Rabbi Yitzchak Botton - Sukkot: The Miracle of Nature

foreign everybody today we're going to be discussing the holiday of Sukkot we're just finishing up so it's appropriate time to get into a nice discussion about it um one of the things I want to start with is we really want to understand what the holiday is about why are we celebrating this holiday specifically we're told to sit in uh in Asuka we'll try to help you understand what a Suka is and what is the purpose of this command and what is what are we trying to accomplish with it so before I start I want to just share with you my own experience a few you know over the years I've been you know in different places I grew up in Miami Florida you know where it's you know sunny Florida very very hot very warm and I have to admit I always wondered why am I you know in the beginning when I first started to you know participate with the holiday of soccer you know it's just in in Miami it's the rainy season is just kicking in so it's rainy it's humid hot and uh we go out of these wooden Shacks that are usually bug infested and we're supposed to be this this is a time to enjoy and you know and the festivities of holiday and of course as a young kid I'm sitting there hot bothered and you know would it be nice to know why we're you know why are we sitting here in the in Asuka especially in such climate you know very hot very why are we in the circle why why do we have to why can't we go back into the house with the air conditioning and relax and enjoy so the truth is one time actually I did I was invited to Asuka in Miami with an air conditioning they managed to build the walls in a solid way that it kept the cool air in so that was probably the nicest you know experience I had you know over there in the in the heart of the humid hot season anyway so the question is on the table what why are we going out of our house into a sucker and dealing with the elements of you know if it's in Montreal Canada or Toronto which I did spend some time as well so there's the opposite problem there you're freezing and you're trying to you know have a nice meal you know in like in the North Pole or you know it's not not that bad but pretty cold then throw in trying to sleep in the sukkah you know anyone tried to sleep in the sucker you ever try to sleep in a sucker who how about you in the back one time I tried of course you know the Mitzvah is to dwell in the circle the way you dwell at home so I tried to sleep in the sucker but I made a big mistake I didn't you know you have to have experience I guess you know you have to be a native and understand the elements so I ended up I didn't have a mattress or on a platform my mattress was uh like on the on the floor and you know not realizing it after I woke up in the morning I found out that I got bitten about 20 times by bugs because the grass was uh you know was a little bit High and the there's I guess a lot of things living in the grass over there so once I was on ground level sleeping I guess the warmth of the body they just all came in uh and ate me up so that was one experience um I don't think I didn't really sleep with the circle too much after that but here in New schleinberg Hashem the weather is much better it's it's cool this year specifically was nice and cool and we were I was able to enjoy the full extent of the Mitzvah the dinners were pleasant the climate was pleasant uh very experienced and the funny thing for me my kids are a little bit older now so they were all excited you know like having a camp out they were they pushed me actually to go and spend the nights in the sukkah we took out a few of the blow-up mattresses and they had a blast I mean it was like you know like vacation for them they had you know the most best time so that was an interesting fun experience for me to go and take the kids out to the sukkah and their inspiration and their their you know getting into it so much helped me really appreciate and get into it also as well anyway enough of that uh my you know my personal stories with the circle let's get to the actual holiday itself so we asked why do we dwell in a circle why do we you know for those that live in Miami or or the North Pole or Toronto why do we freeze why do we sweat why do we go into this Shack for seven days and large eight days of our life so like all things in Judaism the answer is it's an argument dispute between two rabbis the two rabbis that we're speaking about now was rebe Akiva famous Rabbi Akiva well well known uh Tana the rabbi the great Rabbi that had many students and one of them being represented by Ohio and all of Rabbi Akiva students really became after the death of so many of his students but the five main students of his became really the teachers of the entire oral oral tradition all these different uh the tunnel of that generation became the main tanayam that we really study all of their writings in the mishna in the in the in the all the different writings and that's linked back to Arabia Akiva one of the greatest tanayam and most influential tanayam in the entire body of toy that we learned today the other Tana that argues against him Israel of course also was a tremendous scholar great you know inspiration to all of us especially those that are coming a little bit late in the in the learning process like here in this great Yeshiva Versa he was so great that his contemporaries coin called him really Ezra the great Rabbi Elias there um to quickly tell you a little bit about him so he started uh learning late in his life he was the son of a very wealthy man horkunus and uh so he was working in the family business very you know and his his his role was to continue and run the the business