandment is the mitzvah of lulav, commandment number 47, for it only counted forty-seven commandments, as we learned.

The Order of Commandments in Parashat Pekudei

The order is as follows: First the Zohar speaks of the primary commandments of each day — the commandment of the unity of God, the existence of God, the commandment of faith, the commandment of reciting the Shema, prayer, tefillin, tzitzit, mezuzah, all the commandments of each and every day, and the priestly blessing is also an important commandment for it. After that it begins with the order of Shabbat, of holidays, and thus the order of the holidays unfolds from Pesach until Tishrei, until Sukkot.

It turns out that the final commandment that it counts in total — after it already mentioned perhaps the commandment of dwelling in the sukkah — is among the last three commandments: the commandment of dwelling in the sukkah, and commandment 46 is the commandment of the sacrifices of Sukkot, and after that it speaks a bit about Shemini Atzeret, but it does not count a separate commandment for it here. And the last is the commandment of waving the lulav, taking the lulav, ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ (Leviticus 23:40), taking the lulav on Sukkot.

The Innovation in the Brief Language of the Zohar

And the Zohar, in the manner of Pekudei, repeats and mentions things that it already elaborated upon elsewhere, except that it includes them in one word, and often in that one word a novel insight is hidden. Indeed, I have not yet examined this thoroughly, but it seems to me that in the formulation it states, and even in one word, there is a great innovation, there is great clarity that was not stated before, at least not with that clarity. Therefore it is worthy to study it here, and to sharpen the point somewhat.

The Language of the Zohar: To Take the Lulav on That Day

The Commandment and the Species

Thus says the Zohar: The commandment is to take the lulav on that day, on the first day, on that day. It says, ‘to take the lulav on that day’, on that day, meaning on the first day, as it is stated ‘and you shall take for yourselves on the first day’ (Leviticus 23:40), ‘and these are the species’, the species, the species of the lulav, meaning that one should take the lulav with its species.

And behold, in the verse the species are mentioned simply, it states ‘fruit of a beautiful tree, branches of palm trees’ (Leviticus 23:40) and so forth, but in the Gemara the commandment is regularly called by the name of the commandment of taking the lulav. And although the word lulav is not written at all in the verse — though this word is mentioned in the Chumash — in the Mishnah it calls the whole thing by the name lulav, and all the other parts are called the species of the lulav, as if they belong to it. And so is the language of the Mishnah in Menachot, the four species that are in the lulav, the species that are in the lulav. Thus the entire group, the entire collection, the entire matter — the entire bundle is called lulav, and we wave the lulav, as in the language of the blessing ‘on taking the lulav’. And after the species, the lulav, additional things are added to it. And there are deeper explanations in this, and the Zohar indeed addresses the reason that they are all called by the name lulav, and touched upon this somewhat. But this is the name of the commandment: to take the lulav and its species on that day, on the holiday of Sukkot.

The Verse Itself Is a Secret

The Zohar says in very brief language, and I will read all the words: It says, ‘and this is the secret’, this is the secret — not the secret of the matter that one should take the lulav on that day, but that the verse itself is a secret.

And what does it mean that the verse itself is a secret? Behold, they elaborated on this in the articles they wrote. The verse does not explicitly clarify what one should do with the lulav. And indeed, the verse is like a wondrous midrash: ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ and ‘and you shall rejoice’ (Leviticus 23:40). What, when, how, in what manner does this result in ‘and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God’ (Leviticus 23:40)? What is the meaning of the lulav? It is a secret.

And Before the Companions: We Are All Companions

The Companions of the Zohar and the Sages of the Talmud

The Zohar says, we have already established the secret, as we have already explained, ‘and before the companions’. Its intention is that the Zohar itself already explained it. ‘And before the companions’ — sometimes this language can hint at the companions of the Zohar themselves. But it seems to me that when the Zohar emphasizes that we too spoke of this and the companions also spoke of this, its intention is that this is the way of the Zohar to speak as if everything is from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his companions.

