When I was in Russia on Sukkot ((Sukkot, is a Biblical pilgrimage festival that occurs in autumn on the 15th day of the month of Tishri. The holiday lasts 7 days. In Judaism it is one of the three major holidays known collectively as the Shalosh Regalim (three pilgrim festivals), when historically the Jewish populace traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah)), two non-Jewish girls in Moscow showed me the way to the synagogue. They stayed with us half the night in the Sukkah and then walked me back to the hotel. When they said goodbye, they said something prophetic to me:

“Maybe there shall never be peace in our days — maybe we shall never taste a peaceful world, but we shall always remember those few hours in the Succah of Peace, sitting in Paradise in the shade of G-d”.

My beautiful friends, every second in the Sukkah ((A sukkah is a temporary dwelling that Jews use during the holiday of Sukkot, meaning booth or hut. During this holiday, Jews are instructed to build a temporary structure in which to eat their meals, entertain guests, relax, and even sleep. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of huts in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt, and is intended to reflect God’s benevolence in providing for all the Jews’ needs in the desert. According to Halakha, a sukkah is a structure consisting of a roof made of organic material which has been disconnected from the ground (the s’chach). A sukkah must have at least 2-1/2 walls. It should be at least three feet tall, and be positioned so that all or part of its roof is open to the sky (only the part which is under the sky is kosher.) A sukkah can be built on the ground or on an open porch or balcony. Indeed, many observant Jews who design their home’s porch or deck will do so in a fashion that aligns with their sukkah building needs. Portable sukkahs have recently become available for those who have little space, or for those who are travelling (in order to have a place to eat one’s meals).)) you can taste Paradise in the most eternal way. Once a year we sit with our holy Mothers and our holy Fathers in the Sukkah. I bless you and me, let it also be with our children — all the children of Israel and eventually all the children of the world.

All year long the Torah is such a burden. Every word weighs ten thousand tons and how often do we think it is really too much, but after being in the Sukkah for eight days, living in G-d’s world again — a cleansed and purified holy world — I suddenly realize how light the Torah is. It’s not I who carries the Torah; it’s the Torah that carries me. So I run out from the Sukkah straight to the Holy Ark. I dance with the Torah for forty-eight hours. Before Sukkot I could barely carry the Torah four steps. After Sukkot I can carry the Torah forever.

Transcribed by (Rabbi) Samuel Intrator
Brooklyn, New York
Original version in Connections Magazine
Volume IV Number 1 — Succos 5749
Copyright (C) 1988 The Inner Foundation
Reprinted with Permission

So we are inviting each other again for an even deeper Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur, a more heavenly Succos, and a more beyond heaven Simchas Torah.

When I was a little boy, I always asked my father, “Where are the songs of the Holy Temple?” And I never got a good answer because I could not believe that Jews can live without at least one song from the Holy Temple, a song of King David, a song of beyond time and space, a song that reminds us that we are part of G-d.

A few years ago, late at night, I saw a frail Jew by the Holy Wall who drew my attention. He really prayed. I waited until he finished and he began telling me he had arrived that day from Russia after ten years in Siberia. I asked him, “How did you survive Siberia?” He said, “I was singing all the time.” Suddenly I had this flash and I asked, “Did you sing the songs of the Holy Temple?” And he was quiet for a long time tears of ten years of Siberia and maybe two thousand years of exile came out from his holy eyes. And he said, “My whole family are Chassidim from the time of the Baal Shem Tov, and my holy grandfather told me in the name of the holy Baal Shem Toy, that the way we chant prayers on the High Holidays is the way they were singing them in the Holy Temple – the way King David composed them.”

That evening changed my life. Whenever I give a concert, I always include the prayers of the High Holidays. The melodies reach, like the Shofar, to the deepest chambers of our souls.

