Succos - Waters of Appreciation

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast recorded with hashem's never- ending assistance inap Israel 2015 this week we don't have a par we do have V the end of the Torah coming up I'd like to share a little bit about V but mainly some ideas about sukus and the idea that came up for me the one of the main themes actually of sucus which may not be known or may not be well known is the concept of rain the concept of water we have a few different examples of this that are explicit and we also have some examples of it which are implied some of the examples that are explicit is that we know the the gamor says in rashash that there are four times of the year that the world is judged one of them the most famous obviously is is the month of Tish is rashash is the beginning of the month of Tish so we have the Judgment that occurs then and that's a general or more General the Pas a simple understanding of the of the gumar is or the mishna is there's a more enal judgment that occurs decisions are made based on what we've done in previous years what's going to happen in the in the coming year but besides for rashash the gor tells us there are three other times of the year that there's a judgment there's a decision that's made what's going to be for the coming year and one of them is during suus the says that during sukus during this holiday that we're in right now there's a judgment there's a decision that's made in regard to what's going to happen with our water what's going to happen with the rain rain what's going to be in a Israel the land of Israel is dependent very much very deeply on the rainfall other places are not that way MIT classically it has the Nile River to provide for its needs and many other places it rains much more than Inn land of Israel sometimes but a Israel is dependent very much on on its water for the crops and for the growth and for the fruits Etc so AR the gamor tells us that that judgment takes place on sukus in fact at the end of sukus this is another example of it at the end of sukus we start asking for rain whereas previously during the months of the summer we've been asking we we mentioned that God brings down the do we begin at the end of sukus to to mention the fact that hasm brings down the rain God makes the wind blow and he brings down the rain so those are two examples of the fact that we speak about rain but another of them which is very much connected the gor tells us that part of the reason that we do this ritual is because of the fact that we're going to be judged on the rain but the ritual is What's called the it's the the drawing the the rejoicing of the drawing of the water they would go down to the shiloah to the river that runs through Jerusalem which today is known as the the the river of shil and it's also referred to as the silwan river they would go down there they would bring back water which they would pour on the M on the altar in the temple and accompanying this this special the pouring of the water on the which was something which was which we received Moses received this as a special law it's not explicit in the Torah but it is something that we have a tradition about so accompanying this ritual the Jewish people would have a tremendous rejoicing the the gamor describes the rejoicing that would take place in the temple that accompanied this ritual the the rejoicing of the House of the drawing of the of the water of the drawing of this water and placing it on the altar there would be tremendous amount of music and dancing that s the righteous would dance the B would dance the gar gives a whole description and it says if you have never seen rejoicing of the the Festival of the drawing of the of the water then you've never seen you've never seen a true rejoicing in your life so there was an incredible joy that occurred there was an incredible rejoicing that occurred and it surrounded this special ritual now what's interesting which I believe I mentioned last week is that the ritual the as T says at the beginning of the fifth peric of Suka the the one of the commentaries there on the tractate of Suka says that a companying besides for the being a drawing of of the water it was also a drawing ofes that there was divine if a person would get divine inspiration many times if a person came into the temple experienced this intense Joy experienced the rejoicing around the drawing of the of the water there would also be a drawing of divine presence of divine inspiration of rues that would occur alongside that incredible experience so somehow we see already we're getting the beginnings of the fact that somehow there's a connection between the divine inspiration and the concept of water the water the rains that we're we're waiting for the rains that the water that we're pouring on the M on the altar there's a connection between them and a connection to God somehow as a result of that now we don't need to look very far to think about what is the connection you know the rain is something which represents the the life-giving force that Hashem gives to us in order to cause all of the things to grow all the things that are going to sustain us throughout the coming year and that are going to give us life those are all contained within that lifegiving water the water the rain that comes from heaven right the the clouds which contain that water they're up in the heavens which is a representation and a certain sense of God so God is up there in the heavens of course God fills the entire Earth as well but