Why HaKadosh Baruch Hu uses succah as the litmus test to determine whether the nations of the world deserve reward
Yet in a piyut for Succos we learn that the mitzvah of succah is equivalent in value to all the mitzvos. The Toras Chaim explains (Avodah Zarah 3a) that although there are other mitzvos also said to be equivalent to the whole Torah, each of these other mitzvos involves certain disadvantages: Shabbos incurs a monetary cost because one must set his work aside; the techeiles in tzitzis is very expensive; milah is very painful. But the mitzvah of succah involves no difficulty, and this is why, when the nations of the world demand an opportunity to do mitzvos, Hashem chooses to test them with a succah.
It would seem that succah is indeed an easy mitzvah. The mitzvah itself requires no exertion — all a person has to do is enter the succah and sit down, and he has already fulfilled the mitzvah. But if we only knew how to extract the true value of this mitzvah, we’d be able to understand why HaKadosh Baruch Hu uses it as the litmus test to determine whether the nations of the world deserve reward for their deeds.
From my teacher and grandfather, the gaon Rav Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel ztz”l, chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, I learned several lessons we can glean from the mitzvah of succah:
The succah is a temporary dwelling. A person must remember that his entire life on this earth is temporary, whether his daily life is one of wealth or poverty, comfort or constraint, whether he lives in a palace or a dark cellar. The mitzvah to dwell in the succah lasts seven days, symbolizing the seven decades of human life (as the pasuk says, “Yemei shenoseinu shiv’im shanah”). Whoever forgets this and thinks he is here forever is sadly mistaken. He is in for a bitter disappointment.
Create a free account to keep reading.
