It's well known concerning the יום טוב, the holiday of סוכות, that there are two special מצוות that we do during that holiday. Unlike other holidays where we have a special מצוה, one, like פסח, it's about מצה and חמץ, ראש השנה, the blowing שופר, but here we have two special מצוות that we have to do during the holiday of סוכות. One מצוה is the מצוה of taking the ד' מינים. ד' מינים means the four kinds that on סוכות we have to take, whether it's to shake, four kinds. The four kinds are: we take an אתרוג, an אתרוג which is in English called a citron, in the Italian where many of the אתרוגים grows called the cedro. Basically this is what it is. And we also have to take a לולב. A לולב is one of the branches, one of the special type of branches from a palm tree. This is the לולב, but it has to be a date palm tree, not a coconut palm tree. And we have to take הדסים, which is הדס is a myrtle called in English, and we have to take ערבות, which is a willow. We take one אתרוג, we take one לולב, we take at least three הדסים, and only two ערבות. And the מצוה is, the commandment is that we put them all together, and we hold them together, whether it is if we shake it, we make the blessing, and by doing this we fulfill the מצוה of what we call ד' מינים, or people call it shaking the לולב, because the one that we could see, the one that's the taller one that then that actually you could see the shaking is the לולב, so some people call it taking the לולב, some people call it taking of the אתרוג, but basically it's taking these four kinds. And as I said before, you have to take one אתרוג, one לולב, at least three הדסים, and two ערבות. That's one מצוה. Then we have the other מצוה during the holiday of סוכות, which is that we have to eat in the סוכה. The סוכה is a special little built hut-like little building, and in that we have to stay when we eat. And I'll explain the details soon. But I want to go one by one. First let's discuss the ד' מינים, the four kinds, and then we'll get to discuss the סוכה. First just discuss to discuss a few simple general laws concerning this מצוה. I just want to mention that מדאורייתא, which means the way it's written in the תורה originally, this מצוה was only to be done on the first day of the holiday of סוכות. It was only in the בית המקדש, in the holy temple, where they would have to do this seven days, all seven days of סוכות, but otherwise it would be done only the first day. But later on after the בית המקדש was destroyed, the sages, the חכמים, instituted that all over, wherever we are, we should take the ד' מינים, the four kinds, the whole week, all seven days of סוכות. And as I said, we have to take one לולב, three הדסים, two ערבות, and an אתרוג, and put them together. But when I say put them together it doesn't really mean that we bind them together. What we do is the לולב is actually bound together with the הדסים and the ערבות. There are different customs. Some have a custom that they have a certain, they call it a קעשעלע, which is something that they connect to the לולב. The לולב goes in and then they have two sides where you could stick in, on one side they stick in the ערבות, so one side they stick in the הדסים. Others have a custom, and this is also the custom of חב״ד of ליובאוויטש, that we actually tie the הדסים and the ערבות to the לולב. On the bottom of the לולב we take the הדסים and the ערבות, in a certain way we tie it. We tie it with some לולב leaf, we take a leaf from the לולב like this, we make this little ring, and we take three of them, and we tie it, we put it around the הדסים and the ערבות which are connected to the לולב. And then when we do the מצוה, we take the אתרוג and we put it together with the לולב, which has the other two kinds, and automatically now we have all three all four kinds together, and this is how we perform the מצוה. By just taking it and holding it in our hands, we already performed basically the מצוה, but the best way to do it is if when we take it we should also do what we call נענועים. נענועים means we wave it. We wave wave the four kinds, while we're holding it with both hands we wave it to all six sides: right, left, up, down, and the back. And the same thing When we say the prayer of הלל during the holiday of סוכות, we also do נענועים in certain paragraph, certain verses of the הלל. That is the better way to do it. We have to make sure that the אתרוג that we buy is bought from a reliable person, because sometimes you could have an אתרוג which looks like an אתרוג, but really it is invalid because it is מורכב. מורכב means that it grew on a tree that was grafted between the אתרוג tree, אתרוג branches, and another tree. And people used to do that. In the olden days some people used to graft the אתרוג tree with a lemon tree. Nowadays those that do it graft the אתרוג tree with an orange tree. Actually I myself travel almost every year to Calabria, to Italy, and I am there supervising the picking of the אתרוגים, so I could see that there are many trees which are מורכב. You could see, sometimes you could actually see it with the naked eye, that the top of the tree, the actual tree, is really an אתרוג tree, and the bottom is really the root of an orange tree. And that אתרוג you cannot use. But when you look at the אתרוג, you cannot tell. You cannot see in the outside whether it is from a מורכב, whether it is from a grafted tree or not. So you have to