T here’s an enigmatic phrase in a piyut that some recite on the second day of Succos that speaks of the various ways in which to fulfill the mitzvah of Succah. Among those it lists are a Jew’s “entries into and exits from the succah.” Entering the succah sure — but leaving it? How can departing from that holy abode play a role in this mitzvah?
One answer might be that indeed one of the many things the succah has to teach us (if only we spend enough time there to tune in to its frequency) is the Jewish way to leave it particularly when forced to do so by inclement weather. The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 3b) describes a future scene that will unfold in the End of Days when the gentile nations desperate for the reward accruing to those who keep G-d’s commandments will be given the mitzvah of Succah to perform.
They enter their hastily constructed huts on the rooftops of their homes but not for very long. Hashem makes it unbearably hot for them causing them to leave in a huff and on their way out they give the succah a swift kick for good measure. And with that whatever claim they might have had evaporates into thin air.
The Gemara notes that it’s not the fact of their leaving that proves Hashem’s point; the halachah is after all that oppressive heat exempts one from the mitzvah of Succah. It’s the way they leave that says so much indicating that they haven’t a clue as to what this mitzvah is all about.