The Zohar speaks as if the companions — they include the other Tannaim, the other Amoraim as well, the other sages of the Talmud whom we call our sages of blessed memory, and all our other sages — that all of them explain in their books, each in his place, the matters of the commandments, the laws, the reasons.

How a Jew Should Think: We Are All Students of the Holy One, Blessed Be He

The Zohar says, we have already spoken of this sufficiently, and our companions as well. And this is how a Jew should think: we are all companions of the Gemara, we are all companions of the Tannaim. That is, we are companions, both of us together, receiving at the very same place.

And what is the difference between a teacher and a student and between a companion? When we say ‘our rabbis of blessed memory’, we are saying that they are above us, they are the receivers of the Torah, and from them we receive. But the Zohar stands at a place where it understands that they are our companions. And where do we find such a thing? Shimon bar Yochai and his companions — our companions.

For we are all one. A companion is one. Two people who went to one teacher, both of them are companions, meaning on the same level, both receive. And thus the Zohar thinks: we are all companions. And why? Because we are all students of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, ‘all your children are students of God’ (Isaiah 54:13). All are students of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, all are students of Moses our teacher, who was also a student of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. Moses was the first student, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, was the first teacher.

And even what we study Torah, we are all students of Moses our teacher. We are all companions — we, the Tannaim, the Amoraim, and what was before the Tannaim, the prophets — we are all companions in the same study hall, in the same yeshiva that is called the yeshiva of Moses our teacher, from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and that same Torah we study. And what they explain, we all struggled with that same difficulty, for even the Tannaim found it difficult: What is the secret of the lulav? We all struggled with that difficulty. Ah, they tell us here the plain meaning, they tell us that the Tannaim already stated the plain meaning, ah, our companions already explained somewhat. The Zohar says, we have already explained ourselves in our book, and our companions have also already explained.

The Midrashim Are Secrets

And the intention of the Zohar here is to say another deep thing. That the midrashim on the lulav have already explained precisely the secrets of the Zohar. It says, everyone knows that all the secrets of the Zohar are built and connected with the ways of the midrashim, except that the midrash speaks in its formulation more in the way of the revealed, meaning, a sefirah is never mentioned in it, matters of divinity itself are never mentioned in it, for as is known the midrash is written in concealment.

Thus the Rambam learned, and thus all the sages received, that the midrashim are not always according to their plain meaning, they are not literal, and the Ramban explained this many times. The Ramban argues many times with Rashi, that when Rashi brings a midrash, the Ramban says, the plain meaning of the verse is not according to your words; and moreover, you do not even understand the midrash, for the intention of the midrash is not to state a simple plain meaning, but its intention is the secret. And the Zohar always goes in this way: the midrashim are secrets.

And sometimes the secret is more hidden, and it is difficult to understand the midrash, and sometimes the midrash is clearer, and one can immediately understand from it what the plain meaning is — and this is the secret. The Zohar says, the secret, the secret of the lulav. The lulav is a secret, and no one understands. You can ask a simple Jew, and although there are simple reasons, but with all due respect they are weak, briefly, feeble stories.

The secret — the lulav certainly has a secret. For it states ‘and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days’ (Leviticus 23:40). Certainly there is meaning in this, that with this lulav we gladden the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and He rejoices with us and we rejoice with Him. We will see further in the Zohar how it establishes this matter. In any case, the lulav certainly has a secret, and the midrashim have already revealed the secret almost close to the way of the Zohar. The word sefirot is not mentioned in the midrash, but the companions have already explained, and one who studies midrash already knows almost what the Zohar is going to say.

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Takes Israel: The Mirror Image of “And You Shall Take for Yourselves”

The Elevation of the Commandments: What Is Done Above They Do With Us

And what did they say? The Zohar says briefly, thus: ‘Just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel on these days and rejoices with them’ — just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel.

