Succos - Ascending the Spiritual Mountain

You're listening to the weekly parsha podcast with Ari Goldwag, recorded with the Shamash never ending assistance in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, 5787, 2026. This week we don't have a parsha, we have the holiday of Sukkot. This shabbat, next shabbat, will be Simchat Torah. And I like to share with you a thought about Sukkot, a very deep idea that's connected to two different concepts that are spoken about in the Gemara in Sukkah on daf mem tet on page 49. And one concept has to do with a unique and special mitzvah that we do on Sukkot in the Beit Hamikdash, in the Holy Temple. So you might be familiar with the idea of a Simchat Beit Hasho'evah which is the incredible celebration that the Jewish people would would involve themselves in during the days of Sukkot. And we today remind ourselves of what took place in the Beit Hamikdash, in the Temple that had to do with that amazing joy. And the joy had to do with Simchat Beit Hasho'evah means the drawing. They were rejoicing in the drawing of the water. It's a deep idea, beautiful idea. Uh Ushavtem mayim besason mimayanei hayeshua. They would draw water. They would take the water and pour it onto the mizbeach, onto the altar. Right? We're we're probably more familiar with the offerings that were brought of different animals. And there were flower offerings and there were wine libations, but on Sukkot there was a special mitzvah of pouring water onto the shittin, which were these holes, special holes that were in the altar. And the holes would go down, the Gemara says, into the center of the earth. And these holes, where they would pour the water the Gemara says were created. These holes were part of creation. Hashem created these holes that go down to the center of the earth during the six days of creation. The Gemara says, I know I'm giving you a lot of information you might not be familiar with. The Gemara also says that part of the reason that we would pour this water onto the mizbe'ach was as an offering to Hashem. We always offer something to Hashem when we're praying for something that we need. We want to show that we believe that this is something that comes from Hashem. For example, on on Pesach, we bring a special korban. And the korban has to do with the thing that we're getting judged about in on Pesach. The Gemara says this in Rosh Hashanah. On Sukkot, the Gemara tells us that we're being judged about the rain that's going to come in our Israel in the Middle East. So, the rainy season starts around Sukkot time, a little after Sukkot. The winter is the time when there's rain, the summer there's no rain in in Israel pretty much. >> [snorts] >> So, we're being judged about what's going to happen in the coming months. How much rain is there going to be? How much sustenance will we have, right? Cuz the rain is that which provides us with the nutrients to grow the crops that are in Israel. So, we show and we recognize and we offer an offering to Hashem and that's the water. We pour this water onto the mizbe'ach, into these shitin, into these special holes that go down to the center of the earth. And by making this offering to Hashem, we are showing God we believe >> [snorts] >> we know that the water is all yours. The rain that we're going to have, the sustenance that we're going to have, it's all from you. And we are praying that you judge us positively and bring about your decision to bring bring plentiful rain. So, that's one of the things that we do on Sukkot. And interestingly, the Gemara says that not only were they show if they would draw the water from the Mayim Shiloh, the Siloam River, they would bring that water pour it onto the miz bayach onto the altar, but this drawing of the water also brought along with it not only pouring this libation of the water, but it also drew with it Ruach Hakodesh. They were drawing as they drew this water, they also were drawing divine inspiration. That was part of what was happening. And the Gemara says, Tosafot says that that was the Beit Hasho'eivah, the joy, the simcha of the Simchat Beit Hasho'eivah. What was this joy? What was the intense joy? They were dancing and singing and just an amazing spectacle, an amazing scene in the Beit Hamikdash, which we emulate. What was it about? It was about the connection that we have to Hashem. It was about the divine inspiration that Hashem gives us, especially when we're involved in mitzvahs, when we're involved in doing Hashem's will. So, we're pouring this water, or we are requesting of Hashem to have a good year as far as our sustenance and as far as the rain, and at the same time we are drawing down divine inspiration and connection to Hashem. We're saying, "Hashem, we want to receive the light and the love that you want to give us." Okay, so that's all contained in this special mitzvah of drawing water on Sukkot. Now, in the context of this, we come to our second idea, which is true for all of the the Shalosh Regalim, there were three holidays that the Jewish people would all come up to Jerusalem and indeed today we still emulate this as well. We can't go to the Beit Hamikdash, there's no temple, but we can go to Jerusalem, Yerushalayim. Can come to our holy capital city. And three times a year, Pesach Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, this holiday that we're approaching today, tonight. The following days. There was a mitzvah of Aliyah L'Regel. Interesting language. There was an obligation to Aliyah means as you know the word Aliyah means to go up. L'Regel the word regel means literally to the foot. But it also means a regel, the the regalim are the the three different holidays are called regalim. Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot are called regalim. And the reason is the word regel, which means a foot, also can mean something that's common. Ragil in Hebrew means common. And it also it means something that happens it there's like a you know, when you're walking so one foot goes down then the next foot goes down and the next foot goes down and the next foot goes down. So there are stations so to speak in the year. And the stations, the regalim, where the feet fall those feet perhaps we'll get a little bit of a depth about of what those feet are that are falling, but those feet represent the places where we have on one hand a din, there's a judgement on Pesach on on Shavuot and on Sukkot, they're times of closeness to Hashem, times of connection to God. And each of them has their own their own character, of course. Their own connection. Pesach has its own special mitzvahs. Shavuos has its special mitzvahs. Sukkos has its special commandments. The Sukkos The Sukkos ones are the most obvious. I mean, Pesach we eat the matzah. We don't have chametz in our house. Sukkos, we build the sukkah, which represents the Ananei Hakavod, the clouds of Hashem's glory. And, of course, we have the the mitzvah of lulav and esrog. We bring together the four species. We shake them. But, the mitzvah of Aliyah L'regel means that on the regel, which means on the holiday, on the place where that foot falls, the three times a year, so we are obligated to come up to Jerusalem. To make a pilgrimage to Yerushalayim. So, it's called Aliyah L'regel. Okay? Now, I'd like to read to you the Gemara. The Gemara says something which seems to be difficult to understand. Da'ah Shmuel. Gemara is in Sukkah 49b. Rabbi says the following. Ma'i dichsiv? Ma yaftu pa'amayich banetzulim bas nadiv. The verse says in Shir Hashirim, I'd like to actually read to you the entire verse. It's at the very beginning of chapter 7. So, the first verse of chapter 7, and we're trying to understand these verses. That's what Rabbi is coming to explain. We're going to get back to the Gemara. The verse says, Shuvi, Shuvi, Hashulamis. Come back, oh come back, oh perfect one. It's a refer- a reference to the Jewish people. Shuvi, Shuvi, Venechzehbach. Come back to the that I can see you. And, interestingly, the Gra points out that there's two references in this verse. There's Shulamis, which means perfect one or complete one, shalem. There's Nechzehbach, I will see you. And seeing and perfection are both two parts of the of the names of the of the city of Jerusalem, right? Which of course is not a coincidence in this context. Yira, Yerushalayim means Yira and Shalem. Yira is to see because Avraham Avinu, we're going to talk about Avraham Avinu. Abraham saw he was seen by God or he saw God. He saw a divine revelation. And Shalem is the perfect place, the place of peace, the place of perfection. So come back, oh perfect one, come back so I may see you. Hashem is speaking to Klal Yisrael, to the Jewish people. Ma tovecha b'shalom k'macholat machanayim. I want to see this perfect nation who has a double encampment. Which is a reference to the Jewish people as they encamped around the Beit Hamikdash, in the Temple. When they were around the around the Mishkan, I'm sorry. But also around the Temple. Right? So come back to to Yerushalayim. And then pasuk bet, which is our pasuk in the Gemara, says like this, "Ma yaftu pa'amayich b'na'alayich, bat nadiv." How beautiful are your footsteps, okay? We're going to have the regalim, which means the footsteps, as it were. That that I don't know if you're watching me, but if you're watching the video, you can see my hands. The foot step the foot comes down, then the next foot comes down, and the other foot picks up, etc., and it keeps going, like they alternate. Right? So there are footsteps. There's alternating points of the foot coming down in the world. Those are the regalim. How beautiful are your footsteps in your shoes, bat nadiv, the daughter of the generous one. Right? So who's the nadiv? Who is it referring to? Klal Yisrael is the bat nadiv, we are the daughter of the generous one. We'll see. So we're referring to Avraham Avinu. Abraham was the nadiv, the generous one. And then it refers to the Shitan. Remember we spoke about these these holes in the altar where they would pour the water. So Chamuke Yerechayich the hidden thighs which the Gemara says are are the uh are a reference to the hidden holes that go down into the center of the earth. K'may Chalaim