Just imagine Baron Rothschild, suffering from amnesia, standing on it street corner, dirty and filthy, begging for dimes. The first thing he needs is to remember is that he is Rothschild and then to wash up and change his clothes, and then to go back to his home. All year long everyone in his own way is suffering from amnesia. We forgot what a Jew is, we forgot what a human being is, and we forgot who G-d is. Rosh Hashanah when we blow the Shofar, we remember everything. On Yom Kippur, we wash up and on Succoth we move back into our heavenly abode –to the palace we are meant to live in.

There is war in the world and hatred because the world has amnesia and his forgotten what it is to be human. There is so much trouble in Israel because the whole world refuses to remember that G-d gave us the land.

Let this Rosh Hashanah wake up the world.

Let this Yom Kippur clean us and the whole world.

Let this Succos, when we bring sacrifices for all the seventy nations in the Holy Temple, restore dignity all the nations of the world.

There were never so many homeless people in New York as today and this phenomenon is actually all over the world. It is as if G-d is reminding us that if true humanity, true belief in G-d has no home in the world yet. Succos we are building a new home for G-d, for all of Israel and, via Israel, for the whole world.

Let the New Year be the year we have been waiting for.

Love,
Shlomo

New York, Elul 5748
Reprinted from Cong Kehilath Jacob News

I remember when I was a little boy. My tatte, my father, was such a sweet Jew, I could swear that there was not a second in his life when he was not thinking, “Moshiach is coming and we will be going to Yerushalayim.” I remember when I was little, I was sitting on my father’s knee and I asked him, “Can you teach me a melody from the holy Temple?” I shall never forget how my father started crying, and said to me, “We don’t know any melodies from the holy Temple. We don’t know any.” I said to my father, “I can’t believe it. How can we live without one note from the holy Temple?”

As time went by, just a few years ago, I met an old Yid who had just come from Siberia, by the holy wall. I asked him, “How did you survive in Siberia for ten years?” He said, “I was singing the whole time.” I had this flash in my head and I said, I can imagine that G-d must have revealed to you a melody from the holy Temple.” so he said to me, “I am in a direct line from the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal ShemTov said that the way we chant prayers on the High Holidays is like the way they did in the holy Temple.” It may not be one hundred percent, but it’s a little bit like that. Those melodies are so deep, that’s why they touch us so deeply.

All the Jews sing the same prayers. In the fifteenth century, there was a great Chazan in Maintz. He was a great Kabbalist. He was a divine musician. He stabilized all the melodies.

We have to keep to the nusach. The way he stabilized the melodies was that he knew exactly where each note reaches in heaven.

One beautiful prayer contains this phrase:

“ad aznecha bamarom, yoshev tehilla”,

Please, Ribbono Shel Olam, listen to me from the highest place in heaven, You Who Are Yoshev tehilla. I am a father. What is the sweetest thing in the world for a father? When his child says something good to him. You can give me two million dollars (I need it sometimes.) But, how does that compare to when my children say something good to me. G-d is the same way. When His children get together in this world to sing His praises — He Is sitting on it, so to speak. When G-d hears us singing, He feels it is worthwhile to be G-d, just to hear that.

The end of this phrase is

“lishmoa el harena ve-el hatefillah”

G-d, listen to our singing and to our prayers. To our singing first.

Sometimes, I am angry at my child, yelling and screaming at her. Suddenly, in the middle of my yelling, there is a fire. What do I do? I take my baby and carry her out with the greatest love in the world. This shows that the yelling didn’t reach very deep.

We are saying to G-d, it’s true our mistakes are very heavy. But, we know that on a certain level, our mistakes never even reach that high. There is one place where our relationship to G-d is so deep.

In a business deal, I have to offer something. If I walk into a bank, unless I have money in there, I can’t take anything out. If I walk into a store, I must have the exact amount of money to buy something. If I tell them I’m a little bit short, they won’t sell to me.

In a certain way, I am coming to G-d in heaven and I am saying,”Ribbono shel olam, give me a good year.” G-d says to me, “Let’s see how much you have.” I say to G-d, “The truth is, I have nothing. I’m not coming to buy. I’m coming to beg.”

When my child asks me for a favor, do I ask her for something in return? We say to G-d, “Please, don’t deal with us on a business level.”