with his brothers and they were all going to be the wealthiest people in all of Israel but he felt empty and he felt it his real life and his heart was was for Torah and he wanted to go learn Torah so his father gave him business advice cut to the point that said listen you're 25 years old I guess give or take it's too late for you you know to become a Taurus Sage to our scholar you have to start when you're young if you love Torah so much use the resources that you have you're this you know paraphrasing of course you're the son of the most wealthy man in the world run the family business you'll make so much money and you can support Torah institutions your children will become Taurus Scholars that was the great very you know practical logical fatherly advice similar to I guess a lot of fathers will advise their kids when they're already halfway through med school to become their doctor and make the six digits they're not going to tell them yeah drop it off forget who needs another doctor in this world who needs another lawyer go and study uh Torah how much does it pay nothing who cares I'm a wealthy man you can live well I'll support you for the next 10 years of your life that's unfortunately not the usual response from the average father especially when they're not themselves so uh devoted but anyway the father gave good advice it's from his perspective now I want to be very clear he wasn't against toront he supported Torah he just felt that his son would accomplish more by supporting Torah than trying to become himself a scholar so late in the game anyway thankfully rabiola did not take his advice actually went off to learn you know benzakai one of the greatest stages that we know of and uh he grew in in stature and knowledge that he became the great Rabbi Eliezer uh when he gave a discourse it says that his faith shined in light like like Moshe rabenu comparatively obviously not exactly and uh and his father realized how great he of a rabbi he became and interestingly enough his brother sent his father to disown him because he disappeared for a long time and nobody knew where he went and he of course was learning with Rebecca and so his father went to disown him and when his father saw him as one of the great sages which who would believe so he said I'm not disowning you I'm disowning your brothers I'm giving all the money to you because his father truthfully did have appreciation for Torah anyway let me just get into the two quick stories about them personally or or connected to them so we can appreciate how it's going to come back at the end of this discussion how it plays a role so first of all be Akiva is very famous in the gemara for a story that he was traveling with a donkey a chicken a rooster whatever and uh and a candle now he went to try to find lodging in a particular town and nobody had placed for him and he got rejected everywhere and of course the great static that he was he he understood that everything happens for a reason through Divine Providence even though it's not clear what the purpose is or how things are for the good he had a strong belief that everything that ever happens to him is only for the good cause anything that Hashem does is for the good the merciful one we don't call God the phrase in the gamara is the merciful one they refer to him the merciful one because everything is really an expression of God's mercy of Divine Mercy sometimes from down here we can't see clearly the the how it's divine mercy but it's always from Hashem it's Mercy believed in it so strongly that he said whatever happens is for the good so when he was rejected from all of the houses in the area so he said listen if I didn't feel great to be rejected and to have to then schlep into the Into the Wilderness you know the you know not right outside the city but he said if that's what happened that's for the good as he was now resting outside of the City by himself with his donkey and he had the rooster to wake him up and the candle for light so comes the wind and blows away the light so now he has he's in the dark he can't even learn okay he says okay even that okay so that wasn't obviously externally doesn't seem ideal but that's must be from us from Hashem that's before the good then the rooster gets eaten by a cat and a donkey by a lion and he so he's got no rooster no donkey for it to help him travel no light to learn he's stuck there in the middle of the dark in the middle of nowhere all by himself when he wakes up in the morning what does he see he sees that the village that he wanted to stay the night in was plundered by uh an army that passed through killed everybody killed everybody took hostages and if he would have been there so he would have been subject to all of all of those negative uh thing so he said I didn't I tell you he's as he repeats it relates the story called Everything Hashem does is for the good because although it wasn't obvious and apparent he believed it was all for the good and here in this story Hashem shows him at the end looking back how everything was a blessing in disguise a hidden blessing that's the story of Rebecca now rebe Eliezer is uh now not necessarily him in a story about him but his name the name Eliezer where does it come from in the Bible so if you go back all the way to the beginning where the first time the name shows up it's with Moshe rabena when moshebeno has a son he names him Eliezer one is gershom known as Eliezer when he names Eliezer the word Eliezer the name Eliezer is my God was my help as it is to help so Mosher decided to outwardly overtly dedicate and show his gratitude towards Hashem by naming his son to represent how God was a help to Moshe rabenu how did God help