Ma'aseh De'Amon they're made by by the craftsman. Who's the craftsman? Of course the master craftsman is Hashem himself, God. Who created during the six days of creation these special Shitan, these holes that go down to the center of the earth where we pour the water. Okay? A lot of ideas here, a lot of concepts. Let's try to understand this cuz there's a beautiful depth and beautiful lesson. So Rashi says, what is it referring to? How beautiful are the footsteps of the daughter of the generous one. Mayavu Pama'am Shali Yisrael It's referring to the footsteps of the Jewish people. How beautiful are they? Bashasha Olam L'regel. When the Jewish people come up to Yerushalayim for the Regel, for the Yom Tov. How beautiful are the footsteps? Bas Nadiv So who is it referring to? Bita Shel Avraham Avinu Shenikra Nadiv It's the the the children or the daughter, right? We are the daughters the kids of Avraham Avinu, Abraham. He was called a generous one, Shenemar. Where do we see that Avraham Avinu was called the generous one? And we'll see what a generous one means. Nedivei Amim Nesavu Amalek Avraham So at the end of the chapter until Lamentations Mem Zayin, 47, which we read seven times on Rosh Hashanah when we blew the shofar, which speaks about the future time when all the nations are going to come to Jerusalem. They're going to join the Jewish people in serving Hashem ultimately after the war of Gog and Magog. So, they come together to the nation of the God of Abraham. That's what the possuk says in Tehillim. The generous ones of the nations come together joining the nation of the God of Abraham. Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak v'Yaakov. Why does the possuk talk about the God of Avraham Avinu? What about Yitzchak and Yaakov? Elokei Avraham. Shiru Tehillos, Tehillah l'Geirim. What was What does it mean that he was an an adiv? Why was it Avraham Avinu who was the generous one? Avraham was the one who was the first of the Geirim, the first of the proselytes, the first one who What was he generous about? He generously gave up his life to the will of Hashem in his lifetime, the will of Hashem to do with his to do with to do God's will in any way that he could in his life, but also to teach others about God. So, Elokei Avraham means that the nations of the world will recognize that this is their opportunity to also join in serving Hashem properly after the incredible events which we're on the cusp of witnessing ourselves. But, they come they come to join the they to serve the God of Abraham, the God who of the man who was the first to convert, to become a Jew, okay? So, it's very Again, I know this is a lot of information, but we need to try to understand what is it? What is the concept? Why is it that they're coming What is the connection I would say between Aliyah L'Regel, which means that we're coming to uh serve God, to be present in the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem for the the holiday? What's the connection to legs, to feet? What is the idea of Avram being the first of the Gerim, of the proselytes? What is the What's the you know, in a Hameddish L'Dorosheini? The Meddish is not clear what it's saying. It's It's a Gemara, but it's a Meddish style Gemara. Now, there's a Marsha on this on this Gemara, which points out that what does the fact that Avram was a was a Ger have to do with anything? What does it have to do with Aliyah L'Regel? And the Marsha points out that Avram wasn't just a Ger, he wasn't just a proselyte, but he was the first person maybe the first Jew, we could say, to come to Yerushalayim. He brought his son, Yitzchak, in order to bring him as a sacrifice. He was ready to sacrifice his son to do the will of Hashem. He was Aliyah L'Regel. He came up to Jerusalem, to Yerushalayim, and that's where he experienced Hashem said, "Stop." Sent an angel that said, "Don't Don't slaughter your son. Instead, bring the Bring the ram." It's very much connected to very much connected to the to the blowing of the shofar. That's the the The shofar is the ram's horn. Let's leave that. But But Avram Avinu was Aliyah L'Regel. He came up to Yerushalayim. And he came up to sacrifice his son. So, therefore, says the Maharsha, that's the connection to Avraham Avinu. He's the one who's We're the children of Avraham who was the first one to come up to Yerushalayim. The question that I had when I read this Gemara and when I read the Maharsha was that what is the fact that he was ready to sacrifice his son have to do with the Gemara? The Gemara just says that he was the first of the Gerim. He was the first of the proselytes. It doesn't refer to the fact that he actually came up to Jerusalem. That's not That's as we say, "Ikar Hasima Na'asefa." If that's the p'shat, so then it doesn't say it in the Gemara at all. It just says that he's the first of the proselytes. That's the idea. So, so what's the connection here? What's the explanation? So, there's a Rashi on the pasuk. And Rashi says something very, very interesting. He says, again, I'm going to read the pasuk in Shir Hashirim. It says, "Mah yaftu pa'amayich