you know classically we think about God as being in heaven so the rain comes down from the heaven it comes down from the clouds and it comes down into the onto the Earth and into our lives and gives us life so there's again this connection between us and God but important to understand think about the fact that beyond the subsistence level there's also a parallel somehow which we need to understand the depth of but there's a parallel to the aspect of divine inspiration to a deeper connection to God not just on the surface level not just superficially but on a deeper level on an intuitive level on a spiritual level now in thinking about this and thinking about sukus and thinking about the idea of water I realized that even in the very Mitzvah of lul love the MIT of Suka which don't per se immediately seem to have to do with water I believe that there is a very deep and important connection that really holds a foundational idea which we can take with us that's connected to the concept of water and thinking about let's look at the Suka because it's much more obvious there and the Suka so we know that the the the covering the the roof of our Suka part of it is meant to remind us it's it's to bring us to the recognition of the fact that there was a great kindness that God did for our ancestors and for us when we were traveling through the Wilderness when during those 40 years after we left Egypt and we were coming to Earth Isel to the land of Israel so God surrounded us with the clouds of his glory the gor tells us on Su from on page 11b that Hashem surrounded us with his glory and as a result of that we are meant to remember this by covering ourselves with a with a special Suka which is covered with and that reminds us somehow of the idea of the clouds of God's glory that he protected us with in the midbar in the wilderness as we traveled and obviously you look at the clouds what is the idea of a cloud it's interesting and it needs it requires thought exactly why is it that Hashem manifests himself in a cloud what's the idea of that but I think it's very much connected to what we've said and the clouds though themselves are made out of droplets of water and the clouds usually if we're going to receive rain the rain comes from the clouds so the clouds represent the life-giving force of God and God was there with us surrounding us with these clouds in you know we were enveloped in these clouds throughout our time in the wilderness and so the clouds represent God's protection of us and we remind oursel of this with the the to is something which is full of water what do I mean it's full of water it's it's pieces of wood and the answer is very much connected to what I'm going to say the idea I'm going to say in regards to Lula and the that the idea of the is that this is something that once Grew From the ground these are the requirements of has to be detached from the ground but it once Grew From the ground and now it's detached and it was not made into any kind of vessel it wasn't like let's say take a p piece of wood and you make it into a chair you can't use that for your but you can you can use anything That Grew From the ground that's what's permitted to be used and the idea is that that was something which was infused with God's life it was infused with rain it grew from the ground and it's something that can remind us and bring us back to the clouds of God's glory now what's interesting is that the Lula and ASO also are items which Grew From the ground and represent different aspects of creation it's representing the trees and and each thing has its own representation the arazel tell us what each of the elements of the four species represents but the idea is as I understand it again it's something which grows from the ground this is something which represents the produce of the previous year it's specifically something which is new it's I doesn't always have to be but generally speaking it can't be dried out it can't be old it has to be something that's grown over the last 12 months in fact there are people who actually have a special prayer onto bishvat which is a few months back they they're praying that they should have a nice ESR that the proper ESR which is meant for them should grow and it should be beautiful so there's an idea that the ESR and the the other of the of the four species the Lula of the the palm branch they all represent the produce the the growth that's happened as a result of the rain of the previous year and I was thinking about it in terms of the fact that we take the produce of the previous year and we look toward the rain we look at the rain what's what it's produced previously and we look toward the future and we ask Hashem for rain to come in abundance in the coming year it's very much connected to the idea of the Aros the AR which is one of the four elements of the lul of that of that bundle that we take the AR we do a special thing on the last day on the seventh day on on H Raba we all of the days of sukus we've been taking our lul van and we've been surrounding going around the the what we call our what what Parallels for us in our m in our synagogues with parallels the M the altar is the is the beima is the central place where we read the Torah and we go around that area on sukus and on the seventh day of sukus we go around seven times and we also take a special bundle of arus of of the willow branches and we have a special Mitzvah to hold on to those as we pray that God send us rain as we pray that we have a successful year in our parnos in