mount sharabino this is a well-known story brought in the midrash Rashi brings it in the homish he helped him by Saving his life we know the story that an Egyptian tried to kill a Jewish man after he of course abused that man's wife and then when the husband understood what happened so he said he's going to get rid of the husband as well and he was trying to kill the husband um innocent of course and so Moshe sees this Egyptian trying to kill this Jewish men for no reason and he understood what was behind this what was why this was taking place so he approaches the Egyptian and it says that he looked both ways to see if anyone was watching that was on the simple level that's what it means he looked to make sure nobody was watching to see what he's going to do or what he did but the midrash says that he looked to see if this person was the descendant of a righteous man he also looked to see if a righteous man will ever descend from him and he saw neither in either direction neither there was he never was a righteous man in his ancestry and never would a righteous man come from him so the brand had no word no worthiness to stay alive so he killed him by using God's one of God's Divine names he used to kill him and he died and he buried him in the sand and that's the end of that day the next day comes out to also see what's happening with his Brethren the Jews in Exile and suffering in Egypt and he sees two Jews fighting with each other and one was about to strike the other and um he says why are you going to strike your your fellow and he calls them a wicked person and they chastise him and say are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday so when was robinu here's them say that he realizes that it's not a secret what happened I mean he looked around and on a simple level there wasn't really anyone around but somehow people heard and saw and spoke about what happened and he said oh wow if people saw and spoke about what happened and they know about it then words spread unfortunately and of course gossip spreads then word's going to get back to the king Paro and I'm in trouble I'm in danger and pastor Kevin says he was afraid and he and he ran away now it's interesting there's a midrash that is critical of moshrabena being afraid they and they asked if you know he did a good thing he saved the Jewish life and he should have he should have had amuna in Hashem that you know trust that all things would work out and that he shouldn't have necessarily been afraid there's a different approach there's actually different opinions in the uh amongst the early rabbis the tanayam of how are we supposed to really go about our our view in life and and dangerous situations are we supposed to trust that Hashem of course is always present and in total control and no harm will ever come to us especially if we're doing the right thing and even if things look bad we have to have a hundred percent uh Muna that everything will be fine even if it's uh going to take an a supernatural event or are we supposed to say wait a minute even though I'm a good person and I did what Hashem wanted but you know in the end of the day God put me in this world and this world runs in a natural way and of course God can make a miracle but God's not prone to make Miracles so you know I have to be prepared that I might die and should I be afraid of being killed and that's a that's a this that goes both ways I mean there's obviously certain many many statements in the Gemar that support this approach we say that you know famous expression the orchheim brings it when discussing when when avra mavino takes Sarah to Egypt of course he was told to go or no he had there was a famine and he had to leave for Egypt and they questioned why did he bring Sarah his wife which was beautiful to put her in such danger that he would be killed she would be taken and abused so he brings there the clown these Clallam that we don't rely on Miracles yeah although there was famine so I of them should have left on his own come to Egypt gotten food and come back and left her in a safe situation but to bring her to Egypt a place where everybody was behaving like you know animals and dangerous killing people to take their their wives so he shouldn't have put her into that type of risk that's of course on a natural level and he brings as an added point and how much more so that people have free will and can do can do can do wrong things people can choose to murder that he shouldn't have took put her in such risk so you see the approach of not taking risks even though you are you know believing God and that God is going to be there you're not supposed to rely on the fact that he might make you a miracle you don't rely on Miracles but then there's another this other idea that says that you know that we said from the midrashes also brought in the midrash that even if uh you know you are in the worst situation you have to trust that Hashem is there and everything will work out okay and according to this you should believe that you're going to walk away from whatever situation if you're walking down an alley and there's a you know five uh drug dealers that they decided you that you're you you're where I witness to to a crime and they got to kill you you have to say I don't care they might want to kill me but Hashem is in control they can't kill me unless Hashem lets them and you you go with that kind of trust and you're not even afraid in any situation those are the two options but uh you know how you know the session you know Hashem opens the book that says you you you know the you have a you know you trust yourself as I help you that's I make meaningful for you do you put yourself in a Sakana