ba'ana'alim, bat nadiv." How beautiful are your footsteps in the shoes? Which is an interesting language, right? The footsteps that you're wearing shoes have, you know, you wear shoes when you when you step. Bat nadiv, oh daughter of the generous one, "Chamukei yerachayich." The deepest depths of your the thighs, which we said again are those are those holes that go down all the way to the center of the earth, "Kemo chalu'im ma'aseh uman." They were created by by the ultimate craftsman. Says Rashi, "Dei'ah kodsho baruch hu." The hands they were crafted by the hands of God himself. The Maseches Sukkah, Maseches Sukkah, which is what we were reading from, "Uman k'uman shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu." Yisrael mekalsin otam lemalah lematah. He says like this. Listen to this Rashi. Okay? So, there's two different ways of praising. We're going to praise Hashem. Okay? That's part of what we do. We praise God. Right? But, how do we praise Hashem? When Clavius praises Hashem, Rashi says, so we praise Hashem from top to bottom. Which means to say, Matzliach Hashem K'ilu Hashem has buzz. We talk about the fact that Hashem his his head is has is full of gold. Right? We talk about the Kesser, the the crown of Hashem as it were. Yarden Hashem K'ilu Hashem has cough. We talk about Hashem's strength. That's his arms as it were. We talk about Hashem's Tiferes, that's the heart. We talk about the legs. Kamuki Rechaich, the legs. Means the the thighs. Amud Shesh. Where we call we we talk about it. Listen carefully. I know we haven't yet explained what's going on here. We're going to get there very soon. We praise Hashem from top to bottom. We start with the highest realms. And we're I would say it this way. We're drawing down Hashem's Shefa. We want We want Hashem We want to talk about and think about Hashem as the highest there is. His His head is filled with exal- He's He has a crown. He's exalted. He's so high up. And then we talk about it coming down, the power of Hashem, the Shefa. God's divine influx comes down from the highest places down to the lowest places. Hashem Bonu Tzelem Hashem Min Ha'elyonim L'tachtonim. We start with the top. And we get we go further and further down. Because we want to get down to the We want to bring God's divine presence to the lowest places. U'man K'ilu Min Ha'elyonim L'tachtonim L'ma'ala. When Hashem wants to praise us, so he talks from down to the from the bottom to the top. He talks first about how beautiful are your footsteps. Footsteps are the lowest aspect of the human being. Right? Then he talks about the legs. And then he talks about the legs. And it goes on and on until it gets up to the head. If you read the verse again, that as they continue, it goes to the neck, goes to the head, etc. It's it's in verse six. It's in the sixth verse of Shir Hashirim in chapter seven. So, what is Hashem? Why is Hashem talking about Israel from the bottom to the top? Right? What is this description? Because Hashem is drawing us up to him. Hashem is lifting us from the lowest place, from the feet, up through the legs, through the heart, up through the head, to the to the highest place. Right? So, Israel is is trying We we're asking Hashem, come down from where you are. Bring your Shekinah, your divine presence down from the highest realms, down to where we are in the lowest realms. Hashem is saying, I'm going to lift you up. I'm going to raise you from the lowest place to the highest place. Okay? We're starting to have a concept, an idea. Now, let's think about this in terms of Aliyah L'Ragel. Aliyah L'Ragel literally means the raising or the lifting of the feet. We're taking our feet, which is the lowest aspect of ourselves, and we are starting to walk. We're starting to move up. We're climbing that mountain. Aliyah L'Ragel, we are climbing up the mountain of Hashem. Mi Al Har Hashem? And we said on Rosh Hashanah, who can go up to the mountain of Hashem? We are lifting ourselves up. We're asking Hashem, you come down. But Hashem is saying, you come up. On the other regal, we take our feet and we come up. Okay? So, the idea of coming to Yerushalayim on the regal is, here's an opportunity Hashem is saying, it's the regal. It's the time of connection to me. And when there's a time of connection, I'm going to decide about how things are going to unfold over the coming months when you're not as high and you're not as connected to me. Right? This is the time It's a time of we call it judgment. It's a time of decision. It's a time of Hashem's shefa coming into the world and we need to we need to offer Hashem, we need to say to Hashem, "Hey, hey, I understand everything comes from you. Here's the water. I'm giving it back to you. Please, let this water come down." It's like I'm lifting up this water. I'm taking the water out. I'm drawing it from the Mayan Shiloh and I'm lifting it up to him. I'm offering it to the onto the altar. And where does it go from there? From the highest place, right? The highest Jerusalem Yerushalayim is the highest spiritual place. The altar is the Holy of Holies is obviously the the high point