our livelihood Etc and part of the idea the AR also are something which is referred to as it's something which grows on a tremendous amount of water it's Aral the Aros the willow branches are something which Grows by the river they're mush they also are long leaves which remind us of the idea of the river they're long like a river and the idea again of the arus is it's something you know everybody knows if you if you don't take proper care of your Aras they're going to dry out very quickly they're going to dry out very easily and so we need a lot of water in order to maintain those Aros also the Aros of the four species each one of them represents a different part of claw Isel different aspect of the Jewish people the esrog it has a smell it has a taste it represents the sadik who they have Mitzvah they have Torah they have many different merits for themselves and different parts represent different things but the Arabic have no smell and they have no taste and thus they represent those the Jew those amongst the Jewish people who don't have the deepest connection to Hashem that don't have that that the Torah and the mitzah perhaps as a merit for them but nevertheless God is still giving them life God is still instilling them with lifegiving force and that's the idea of the Aris again connecting us back to the concept of water of the fact that without water without that connection to Hashem water represents the connection to Hashem represents that life that life force that Hashem wants to instill within us to give us life in order that we should be able to have an opportunity to connect with him and to bring to raise up to bring this world to a greater spiritual level now I was thinking about this in terms of what we said already which is that we look at the past we look at the the lul the arim we look at the we look at what we have received in the Bounty that we've received in the past year and we look toward the future and we ask for more we say Hashem you've given us so much good Hashem we look at it we look you know we walk into the we we enter into the Suka and we're surrounded with our family and it's a special time the holidays are a special time to spend time with our families and we look at the Bounty that we've received we look at the good that we have and we say Hashem we appreciate so much what you've given to us thank you so much and we say look at the the AR look at the the rain the produce of the previous year look at the which covers Us and reminds us of the Clouds Of Glory of the rain that's fallen in the in past years of how you've protected us so much in past years and we say we take that c that appreciation and we look to the Future and we say Hashem please continue to give us this good please continue to give us this bounty please bless our year the coming year with even more rain and we take the water from The Shilo we take that water from the river that runs through Jerusalem and we offer it on the MB we offer it on the Altar and we say look God we believe that the water that we have until now is your gift and we ask you God to please continue to bestow upon us The Gift of Water The Gift of Life alongside that amazingly beautifully poetically is the fact that we have thees we have the divine presence we have that that connection to God which is very much the mush Andy the analogy analogous to the water we have that connection that R the divine inspiration which we are shave which we draw on sukus how do we draw that inspiration how do we draw that connection to God one of the ways that we do that is through the appreciation that we have through recognizing the good that God has done for us in the past recognizing The rain that's Fallen in past years recognizing our family looking at the the amazing blessings that we have look at our spouse look at our children look at those around us look at our parents look at all the things that we have the amazing things that we gather into this Suka with us looking at the past and and praying for the future it opens up our hearts it opens it's just an expansion that occurs you know something the kazal tell us or SES tell us that when it came to divine inspiration when it came toes when it came to n it wasn't something that person could earn it wasn't something that came as a result of specific actions yes a person had to prepare themselves a person had to to to take certain actions they had to do whatever it was that was necessary but the gift the the the gift ofes came as a gift it came from Hashem at the moment that a person may not have been expecting it the only exception to this rule was M but every single other person who ever received any kind of divine inspiration was always a gift it was always something which gave them as a gift and and so the idea is that rues the divine inspiration the connection to God is something yes we need to prepare ourselves for yes we need to take actions on but it's something that's a gift it's something that we receive perhaps as we as we expand our mind as we become ready to receive the gift that God wants to give us how do we become ready to receive that gift again it's through expansion it's through a recognition of the good that I've already received connecting to my family family amazing thing I was just in Jerusalem last night and I was watching the the incredible amount of people that were coming in it was it was it was evening I came at around 6:30 7:00 at night and and I got to the cotel to the Western Wall it was around around 8:00 we're walking back it was 9 9:30 and