that's I I know that's that's okay so you're right that's what we said that you putting oneself in the Sakana is is not encouraged however we sit in most case the case we're dealing with now he went to do a Mitzvah he saved the life of another Jew against someone that was ruthlessly going to murder him unjustly and he used the shame meaning Hashem obviously gave him the power to do it by using God's Divine name to do it so there the midrash is being critical of him I love a man on his level of of stature of Holiness of righteousness of of the veikut of of clinging to Hashem but he shouldn't have been afraid of Paro and of circumstances he should have understood that Hashem would be there with him but you know what even if we're going to go on this direction let's say that you are in a situation and you can't be killed who's killing you in the end if it's all in hashem's control then ultimately if Hashem gives them the freedom to choose to kill you but he allows them to do it then Hashem decided in the end to take that to allow your life to be taken and on this point there's a discussion brought from one of the famous kabbalists they call him the Shem for the name of his book is the grandfather of the of the Revelation very famous he writes in one of his swarim that there were such sadikim that were on such a high level that they knew that if they asked Hashem to save them they would have been saved even though they knew that they still didn't ask Hashem to save them because they didn't want to bother Hashem even to tell Hashem what to do and they accepted the decrees of of death even though they knew that they had this host the Merit to pray and be saved and we're talking about not an average person the average People Like Us don't know how much schools we have on schools we don't have but we're talking about the greatest leaders of generations that that knew that how things worked I mean we know that in Kabbalah they talk about doing special things to save a person like mushroom himself use the name of Hashem to be saved then they are very rare occasions where some very big rabbis you do that they use the the names of you know certain holy names to to do special things which so these great rabbis knowing that they could have been saved said whatever if it was hashem's dischoice to allow us to die then we're going to die instead of praying to be saved that's an interesting thing to think about it then it could have been saved but they you know if they prayed but they felt that asking Hashem to do something was already going too far when you know that Hashem is in total control you don't even ask him things like that I guess a rabbi on that level anyway so just to get to the the point of the story so in uh recognizing the great miracle that Hashem did for Moshe at this point what happened was Paro did catch up with Moshe and decided that he's going to kill him so when he was about to be executed was put to be executed and the Executioner went to chop his head off and God miraculously turned his neck into marble and the and he was saved he was able to run away and he went of course to Midian another Nation there and spent some time there so God saved him from The Sword of Paro and this is exactly the story he brought when he names his son Eliezer Rashi brings it from the midrash that God was my help in that he turned my neck into a marble in order to save my life now if you look at these two stories they come out very interesting very the most very opposites Rabbi Akiva the great Tana was one of the greatest mushroom himself asks about rebecciva if when he when Hashem showed him future Generations that if you have someone so holy so righteous so so complete in your kingdom of Sadiq why you chose me to give the Torah according to mushroom really whether Akiva could have been chosen to give the Torah as a matter of fact according to his question he felt that Rebecca would have been a better choice you could say it was a bit of humility but nonetheless he's talking to God and saying to God God if you have someone like this person or maybe Akiva who's so perfect so why are you choosing me to give the Torah why not him of course Hashem has his ideas and he knows what he's doing but anyway just to show you the statue of yakiva of course Rabbi Akiva could have and and married and had this for an open Miracle but we see nonetheless Hashem did not show his presence throughout the entire story where we keep his life as safe it was all done in an absolute hidden way all Rabbi Akiva saw was was nature and negative things happening to him it's only in in retrospect that he was able to see how everything was a piece in a puzzle that was part of Saving his life but the hand of God was not shown in any miraculous way it was all just nature a non-believer in God that would have gone through the same experience would have walked away saying was I lucky sure it's a good thing I it's a good thing those guys were mean to me would not recognize that God did anything for him and would continue to be a non-believer you know a person happened to myself actually we were driving down on a highway 70 80 miles an hour unfortunately you know the baby was asleep that's that's my fortune he's allowed to sleep and I was also sleeping with the baby in the back seat I'm also relaxing but my wife in the front seat driving wasn't supposed to be sleeping and she was and that was the way I guess the big problem I guess I should have been up with keeping her up but she fell asleep at the wheel on the highway 70 80 miles an hour all I hear is my name she screams out my name I wake up and I'm watching this movie to me it's this nice movie in front of me the car is starting