I want to share something very deep with you. You know, I walk in Yerushalayim and see all my friends. I’m so glad to see every person. But, imagine, I am in the Fiji Islands and I don’t know anybody and suddenly, I see a Jew from Yerushalayim! Imagine how good I feel!

The unholy people have something that the holy don’t know. The holy people are sure G-d is everywhere, so, when they meet G-d, it doesn’t amaze them. But, people who aren’t holy, for them G-d seems far away and when suddenly, they discover that G-d is right there – it’s a great discovery for them.

“Obikashtem misham omatzatem ki tidrishenubechal levavech obechal nafshecha”

And you shall seek from there, and you shall find (Him), if you seek with all your heart.

This is a story the Heliege Rizhiner would tell every year, on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. One time, Rosh Hashanah was very heavy. The whole world, especially Yidden, was on the scale of justice and the side of the sins was very heavy. So, the heilege Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev ran and stole all the sins from the scale. He took them off the scale and they just disappeared. Suddenly, there was a voice in heaven: “What’s going on here? Who stole all the sins of the Jews?” There was another voice proclaiming” Levi Yitzchak, ben Sorah Sasha stole all the aveiros (sins).” Okay, the heavenly court gets together. And, you know, if you steal something you have to pay double. Can Rebbe Levi Yitzhakl, one human being, pay for all the sins of the Jews? No, he cannot pay. Especially not double. Comes the next question: What happens when a person steals and cannot pay? He is sold as a slave. According to simple law, to Halacha, if a person steals and cannot pay, he is sold as a slave. So, the holy court announces that Rebbe Levi Yitzchak cannot pay and he has to be sold as a slave. They begin to auction off Rebbe Levi Yitzchak. They call out: “Who wants to buy Rebbe Levi Yitzchak?” There is another voice in heaven, the Ribbono Shel Olam Himself. “LeKonehavodov badin” (To the one who buys His servants with justice).Ribbono shel Olam says: “I am buying Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev.” Therefore, “Le-Rachem avodov bedin,” therefore, G-d is compassionate.

Do you know what this means? We all know some people whose scale is not so good. Imagine if I decide that before Yom Kippur, I am going to steal all your sins. You know what happens to us after that? We are becoming the disciples of G-d after that. So, in heaven, they auction us off. Who wants to buy a little Jew like you and me? Only G-d.

On Rosh Hashanah night, when you bless somebody with a good year, it’s not just like wishing someone a good Shabbos. On Rosh Hashanah night, when you bless somebody with a good year, you are telling them: “Tomorrow, I am going to steal away all your sins. I shall steal away our sins. I shall cover up for you.”

I want you to know something very deep. What was the downfall of the world? How did the downfall begin? The first person who did something wrong was our mother Eve. The Kotsker Rebbe said that he wished that one time in his life he would stand before G-d in so much holiness, on Yom Kippur, like Eve did when she stood before G-d after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The downfall of the world was, when G-d said to Adam: “Why did you eat the fruit?” and he answered, “It is Eve’s fault.” Is this how he loved his wife? We are created in G-d’s image. Is this what you think G-d is all about? He should have said: “It’s all my fault.” He should have covered up for her.

If, G-d forbid, my child would do something wrong and someone will come and ask: “Who did that?” I will say, “I did.” When I love somebody, I cover for her.

We see the influence of the Tree of Knowledge. We are not permitted to lie. We have to tell the truth. So, when G-d asked Adam what happened, he blamed it all on Eve. He didn’t cover for his wife. He did not act like a mentsch. That’s why G-d said to him: “Get out of my Paradise.”

I want you to know, the deepest depths of Rosh Hashanah is that we cover for each other. We each say to G-d, “It’s all my fault. “Who is a Cohen Gadol (a High Priest)? If somebody killed another person, innocently without wanting to, the Cohen Gadol is responsible for it. The Gemara says, if you are a Cohen Gadol, why didn’t you pray that it shouldn’t happen?