‘And you shall take for yourselves’ (Leviticus 23:40) — it is stated that we shall take. But thus says the Zohar, everyone knows, that every verse in the Torah that tells us to do something is only a reflection, is only a shadow, of something that has already been done above. And we learned there the secret of all the commandments called elevation, the elevation of the commandments. There it is stated the opposite, that what we do is done above, as we have already explained. But this begins with the fact that what is done above they do with us, and we do afterward. ‘What He is, you too’ (Shabbat 133b) — what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, did in the act of creation, He makes us partners in the act of creation; the Holy One, Blessed Be He, does the act of the chariot, He makes us the act of the chariot.

Verses of Taking

Behold, ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ means that we shall take. But one must understand that the matter began from something that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, already took. And thus certainly the midrashim connect here immediately at the beginning of ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ with all kinds of places where taking is mentioned. The midrash also speaks of other verses where it is stated that we shall take, but there are also places where it is stated that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took.

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, says ‘and they shall take for Me an offering’ (Exodus 25:2), and the midrash says, take Me Myself. And the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took, ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’ (Exodus 6:7). And ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’ is the reflection, the mirror image of ‘and you shall take for yourselves’. And thus indeed the Zohar expounds. It does not bring the verse, but it is thinking of this verse, or of another verse that is a similar matter.

‘And you shall take for yourselves’ means take for yourselves. And what is take for yourselves? Why should a person take? How can a verse come where the Holy One, Blessed Be He, says to a person take for yourselves? The plain meaning is that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has already taken. And what did the Holy One, Blessed Be He, take? The Zohar says, and it will be stated afterward ‘and you shall rely’. The Zohar says, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took Israel, ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’.

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Rejoices in Israel

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, took Israel, and rejoiced with them, as it is stated ‘for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good’ (Deuteronomy 30:9). The Holy One, Blessed Be He, rejoices in Israel, He took Israel. And these are explicit verses, that at the time when it is good for Israel — meaning a holiday, after there were Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and they stood in them, and Israel prevailed — the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel.

That is, He chooses, ‘and chose His people Israel with love’, ‘and chose His people Israel with joy’. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, rejoices in Israel, He takes them. Behold, ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ begins with the fact that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel on these days and rejoices with them.

The Secret of Yom Kippur: That the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Can Take Us

And a very interesting thing the Zohar explained. This is not written in the midrash as far as I know, and I say that the second half is written in the midrash, and the Zohar only explains that the midrash comes from this. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, because He understands that this is the meaning of Yom Kippur, that they offered themselves, ‘for on this day He will atone for you to purify you’ (Leviticus 16:30).

And why must one be purified? Before God. So that we can come before God, so that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, can take us, one must be purified, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, must forgive all the sins. And this is for Him. And this is the meaning of ‘for My sake I will delay My anger’ (Isaiah 48:9). The Holy One, Blessed Be He, must forgive all the sins for our sake, because He needs to be able to take us, therefore He needs to be able to forgive all the sins, to be able to include all the sins.

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, forgives all the sins, and takes us with joy. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, waves matters with Israel. This is the first thing. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, holds Israel, embraces them, takes them, ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’, this is ‘and I will take for Me’, ‘and I will take you to Me’. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel for Himself.

And It Returns in Turn: What a Jew Does Reflects What the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Does

And now, when a person knows that what a Jew does reflects what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, does, again the matter is pleasant, and it returns in turn. After a Jew does, he already arouses the measure that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, already did, already established, for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, established the matter so that it would continue onward.

The Zohar says, just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel on these days and rejoices with them, so too, Israel, ‘Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as their portion’, take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as their portion, and therefore ‘and you shall take for yourselves on the first day’ — meaning, take Me. Just as I take you, this is the time, this is the time when the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes me. And this He mentioned, what was revealed, and to think about this, for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, and Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He.

The Midrash: The Fruit of a Beautiful Tree Is the Holy One, Blessed Be He

The Exposition of Rabbi Akiva

And this is written in the midrash, an explicit midrash. And in all the midrashim on the verse ‘and you shall take for yourselves’, Rabbi Akiva says — and it is brought in the Ramban here on the verse, and the Ramban explains it according to Kabbalah, and certainly the Zohar connects with the secret that the Ramban explained according to Kabbalah.