to like almost like we're really in the ocean like going like this you know she's trying to get control put the foot on the brakes to get off cruise control and the car starts like going back to the front very scary I'm thinking it's funny it all happens in like slow motion in your in you when you're watching I'm like we're we're really in the next wow we're in the middle of an accident this is not a joke and as the car was turning sideways which of course at that speed the force would have we would have flipped like that thank well luckily we we drifted a few feet over towards the side of the road where there was nice long grass of course it was by chance in between the two metal pillars that would have went right through our car but we went right through those metal in between the two metal pillars like a like a field goal you know so we went through the the metal pillars and the car at that point does a 180 and then we start rolling backwards and now I'm having fun to remind me of being like on a roller coaster when you go backwards so I'm sitting here in the back seat we're rolling for a few seconds and it's like wow thank God that was scary wow and then I'm thinking I said wait a minute if we don't stop the car there's what's behind us because we were approaching uh an intersection which means we were approaching the end of this grassy area and it was going to be a big wall that we were going to hit backwards so one of I don't know if I or my wife screamed the brakes and then we hit the brakes we come to a nice stop nothing happened nothing happened we were not a scratch not even a scratch on the car as a matter of fact I could have driven the car right back onto the road and driven away but some pedestrian that was watching the whole thing said don't start the car it may start a fire so we got out of the car went to the side of the road the tow truck towed the car out to the side of the road we got back in and drove away now again I got into all the details for me it's a very tense personal story oh you know my son my wife and I but the truth is again same example did God did not in any miraculous way that transcends the rules of nature or you know show himself you know a person that doesn't believe in God will say oh thank you chance chance I made it do you know it happened to be between the two metal pillars it happened to be that the card reached the grass so that it didn't start flipping and of course we remembered to hit the brakes and not a scratch but you know someone who believes in Hashem realizes that you're all the time in hashem's hands and when things work out it's never by chance now granted that the story Arabia Akiva is more to the point because it involves human interaction and you realize that the human interaction was also in hashem's hands because they all said no but Hashem didn't want them to say yes because had they have said yes enlarging him then they would have been it would have been that he would have been there and he would have been attacked or killed who knows what by the uh by the army that ransacked at the Village so we see in Rebecca's story a higher level of Divine Providence of course in a hidden way than in my story my story was really circumstances worked out of course we believe Hashem saved us and that's the truth that he helped that he that it was between the two pillars and that not within flip oh that's great but that's only between God and uh and controlling inanimate things and timing and all that which we know God controls in the case of every Akiva in another dimension is that he controlled the fact that an animal would attack another animal uh the wind of course he controls but but that people would say no to lodging him was also part of the miracle and the deeper message there is that things that happen that appear negative you have to trust that are not negative anyway these are the two great stories that that we're going to come back to at the end because we're going to see it's all going to tie in but that's the rebia Akiva in his story Ruby Eliezer and where his name comes from which is so the contrast is obviously a hidden miracle in the case of Rebecca an open miracle in the case of of rebe Eliezer so now let's come to what we started talking about the mahlokit of why we have to sweat and uh you know or enjoy our time in Asuka seven days of the year every year now maybe Akiva says that the holiday is to commemorate shelters that the Jewish people built in Egypt I mean when they left Egypt so we left Egypt we were in the desert and we were forced now to stay in the desert for a long period of time even before the sin of the of the Mirage caused us to stay for a whole year I mean originally if we didn't sin we would have gone to Israel right away but the sin of the eagle the golden calf caused us to stay in the desert a whole year so we're in the desert a whole year where did we live there was no uh Marriott Ritz Carlton so Hashem provided us with a Marriott Ritz Carlton right but so Hashem did not magically cause a hotel to develop you know before our eyes like you know like they have these Oasis oh all of a sudden you're in the desert and you see uh palm trees Hashem did not magically make us houses the Jews had to take physical material wood uh cloth whatever and they had to build themselves temporary shelters temporary shelters were built in the uh in the desert by the Jews themselves with material that they brought from Egypt or that they actually pert could have purchased from the different cities that they were passing through before they got island in the desert so how did the Jews live for the year or two and then of course ultimately 40 years in the desert they