In the Passover Haggadah, we have the four sons. One of them is wise and one is evil. The evil one is not the opposite of the wise one. No, tzadik is the opposite of evil. Why is not one of the sons called tzadik instead of wise? So, I learn peshat for myself. The wise one thinks he’s very clever — he’s a Rebbe, he’s a Rosh yeshiva. So, how come, in his neighborhood, there is a rasha, an evil man? He couldn’t even get through to him, so he’s surely not a tzadik.

Yom Kippur, we stand before G-d and say:

“I did everything wrong. Forgive me.”

On Rosh Hashanah my fixing is not that I am telling G-d my own mistakes. Rosh Hashanah, it’s the other way around. I say to G-d, “Ribbono Shel Olam, the way You created the world, the whole world should know that there is one G-d. And, I’m so afraid that if that didn’t happen yet, that it’s my entire fault.” On Rosh Hashanah, I am covering for the whole world.

There are two kinds of Torahs and two kinds of relationships in the world. There is a relationship where somebody gives me everything without my asking that person and there is something so much deeper –asking. There are some things that you cannot give without asking if the other person wants it. You cannot marry a woman unless you ask her first. The asking is so deep.

When G-d gave us the Torah, He asked us first if we want it and we answered,

“Na’ase venishma.”

We didn’t run after G-d asking, please give us the Torah. G-d didn’t ask Avraham if he wanted Eretz Israel; He said, “I am giving it to you.” So, what was missing was, we never ran after G-d begging Him for Eretz Yisrael. We had to go into exile, we had to go through all the mistakes, and we have to wait for Moshiach because He will only come when we beg for Him. Eretz Yisrael, the real Eretz Yisrael, the Moshiach Eretz Yisrael, will only be given to us when we beg for it.

There is Pesach, the getting out of Egypt when G-d didn’t ask. He just took us out. Pesach Sheni, the second Pesach, was given because the people were begging Moshe, “We lost the first Pesach. Give us Pesach Sheni.”

When people make mistakes in their relationships, if, instead of just saying, “I’m sorry”, they ask for another chance, it’s so much deeper.

There are two Torahs. There is Mount Sinai, the Torah from heaven that we learned from Moshe Rabbenu. And then, there is the Torah that we learned from Aharon HaCohen, the Torah of Yerushalayim, of Eretz Yisrael, the Torah of the Beis HaMikdash, the Torah of Teshuva. In short, there is the Torah of Moshiach ben Yosef, the tzadik who does everything right. The Torah of Teshuva, Mashiach’s Torah, is the Torah of mistakes. It is David HaMelech’s Torah. Yosef the Tzadik didn’t make any mistakes; he was holy from beginning to end. Yehuda made mistakes; he did everything wrong. Saul made one mistake and he was finished. David made many mistakes and still, David chai vekayam, David is still our king. Saul was the child of Rachel, Rachel the tzadekes. Saul was not supposed to make mistakes. David, from the beginning on was making mistakes, but, after every mistake, he said, “I’m sorry”, and ran right back to G-d.

The question is not how much you love each other when you love each other. The question is how much do you love each other when you hate each other? The question is not how much you love G-d when you love Him. The question is, how much are you running back to Him when you do something wrong?

Sometimes, I have the privilege of being with Jews who don’t keep Shabbos, but, gevalt, are they longing for Shabbos. They are not longing for the type of Shabbos that most frum people have — some chicken soup, some noodles, the Jewish Press. They are really longing for the Yom shekulo Shabbos, for the true Shabbos, the real Shabbos, which is so much deeper. The Torah, the Torah of rules, is very holy. You learn it and you do it. The Torah of mistakes reaches the deepest depths of our being.

Moshe Rabbenu is the master of Mount Sinai. Aharon HaCohen is the master of the Beis HaMikdash. Aharon is the one who made the Golden Calf. Aharon was the master of mistakes.

G-d gave us the Torah of non-mistakes. On Mount Sinai, G-d asked us if we want it, and we said yes. As for the Torah of mistakes, we have to run after G-d to get it.