The midrash says, ‘and you shall take for yourselves the fruit of a beautiful tree’, Rabbi Akiva says, the fruit of a beautiful tree is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘You are clothed in majesty and splendor’ (Psalms 104:1). Branches of palm trees is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘the righteous will flourish like a palm tree’ (Psalms 92:13). And boughs of thick trees is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘and He was standing among the myrtle trees’ (Zechariah 1:8). And willows of the brook is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘extol Him who rides upon the plains’ (Psalms 68:5).

Each of the verses reveals a secret, why the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is called by those names. And the Ramban explains at length that this hints at the different attributes, the different sefirot of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, that each of them is hinted at in the beautiful tree, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. The Zohar in this place does not enter into the details — in other places it enters into this — and we too will not enter into this.

The Lulav of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and the Lulav of Israel

But what the Zohar clarifies here is, that this is already a reflection. Since this is the time when the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, and everyone knows this. And the midrash here, another midrash — this too is a midrash that fewer people know, a deeper kabbalistic midrash, but everyone knows the revealed midrash. The midrash expounds that the fruit of a beautiful tree and its companions are corresponding to the patriarchs, or corresponding to the four types of Jews, and this is a very conceptual midrash.

Thus there are two sides here: what corresponds to Israel and what corresponds to the Holy One, Blessed Be He. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes a lulav, just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has tefillin that speak of Israel, and Israel have tefillin that speak of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. The same thing — the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has a lulav, in the lulav of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Israel is spoken of. The lulav of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is Israel, the four types of Jews, or the four limbs of every Jew, the body of the Jew that we will speak of, or the three patriarchs, all kinds of things. This is the lulav, ‘and I will take for Me’, what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes.

The Language of Taking Like Betrothal

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, says, thus Israel shall take ‘for yourselves’. And what shall they take? They shall take the Holy One, Blessed Be He. And the ‘and I will take’, it seems to me that this is a language of taking like betrothal, ‘when a man takes a wife’ (Deuteronomy 24:1), in this language of taking there is a plain meaning here. ‘And you shall take for yourselves’ like ‘when a man takes a wife’. Like a betrothal ring, like the rings that are made on the lulav, as is known.

The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, and Israel take essentially in that same very matter. And one can ask the Zohar in another place, where it says that there is an inquiry in the verse ‘for Jacob chose for himself the Lord’ (Psalms 135:4): it is possible to read the verse that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the Lord, chooses Jacob, or that Jacob chooses the Lord. Which of them? It is both. That is, the same very thing — in the same action in which the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, Israel take us. And this is the secret of all the Zohar, that the Zohar says ‘with the arousal from below there is arousal above’, that when we take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes us. This is the same very thing, and we are not explaining this now at length, but these are known matters.

The Secret of the Stature of Man: The Secret of the Form of Man

Israel Take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as Their Portion

And further the Zohar says, that on these days the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes us, and this is the intention of the celebration: just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel and rejoices with them, so Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and rejoice with Him. That is, they take Him and choose Him as their portion, just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took Israel that they should be as it were His, not only according to all the truth, all the length that the matter contains.

And this is the matter, Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, that He should be theirs, in all the length that the matter contains. ‘And we will be distinguished, I and Your people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth’ (Exodus 33:16), Israel request from the Holy One, Blessed Be He, a covenant that He should be theirs. The Zohar says: ‘Certainly a secret’, and concludes, ‘this is a secret, the lulav and its species, this is the secret of the stature of man’. This is the secret of the lulav.

The Stature of Man and the Limbs of the Sefirot

And now we will come somewhat from the general to the particulars. The lulav is species that are the secret of the form of man. And this is further, as everyone knows, that the midrash says that the lulav corresponds to what resembles the mouth, resembles the eye, and so forth, resembles the spine. And therefore the lulav is the main thing, for upon the spine stands the entire person. This is like the stature of man. ‘Your stature is like a palm tree’ (Song of Songs 7:8).

And what does the lulav show? That when one sees a person, one sees his stature. Indeed in the stature there are eyes and there is everything, but everything is the limbs of the person, and what one sees can be called the stature of the person, the lulav. And from this it is called lulav. And this is certainly the intention of what we say that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel with all their limbs, but certainly the intention of the Zohar is for something deeper.