built themselves like you know portable houses portable Shacks in the desert so everykiva says that the the temporary portable uh so to speak Shacks that we build you know every year is to commemorate the same temporary building shelters that the Jews built while they were in the desert how does that sound to you that sounds amazing no unbelievable no I think to me it sounds very ordinary what about you ordinary the mefarshim asked the commentators as just to know what's so special why should we make a holiday to celebrate wooden Shacks that the juice built out of wood that they were able to find or bring or buy what type of Miracle does that represent that's not a miracle it's a very ordinary thing to uh to attend you know we're going to celebrate making of a tent it's very very difficult to appreciate according to him why should we make that the symbol of of the holiday we'll get to why an answer for him shortly but now let's look at rebe elieza for a moment so he his opinion is that the shack that we build the special you know structure that we build is the remembrance to the Clouds Of Glory that surrounded us while we were in the desert now for this we have to understand that God made many miracles for us when we left Egypt there was a cloud by day in a fire by Night the scripture mentions now in addition to this we're taught that of course food you know talk about fast food you know today we can go and get you know drive through I'm sure now with computer age you could actually probably hit a button on the computer someone will bring you a nice dinner um do they even have to cook it these days they could probably just make it cooked already who knows they're going to come up with technology but anyway those in the olden days was pretty pretty cool to have food come from Heaven the food that they ate when they were in the desert was called mana and it descended from heaven so Hashem prepared for the Jewish people their food in the desert talk about a five-star hotel he gave them you know rooms you know well they had to go out of their house together but he basically provided them with food from Heaven There was a well called The Well of Nerium that followed them everywhere which was their water supply so a miraculous well that followed them from place to place so they had water and food and of course now Clouds Of Glory in addition there were clouds of Glory that Sur grounded them and the Jews were in this area that was completely surrounded in every direction by clouds these clouds were protection these clouds were kept them cool and comfortable their clothing did not wither it did not get old the ground was flattened for them so they were you know had like a beautiful comfortable smooth ride and everything was taken care of them for them by Hashem in the desert through these wondrous Miracles each and every one of the things we mentioned were obvious open miracles are well following them around I mean I heard of someone that wants to follow you around but I never heard of a well that follows you around oh well following around as an obvious Miracle food coming from Heaven is is also obvious doesn't happen every day and of course the Clouds Of Glory were a tremendous Miracle now tells us that the sukkah that we build is a commemoration to these clouds of Glory that surround us in the desert now one may ask there were many beautiful Miracles why should we pick that Mitzvah I mean that that Miracle over all of the other miracles you know what about the splitting of the sea a lot of Miracles we had in the desert so the answer to that is I think very comes out very beautiful is that of all those other Miracles the man fell once a day okay it was there in this and then when we ate it was gone and it came again the next day it wasn't constant it was daily but not constant also the well although the well existed constantly it only served us to use when we needed water from it but so it wasn't also a constant effect but the Clouds Of Glory that surrounded US 24 hours a day seven days a week was a miracle that did not stop for one second for the 40s we were in the desert think about it what happens when a miracle occurs for you non-stop for for 40 years it's a tremendous thing to experience so that is the unique Miracle of the Clouds Of Glory that are constant which becomes the symbol of our sukkah that's according to rebe elieza now that is fantastic I mean think about it a 24-hour a day seven day a week Miracle the only thing that can compete with that is when 7-Eleven started opening up 24 hours because they used to open up only from seven to eleven that was considered a long time seven eleven then they had to go 24 hours I don't know they didn't change their name but you could get the point I mean what can you get 20 you can go to today you can go out if it's 20 rounds but to have Clouds Of Glory for 24 hours is a tremendous Miracle so that's according to everybody as they're the symbol of the miracle of uh of Sukkot now what I want to present to you is the question that everybody asks myself included what are they arguing about why don't they agree now here in this story it's it's very difficult to appreciate why they argue because here everyone agrees on the circumstances if you will ask Robert Eliezer were there physical buildings that the Jews built themselves the temporary dwellings the Shacks that they built with their own supplies he'll answer you of course they didn't sleep in the they didn't sleep out in the open they had to sleep in something so they slept in tents they bit they made their own tents their own temporary dwellings so he agrees with the reality that they also built tents and if you guys could be Akiva were