As for the Eretz Yisrael which G-d gave to Avraham, we have it. It belongs to us. But, this is not the Eretz Yisrael of Mashiach.

What is the holiness of a house? What is the difference if I live by somebody else or if I live in my own house? When I live with somebody else, if I knock on the door at four in the morning and I am drunk or I’m dirty, they might not let me in. My house is the place where I can go after all the mistakes. I can always get in.

Today, when so many young people are doing teshuva, we cannot ask them, “Why were you following that guru, why did you go to the Moonies?” Teshuva means that they are coming home. We cannot ask them anything. They are just coming back home. They must come home and we must be so glad they are back. We do not say a word.

The downfall of the world was caused by two things. The first is that Chava ate, and gave Adam to eat, the forbidden fruit. But, we were not driven out from Paradise at that moment. We were driven out when G-d asked Adam and Chava, “What’s going on here.” Chava should have jumped up and said, “I’m sorry. It was all my fault.” And Adam should have said, “I’m sorry. It was my entire fault. I should have told her better.”

What is the first sign of people loving each other? That they cover for each other. A house is a cover. Loving somebody is a cover. The beginning of a chupah, of a marriage, is that the husband covers the face of the bride. He is telling her, I won’t be like Adam who said, “Chava did it.” I’ll cover for you.

What did Aharon do when he walked into the Holy of Holies? He would say, “Ribbono Shel Olam, it’s all my fault.” Aharon is the Anan haKaovd, the cloud. On Yom Kippur Aharon says, “It’s all my fault.”

The Succah covers every Jew and every Jew says, “It’s all my fault.” On Simchat Torah, we dance with the Torah when it’s covered. The Torah covers for us. Until Simchat Torah, I open the covers Torah and I feel guilty. The Torah makes us feel guilty. On Simchat Torah, the Torah covers us. We don’t kiss the Torah, we only kiss the cover. We only kiss what covers for us.

Children dance the most on Simchat Torah. Parents are covering for their children. When babies are born, we cover them. When a baby is born, the mother doesn’t go to the Temple for one week or two weeks. Why? The mother is saying to her baby, “I shall cover for you. I am already not going to the Temple for a while. I am already covering what you will do wrong in your life.”

First of all, we ate from the Tree of Knowledge. That is not the tree of mistakes. According to the Tree of Knowledge, there is no such thing as covering for someone. If somebody did something wrong, let them fix it themselves.

Why is lashon hara such a sin? According to the Tree of Knowledge, lashon hara is not a sin. If you saw somebody do something, why not tell? You’re telling the truth. The moment Adam and Chava ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they didn’t cover for each other.

Why is the Temple the deepest fixing? Because Aharon HaCohen is coming again.

We have Gemara on almost everything. But, we have no masechta for loving each other, none for doing teshuva. Why not? Because this is the Torah of Moshiach, the Torah of the third Temple, the Torah of Aharon, of covering for each other.

How does Aharon cure the one who speaks lashon hara? Aharon comes and says, “Ribbono Shel Olam. It’s all my fault.” The person who speaks lashon hara can only be cured when it is clear to him that there is only one way to live in that world — to cover for each other.

The husband covers the bride’s face. The kallah gives him back a tallis. He covers her eyes, but she gives him back a tallis which covers all of him. A tallis covers until techivat hamaytim, until the dead will rise. When Yehuda left Tamar, he left with her a sign. The Zohar says that he left her with tallis and tefillin. Tefillin is the cover. Tallis is the ultimate covering. This was the beginning of bringing Moshiach. She was saying you have to cover for me. Everybody knows Boaz was the neshama of Yehuda and Ruth was the neshama of Tamar. When Ruth said, “And you will spread your wings over your servant”, she brought back the tallis which Yehuda gave to Tamar and she said, “Now, put it over me.” I wish every one of us a Good Year, a year in which we shall all cover for each other and we shall all be forgiven.

Brooklyn, Elul 5745

Transcribed by Rivka Haut for Connections