As is known, everyone knows that the secret of the Zohar is to understand that the limbs of man are also the limbs of the Shekhinah, like the limbs of the sefirot as it were. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is not a body, ‘He has no bodily form’ (Yigdal), and this is not our place to explain. But the Holy One, Blessed Be He, also has as it were a body, a stature in which He is revealed in the world, and in His actions and in the modes of His revelation prior to actions, there is as it were a body.

The Double Meaning of the Limbs

And when it is stated that the lulav resembles the mouth and resembles the eye, again there is a double meaning here. The intention is for the mouth and eye of Israel, which shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel. This is the explanation, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel with their mouth, with their eyes, with their lips, and so forth. And this also shows the form of the image of the Creator as it were, the image of God, the image, the form of the Holy One, Blessed Be He.

When one takes the eyes, this resembles the eye, the myrtles that resemble the eye, it shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, looks at Israel. And that the willows resemble the mouth shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, speaks with Israel, ‘the voice of my beloved, behold he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills’ (Song of Songs 2:8). And that the branches of palm trees resemble the spine shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, upholds Israel, as it were the spine. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is the spine of Israel. This is ‘strength and joy are in His place’ (1 Chronicles 16:27), ‘the Lord is my strength and my stronghold’ (Jeremiah 16:19). The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is the strength, the spine. When one speaks of a person’s strength, one says that he has a back, a spine. The strength of Israel, this is the Holy One, Blessed Be He. This is what the spine shows, the lulav.

And the etrog shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is the heart of Israel, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is our heart. These are all the things that it shows, and this is the plain meaning of the Zohar regarding what we take all the species.

The Point of the Invitation: How the Lulav Connects the Joy

The Question: How Does the Lulav Connect with the Joy of the Holiday

And I wish to add only the point that we learned, that we learned and wrote, and it seems to me that it is a point of truth: that for everything an invitation is needed, one must understand the joy. It is stated ‘and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days’ (Leviticus 23:40). One does not stand seven complete days with the lulav. Indeed there were the people of Jerusalem who stood all day with the lulav, but we do not practice this way, and this is also not the obligation.

That is, in plain terms the order is that during Hallel one takes the lulav, in the morning, and on Shabbat one does not take it at all. In any case, one takes the lulav in the morning, or all day, for all day is fit for reciting Hallel, but in practice one does not take it all day but part of the day.

And the joy is certainly joy. Joy in plain terms means complete. Joy one makes afterward, one arranges a great feast, one dances. Even the dancing is a great feast. And one can say that there is an explicit obligation to dance on the holiday. It is stated chag, and chag is from the language of chagigah, chag is from the language of dancing, to circle and make circuits with the lulav, or without the lulav, afterward, at night, in the morning. These are all the things that we do.

And behold, all these things are good, very good. But how do they connect with the lulav? It seems to me that this is a question that people have in practice, and therefore I say an intention, I say an intention, I have an intention, in the morning I had a lulav, each person in his way and with his intention, very good. Afterward one goes home, one prays further, one eats a feast, one gathers, one does all the joys of the holiday. How do all these things connect with the lulav?

The Lulav Is the Connection of the Two Joys

I think an intention, and they will already remember the intention at the time of taking the lulav. It seems to me that this is the plain meaning, and I have built the plain meaning somewhat as to why I think so. For the plain meaning is, as the Zohar says, that the lulav is the connection of the two joys. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel and rejoices with them, and Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, ‘and I will take you to Me’, Israel say ‘and I will take you to Me’, and the fruit of the side shows the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and shows Israel, shows the image of God, that they are this image of God.

And the plain meaning of the special intention in the lulav is, that through the lulav the days become important. That is, we learned in the Zohar that everything needs an invitation. There is nothing, whether one says ‘behold I am prepared and ready’ — for one who practices this way — and whether one must say it, whether one must think it, whether one must do it: everything needs an invitation.