there clouds of Glory of course he agrees everyone agrees there were clouds of Glory that's that's a fact so since they both agree on the circumstances that the Jews existed in in the desert why can't they just agree on on what the symbol is for the holiday so here we're going to get to the story with stories about them that we started with now what I would like to explain is that rebeliezer his opinion is again rooted in his name which is the idea of open Miracles whereas Rabbi Akiva his opinion is rooted in his his experience of hidden Miracles and so that's why maybe Akiva picks the physical dwellings that the Jews built themselves because that points more towards living in a natural world where we have to do what we need to do to protect ourselves and to provide our own shelter and whereby Eliezer who is pointing towards these Supernatural Miracles that Hashem does is saying no the point of the holiday is to realize that Hashem is doing Supernatural things for us like the Clouds Of Glory and here's what we're going to appreciate so foreign what's the message of the holiday of course there is God's Providence God was with us in the desert a person can't survive a few days in the desert without without help how can a nation survive for 40 years so maybe Akiva recognizes that really God is present and helping us to survive but he's pointing at the opinion that we mentioned that a person has to realize that he still has to do his part to work with the world the way the world runs in a natural way understanding that God is going to be there behind the scene but not relying on Miracles meaning he has to make an effort he has to do his his own his status his own effort in making sure things work out well he has to try to get a job succeed in what he's doing get an education a person has his part in making sure things work out the way they need to work out what we say so to speak is like being a partner with Hashem I mean God wanted that we should work together with him in this world and so we have to focus on our involvement so every Akiva focuses on the fact that we built our own shelter which represents two things it's the fusion of Divine Providence and man's effort in the world and also our opportunity to become a partner with him in the in bringing this world to its Perfection that is why rabikiva is equally of the opinion in the discussion that he has with a Roman a Roman heretic the heretic asks him what's greater the work of man or the work of God there will be Akiva knew that this person was coming to start with him to try to prove that something something wrong he wanted to prove that that a person was born created by God uncircumcised so he should stay uncircumcised and maybe even knew this so he answered him with a question what's greater the the wheat that grows from the Earth or the cakes and and breads that we produce with the with the wheaty grows from the earth so of course everybody knows that we benefit much more from grain from cakes and and and bread than we do from from wheat kernels so we see he answered them that even though God made the wheat but he gave us the knowledge and the ability to take that wheat and make it into bread and it's funny the blessing that we say is that's wrong doesn't come from the arets wheat comes from the RX so why do we say that let him comes from the RS because of course all that is included in what God decided and wanted God wanted to make it that wheat comes out but he created of course all over the steps that it takes to turn the weed into bread or cakes and he gave us the knowledge to do it so who really makes the bread at the end of the day is it us or God well we couldn't make it without God you mean forget about the grain besides the grain the grain is the step one with the grain still we wouldn't be able to make cake and bread without God instilling us with the wisdom and the necessary things to make it the water and the ability to make it into the into the actual bread so we say that really because God created that they should be but he brought the wheat and wants us to finish the job similar with grapes when we drink wine what do we say we say the blessing on the fruit of the vine what's the fruit of the vine it's not wine we don't get little Geffen bottles of wine from the trees we get grapes so why do we why are we calling the wine that we made the fruit of the vine because that's the end of his all that God had in mind the fact that we have to have a hand in the process is God's gift to us to let us be involved but but it's really and it's all it's also based on God's wisdom like we said so the wine and the bread that we eat is really from Hashem but we are involved in making it and this is rabi akiva's answer to the heretic that that when we take wheat and make it into bread so we're fulfilling the Divine will bring it to its completed State as as partners with Hashem because God gives us that that privilege to be partners with him and so too even though in the desert of course God protected us with Miracles Non-Stop the shelters that we build represent our part in doing our effort in the desert as well and of course working with hashems the Providence but again doing our effort that's rabi Akiva and so now we can appreciate why we make a holiday and celebrate it on booths that we built because it's our job in this world is to fulfill complete the will of Hashem by bringing this world to its perfected State and our part that we did in the desert represents that as well so now let's look at rabi Eliezer for a moment why is he sticking through the Clouds Of Glory so according to him we can explain like this and he goes back to what I left off saying about this particular