just amazing to see how many people it was almost overwhelming but what I was thinking about what I mentioned to my family was that in the times of the bigdash in the times of the temple you would come into Jerusalem and there would be all of a sudden you'd feel expanded the the you know the there was so many people throngs and throngs of people coming to Jerusalem to experience that experience at the temple to experience a divine revelation a divine inspiration and you would come there and you would feel this expanded Consciousness and even though it was so squished even though it was so tight inside of the temple was so tight there was no room to move but everyone no no one ever said s m amazing thing can you imagine that a little kid no adults nobody ever complained that it was too tight because what happens is when you're in that expanded Consciousness when you're in that place of divine inspiration when you're in that place I beg to say I dare to say of of appreciation which expands a person's awareness expands a person's Consciousness when a person is in that place the result is that all are included all are included in one's heart and even though it's tight and even though it's it's it's I can't even move but there's no feeling of I can't move there's no expression of the fact that it's too tight here all one sees all one feels is love all one feels is yid feels a connection to others and here's where we come to this week's par to which we're going to read at the end of suus on Tor and one of theim there speaks about this idea speaks about the fact that the divine presence there was a specific location where the divine presence always was Mas always plac his divine presence and that was in the portion of bamin of Benjamin Benyamin was the last of the tribes he was the youngest he was yosef's younger brother and he was the last one he was born in the land of Israel he was only the only one of the tribes that was born in the land of Israel and the Torah tells us that that there was a blessing that mosha gave to this tribe to The Tribe of Benjamin m says to to Benjamin he said love the beloved one of God which ra explains is a reference to the divine presence will place itself will dwell upon Him upon upon Benjamin the divine presence hovers above him all day all of the time between his shoulders between his his shoulder blades as it were in that space is where God places his divine presence and it's amazing thing if you think about Benjamin who is Benyamin what's special about Benyamin what's the amazing thing in the whole rivalry between Joseph and his brothers he was the only one that was excluded from the Rivalry he was not involved in any way shape or form bamin is the one who represents the untainted he didn't come in from he wasn't born in Kar he wasn't born outside of Israel he has this Purity he has this love for all of his brothers there's there's no animosity between him and any of his brothers and the result of that is you that the dear one of God the word you did which as we said says is referring to the divine presence that's the that's the Merit perhaps why Benjamin is the one who merits to have the divine presence upon him in his portion the the the base the temple the holy of holies was always in the portion of Benjamin whether when when it was in Jerusalem or whether it was in Shilo when the Mishka the Tabernacle was in Shilo it was always in the portion of benj and what's amazing is that the the reference to the is the beloved one of God and the word did is made up of two words Yad Yad which means that you have a hand and a hand because when a person is in the divine presence when a person is in that space he becomes like Benjamin he becomes like benjam there's no animosity there's only love there's only connection when a person again is in appreciation for all that they have when a person is in love with his family when a person is in love with all of those around him so then the result is that there's only space there's only there's only an expansion that results which includes everyone and when a person is in that space the result is that he can pray I can pray for rain rain is something that doesn't just fall from me doesn't just fall on my crops it falls on everyone's crops it's it's something which is providing for the entire people for the entire Jewish people in the land of Israel if I can be expanded and be able to include through my appreciation not just myself not just what I have not just the the things that I see but if I can expand and include everyone so that I can pray for God to give reain and abundance not just for me not just on my family but on all of CLA Israel on all of the Jewish people on all of the land of Israel and on all of the world I want to bless you and please bless me back Hashem should help us that we should be able to be to Merit this expansion the idea of the Reign Merit should be able to see appreciate all the good that God does for us all of the good that God has given to us in the in the past year and Hashem should help us to be able to pray with a full heart for our own good for the expansion for the prosperity of the coming year not just for ourselves but for all of those around us in our communities and in the broader community and in the entire world thank you so much for listening have a wonderful chabas wonderful sukus and a wonderful this podcast was made possible through the gracious donation of listeners like you for more podcasts like this please visit www.wag.com or search on iTunes Ari goldwag [Music]