The Parable of the Wedding

That is, as it were, a person makes a wedding, one must invite. And one can ask a question: will not his grandfather come without an invitation? For he knows that there is a wedding, but it is proper that one send him an invitation. And the invitation, as he says, the physicality may come without it. But the feeling that a person has an important friend or important relative or his teacher, that he wants to call him to his joy — one must call him.

And even if he will come without being called, when he comes without being called, he comes in such a way that he does not come with his heart, he does not come with his will, he does not come — one can call this — with his inwardness, with his spiritual level; he does not come, he comes in externality, he comes with his skin, he does not come with his inwardness. And in order that he come in inwardness a request is required. This is the nature of people.

The Spiritual Nature: An Invitation Is a Matter

And this is also the spiritual nature. The spiritual nature is that when one makes an invitation the Holy One, Blessed Be He, also comes. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes of His own accord. And as they say, even a small friend who comes without an invitation, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes. To the joys of Israel the Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes, the grandfathers come, everything comes, the ushpizin come.

But why do we invite? For the Zohar says that Rabbi Abba used to invite the ushpizin. And why must one invite them? For they come, in any case. The plain meaning is that they come, but one must invite. A matter of holiness requires an invitation. There is a law, an invitation is a matter for something of holiness, an invitation is required. In idolatry there is no invitation, but for matters of holiness an invitation is required, and the invitation is effective.

And what does the invitation accomplish? It accomplishes that when the holiness descends, when the Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes with us, He comes by invitation. That is, with will, with the will of both, and the matter brings out the will of both, face to face brings this out.

The Joy Must Be Joy Before God

One Cannot Simply Sit Down to a Plate of Meat

Since we want to make joy, we want to rejoice, we want our joy to be joy before God, and we want to understand what the matter means — one must call Him. One cannot simply sit down to a plate of meat and wine and say, this is the joy of God. This is the joy of one’s belly.

And how does the joy of the belly become

The Joy Must Be Joy Before God

One Cannot Simply Sit Down to a Plate of Meat

Since we want to make joy, we want to rejoice, we want our joy to be joy before God, and we want to understand what the matter means — one must call Him. One cannot simply sit down to a plate of meat and wine and say, this is the joy of God. This is the joy of one’s belly.

And how does the joy of the belly become the joy of God? Certainly through giving charity, this is certainly part of all the species. This hints at all of Israel, but perhaps another way is needed to hint at why all the species are thus understood, for it is stated ‘and you shall rejoice in your festival, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maidservant and the Levite who is in your gates’ (Deuteronomy 16:14). This is part of the joy, and this accomplishes, as Rashi says, ‘if you gladden Mine I will gladden yours’.

And this is also the main thing, this is the main way to explain the ushpizin, as is explicit, that one must invite actual guests. And if one has no guests, let him send money to one who will have guests, and the like — to give charity on the eve of Sukkot, on the eve of the holiday, to a person, so that Israel will have for the holiday. This is the one main way how one invites the Shekhinah.

How One Calls the Shekhinah: Through the Lulav

But besides this, one must literally invite the Shekhinah. And how does one call the Shekhinah to our holiday joy? Through the lulav. And why through the lulav? We have already spoken, because the lulav shows as it were the body of the sefirot, it shows the way in which the Holy One, Blessed Be He, shows Himself in the world. This is the decree, this is the decree of Scripture.

And why specifically the lulav? This is not our concern now. When one takes the lulav, one approaches the Holy One, Blessed Be He, one goes to the study hall, one says Hallel, one stands with the lulav before God, one says to Him ‘I will thank You for You have answered me’ (Psalms 118:21), one says to Him ‘Give thanks to the Lord for He is good’ (Psalms 118:1), one says to Him ‘Please, O Lord’ (Psalms 118:25), one circles the altar, one circles our platform, one circles as it were the place of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the place where one reads His Torah, the place where one studies it and prays to Him, one circles — and with this one calls the Holy One, Blessed Be He.

And from the fact that one goes with the lulav in the morning, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is with our joy at night, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is with our joy all day, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is with our joy all year.