miracle that we are using as a symbol for the sukkah what is the result think about it for a moment of having a supernatural miracle happen 24 hours a day seven days a week 40 years straight is it so Supernatural we breathe every day we breathe that's a miracle our digestive system works in a way that's absolutely miraculous our eyes are a miracle our brain is the greatest miracle everything about this world is a constant Miracle it's constantly being infused with vitality and running the way God wills it to run every second every second that we are witnessing and experiencing and a part of multiple Miracles why don't we call them Miracles why don't we call the fact that we wake up every morning a miracle we were dead five seconds ago who wakes you up if God doesn't wake you up do you can you do you know how to wake yourself up no how does the nashama go away and come back that's a miracle you know your legs work everything works I mean I don't even I mean this better you know you can go read up on all the wonderful miracles of the world look at all the different creatures everywhere you turn is is a miracle your eyes are looking at a miracle water falls very nice why does the hakum water falls in the fire burns because God made them that way and their Miracle they're miraculous things but they happen all the time so we don't look at them as Miracles so now come back to the symbol of this what's the result of making Clouds Of Glory that are 24 hours a day seven is a week for 40 years straight the miracle becomes the the norm the symbol for rebe Eliezer is this that in every moment they were in this world everything that we experience is ultimately a miracle from Hashem it's ultimately from hashem's Providence and that's the main thing when we live on that level then this world becomes hashems you know we can appreciate this point with a nice little story imagine God in heaven with all the angels and they have the the the the the souls of the righteous he decides he says you know what I'm I want to send you on a on a little uh you know go on vacation you know we go sightseeing in this world right go I want to send you to this to the Earth it tell us to one of his angels I want to send you to down to the world go have you know travel around for a week or two and come back and tell me what you saw so what does the angel do he goes around of course with you know you got the cameras and the iPhones and everything he's got it takes Beautiful video of his wonderful two weeks on on in America and of course he didn't forget to go to Disney World and he comes back to shamaim and he shows all the Angels the wonderful time he had for two weeks and he tells Hashem all the great things he saw now let's take avram avinu was sent into the same world for his lifetime what did abramovina see in this world he saw Hashem what did moshrabenu see in this world what do the Sadiq see in this world they see Hashem so this world is really only a world that is if we know how to look at it with the right eyes everywhere we look we'll see that we'll see Hashem with all this in it we're in hashem's world and he's constantly here and we can't escape him for a moment if we would Escape him for a moment we wouldn't exist so rebe elieza's approach to this whole idea of life is that the constant Miracle of sukkah is a base for us to understand that we're in a world that's constantly in hashem's Embrace enveloped by hashem's Providence and presence and everything is like a miracle similar to whatever says in the gemara his daughter went to light candles for Shabbos and she by mistake put vinegar in instead of oil and it was close to Shabbos and it was too late to fix it now Shabbos was already starting and she was crying because you know vinegar doesn't light you need oil to have Shabbos lights so he looks to his daughter and says why are you crying my dear just just like Hashem commands oil to burn so he'll command vinegar to burn what's the difference for Hashem vinegar or oil what's the difference from Hashem making water fall or making water stand if he can create the water in the first place and there's no difference making it stand making it fall it's all nothing before Hashem and that's the highest level of understanding to be in this world and that's the message of sukkah in its ultimate level is in order to know that who are looking that God is Elohim that when we whether we see him or not there's nothing else that exists in this world except for Hashem and ultimately the point for both is to take these ideas and live with them because it's it's beautiful to talk but the end of the day when you go out into the world every trying situation tests that emuna tests your faith when your boss is screaming at you because he doesn't like the job you do but you know you're doing a good job he's just looking for pretense to fire you you can you can think that it's this whole world is about my terrible boss but Hashem is somewhere between there that you can't escape Hashem Hashem is there also or when God forbid someone's sick or in danger you can forget where Hashem is and so the ultimate message of this holiday according to both in how Hashem fuses together nature and and Divine Providence is never to forget that wherever we go Hashem is with us and it's that's the test that's the ultimate test that everyone goes through in life and as a matter of fact according to the balshamtov that was the point of going out of Egypt and that's why the pasok mentions about the holiday of sukkah that I took you out of Egypt because going out of Egypt was to teach us that Hashem rules in heaven and on Earth and that no one else and that's ultimately what we have to live with foreign