Sukkah (סוכה) — the Booth

Core definition

The sukkah is the temporary booth in which Jews dwell for the seven days of Sukkos, in commemoration of the booths of the Exodus ("I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I took them out of the land of Egypt" — Vayikra 23:43). In the corpus's Chassidic reading, the mitzvah's inner dimension turns on the Gemara's dispute (Sukkah 7b) — whether the sukkah must be fit as a permanent dwelling (diras keva) or as a temporary one (diras arai): "the dispute is in this drawing of Sukkah — that they draw through the sechach of the Sukkah the encompassing ones (makifim) of the supernal ones, of Binah, alma ila'ah (the supernal world) — a semblance of the world to come: whether it is a temporary dwelling — that is, in any case from the aspect of the makifim that are in the order of hishtalshelus — or a permanent dwelling — that is above the order of hishtalshelus, as le'osid lavo mamash" [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 202–204].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The sechach draws the makifim. The sechach (the booth's covering) is the mitzvah's essence, and its drawing is of makifim — encompassing lights — specifically "the encompassing ones of the supernal ones, of Binah, alma ila'ah": the light that encompasses rather than clothes within, "a semblance of the world to come" [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 203]. The two opinions differ on the level of that encompassing light: the temporary-dwelling view holds it is "in any case from the aspect of the makifim that are in the order of hishtalshelus"; the permanent-dwelling view, that it is "above the order of hishtalshelus, as le'osid lavo mamash" [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 203–204].

The Mishkan/Mikdash parallel. The dispute is set within the Mishkan-versus-Mikdash contrast that structures the whole maamar: the Mishkan was "only a temporary dwelling of the Holy One" (diras arai) — "in the Mishkan was the revelation that is the aspect of the order of hishtalshelus"; the Beis HaMikdash was "a semblance of le'osid lavo: for there was the revelation that is above the order of hishtalshelus — for they were a permanent dwelling of the Holy One: for 'keva' (permanence) is the aspect that is above the order of hishtalshelus" [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 195–201]. The same axis — within-hishtalshelus vs. above-hishtalshelus — governs the sukkah: its temporary-dwelling form pointing to the order of hishtalshelus, its permanent-dwelling form to the revelation above it [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 202–204].

Sukkos's revelations from Yom Kippur. In the Simchas Beis HaShoevah maamar, Sukkos's lights are traced to Yom Kippur: "Sukkos's revelations flow from Yom Kippur ('in the cloud I shall be seen')" — the dancing with "torches of fire" before the water-drawing [31669/maamar_007 :: The argument's architecture]. The four (or eight) torches: "four torches = Havayah's four letters in ABY"A, eight = the future supernal Havayah (gematria Yitzchak)" — the festival drawing light through all four worlds and beyond [31669/maamar_007 :: The argument's architecture].

Customs of the sukkah. The corpus's customs record (Likut Minhagim) preserves the lived detail: on Motzaei Yom Kippur "they occupy themselves, or at least speak, about the making of the sukkah"; no sukkah decorations and no special sukkah floor in the recorded custom; "the scrupulous — even water they do not drink outside the sukkah"; Kiddush and eating in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeres, both night and day [15720/maamar_010 :: §253–271, §381–487].

Key distinctions

Diras keva vs. diras arai. Whether the sukkah must be fit as a permanent or temporary dwelling — the metaphysical question of whether its sechach draws makifim of hishtalshelus or makifim above hishtalshelus [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 202–204].

The sechach vs. the walls. The drawing is "through the sechach of the Sukkah" — the covering, which by halachah must be of unformed, unsusceptible material, draws the encompassing lights of Binah, while the walls are the dwelling's vessel [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 203].

Mishkan vs. Mikdash vs. sukkah. Mishkan: temporary dwelling, revelation of the order of hishtalshelus; Mikdash: permanent dwelling, revelation above hishtalshelus; sukkah: the dispute between the two levels [31658/maamar_010 :: עב׳ 194–204].

Related concepts

Sukkos (the festival); Yom Kippur (the source of Sukkos's revelations); Makifim (the encompassing lights drawn by the sechach); Binah (alma ila'ah); Olam HaBa (of which the sukkah is "a semblance"); Hishtalshelus (the order within or above which the drawing stands); The four species (the festival's other mitzvah).

Sources