Sukkot: The Shadow of Faith - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

[Music] [Applause] [Music] a shadow on the ground a shadow doesn't really exist it's just the absence of light and yet for that shadow to be there something does have to exist or there'd be no Shadow sometimes you can't see something but you know it's there because of its shadow the essence of the sukka is its shade its shadow the Torah says that a sukka that is more sunlight shining through its Roof then shade is invalid the spiritual Masters teach that when we sit in the Su we are sitting in the sa deusa the shadow of Faith they derive this phrase from a verse in shim the song of songs which says in his in God's Shadow I delighted and there I sat and the fruit of his Torah was sweet to my pallet faith is like a shadow faith is the knowledge of Something's existence that you cannot see we can know there's a God but we cannot see him we can experience closeness to God through tasting the fruit of his Torah but we can never see him when Moshe asked God to see him God replied you cannot see my face for man cannot see see me and live in this world you cannot see God the reason why a Suka is invalid if it has more Sun than Shadow is because then you're not sitting in the shadow of Faith but in the eye of the Sun the sun's unblinking eye denies the existence of the Shadow it seems to say there is no Shadow if you cannot see it it doesn't exist however strong a house we might build it will never be able to protect us from everything but the shadow of faith that hovers over someone who sits in the sukka is stronger than a concrete roof 3 m thick the nation that dwells in the shadow of Faith proclaims that existence extends beyond the Here and Now beyond what can be perceived by the five senses of man in the brightness of the Sun the nation that dwells in the shadow of Faith draws that Faith from the shade of the Suka the shadow of faith [Music]