The Sukkah — the Strongest Building
„This will be a lesson for us for the generations: that for the courage we need to build our home — that is, the building of our national home — we need precisely the spiritual strengthening, the strengthening of the festival, the strengthening of the word of God that endures forever.”From Ma'amrei HaRe'iyah, HaSukkah
On the festival of Sukkot we leave our safe place and go outside. Our lives move to being lived in the sukkah, in which we conduct ourselves for most hours of the day, leaving the protecting and saving home for a sukkah open to every wind. Why do we do this? Why leave a safe place for such a long period and go to a temporary and dangerous place? Rav Kook explains that the purpose of the sukkah is to make clear to us that security is not found in the walls of the house, but in the Holy One, blessed be He. "If the Lord does not guard a city, in vain does the watchman keep watch." If the Holy One, blessed be He, decides not to guard us, all the walls in the world will not protect us; and if He decides to guard us, we will be safe anywhere in the world.
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From the community archive of Mishpetei HaRav Kook — studying Rav Kook's teachings since 2011.