of the mountain. It's the peak of the mountain of Har Hamoriah. But the altar is the place that we connect and we bring our service. We offer what we have to Hashem. What happens? The water goes into that high place down into the depths of the earth. Down to the lowest place of the earth. And I think that the teaching here is profound. And it connects into who Avraham Avinu was. And there's two things that we see over here. He's the first of the gerim. He was the first of the proselytes. What does that really mean? That means that he recognized that he was a human. But he he wanted to lift himself up to go from that deepest place, from the darkest place, the most distant distant place, a world of idolatry to the highest place, which is where Hashem is. He was the one who was lifting himself up. That's what an ager is. A proselyte is someone who takes himself from the world of darkness and joins the Jewish people and says, "I want to be in the world of light. I want to climb that mountain." Aaron was the first of those type of that type of person. And he was Oleh l'oregel, what does it mean he came up? He brought his son, he was willing to do anything that he believed and he understood to be the will of Hashem. He was willing to raise up. He was willing to raise up himself, raise himself up, raise up his child, offer him to Hashem. Lay Yitzchak l'olah. And of course, very interesting, he's ready to give up his son and paradoxically in being willing to, he doesn't kill his son, he ends up bringing an ayil, but he brings a ram, but in being willing to sacrifice his son, he's offering his son on the on the mizbeach in a similar way to the fact that we offer our the water on the mizbeach. It goes down into the depths of the earth, and then Hashem makes it possible now with that offering that there's going to be children. All right, right after Yitzchak is offered or bound, come they come back, Yitzchak finds his wife, Rivka is born. The offering that I do, the the raising up, the the the praise of Hashem in his highest place, trying to get myself up from the depths, climbing up that mountain, offering it to Hashem, offering my life to Hashem, offering the water to Hashem, so that has the effect of Hashem saying, "Hey, I'm going to send down the water to the deepest places." That water is going to go it's going to go down to the center of the earth, down to the deepest places of the earth. And this was all created from the six days of creation. This is part of the design of reality. She designed it all so that we would be able to lift ourselves up, to rise up. Aliyah l'oregel, we take our feet, which is the lowest parts of ourselves, the most the most physical parts of ourselves, it's the part of our body that interacts with the earth. Stepping here, stepping there, stepping here, stepping there, interacting with the earth. And it's raised up. We are dual we rise up. We we are coming up to your shall I mean that's the bus to leave. How beautiful I shall say it's my apple pie my such a beautiful language but no bus to leave. How beautiful are your footsteps? Footsteps are not really I mean do you think of feet as beautiful? Or footsteps are something beautiful? How beautiful are your footsteps or daughter of the generous one? You're the child of our venue. The footsteps, the one who came down came up from the from the lowest place from the place of the feet. He he rose. He he ascended to the mountain of a sham. How beautiful are those footsteps? You're you're rising the mountain. You're taking the lowest part of yourself and you're coming up. To have a relationship with a sham. So again, that I shall remind us of my apple pie my all my city. What does it mean? My apple pie my essentially so how beautiful are the footsteps of the people of Israel? The regular we are coming up to Jerusalem. We're looking for that greatness. We want to be seen by a sham. We want to get to that Jerusalem shall I mean the perfection, the spiritual perfection, greatness. You we want to be seen by a sham. But bus to leave beat the show of a venue. We are the children of Abraham. We are the the offspring. We are the the ones who are the spiritual this we are the spiritual heirs of his legacy which is to rise up from the the lowest place and to rise to the highest place to be the regular. I want to bless you and I ask you to bless me. I shall help us to have the opportunity to take the opportunity. When in history could it you get to your Hashem should help us take this opportunity to recognize where we are. We might be out in galus, we might be in Eretz Yisrael, but we're all in a place that we can grow and rise and walk higher and climb that mountain. Hashem should help us indeed to use this Sukkot to use this holiday as an opportunity to rise, to be oleh b'areishis, to climb the mountain of God, and indeed get so much closer. Each and every single day. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful Shabbos and a wonderful Yom Tov. This podcast was made possible through the gracious donations of listeners like you. 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