make sure that it came from a place where people checked it, supervised it. Now in Italy, in the area called Calabria, which is southern Italy, there you have a lot of fields of אתרוגים. You have a lot in ארץ ישראל also. But when it comes to an אתרוג, besides the דין, the law that it has to be this אתרוג fruit, there is also a law that it has to have a מסורה, which means it has to have tradition that from here they take, took years before, going back years before, so we know that this is the kind of אתרוג that the תורה is talking about. Now in Calabria we have a מסורה, we have a tradition that they took אתרוגים about a thousand years already that they've been taken there, and probably they took because they knew it was from before, but we have in tradition that it was already a thousand years. We have it written in different ספרים, different holy books, that they took אתרוגים from there, so we know that this is a real אתרוג. But we got to check that it was not מורכב. So therefore people go down to Calabria every year, sit there while they're picking the אתרוגים to make sure that the אתרוגים that they get is not מורכב, because they do have fields which are מורכב, which are grafted. And the truth is, like I said, you could tell, but sometimes you can't tell openly. You got to dig in the ground to tell, so we know those fields which have any, even one tree which is מורכב, the אתרוגים are not taken from the whole field because we don't know exactly what they did, so we stand there supervise. In ארץ ישראל, in Israel, they also have many fields, which if you have a proper supervision, a proper rabbinical authorization that these are כשר, then you're allowed to take because they made sure that these are not מורכב, and they came from original אתרוגים which were not מורכב, and that's how you buy the אתרוגים. So this is concerning the אתרוג. The לולב, as I said, has to be it's a certain branch of the palm date tree, and then the הדסים are the myrtles, and the ערבות are the willows, and we put them together. Now, what's behind this, even though the reason we do this מצוה is because it's a מצוה, the word מצוה means commandment, we were commanded by God to do it, and that's the real reason why we do it. All the other reasons that we find and all the things that we say the significance of this מצוה, that's all true, but that's not the main reason. The main reason is because we were commanded by God to do it. And we have to understand that this is the most important part. Whether we understand it or not makes no difference. As a matter of fact, since a מצוה is a commandment by God, which means this is God's will and God's wisdom, it is impossible for a human being with a limited understanding to grasp what's behind the wisdom of God. How can we even expect to understand what the meaning of the מצוות are? And therefore if someone says, \"I can't do a certain מצוה because it makes no sense to me,\" that statement, that argument makes no sense, because if you could understand every detail of it and everything makes a hundred percent sense and it's very rational, in my mind I would think it was made up by somebody who's in my level. That's why I'm able to understand it. If I really know that this is made up by God, who is infinite and completely far, far beyond us, it's impossible for us to understand the real thing which is behind it. And therefore the understanding is not the most important part. The most important part is that this is a מצוה, this is a commandment of God given to us through משה רבינו, through Moses, written in the תורה, and we have to do it. But nevertheless, in many, many of the מצוות which we do because it's a מצוה, there are also certain reasons given, means there are certain significance, certain things that they hint to. So the מצוה of the ד׳ מינים, of taking the four kinds, says in the מדרש, hints to the unity of the Jews, because the אתרוג is a fruit that has a taste and has a smell. The לולב comes from a tree which gives fruit which has no smell, but it has a taste. The הדסים have a smell, but they don't have a taste, and the ערבות have no smell and no taste. Now, the מדרש says that taste represents understanding, logic, because when you understand something, it's tasty to you, you feel good about it. Actually, in Hebrew, the word טעם has two meanings: טעם means a taste, טעם also means a reason, an intellect, an idea, a reason, because when you understand something, then in Yiddish we would say that's very געשמאק, that's very enjoyable, and that's the idea of a taste. So a taste represents the learning, the studying of תורה, the understanding of תורה. A smell, it says, represents the fulfillment of the מצוות. So the אתרוג represents those Jews who learn, study a lot of תורה, and do a lot of מצוות. The לולב, which its fruit only has a taste, but doesn't have a smell, represents those people who learn תורה, but they're not so much involved in the מצוות. The הדסים, which have a smell and don't have a taste, refers to those Jews who are involved in מצוות, but don't learn so much תורה. And the ערבות represents those Jews who don't learn so much, and they don't do so much מצוות. And the idea is that we put them all together, we make one unit out of it, and we make one מצוה out of it. This is to show the unity of the Jews, that no matter what level a Jew is, we are all together. So this מצוה represents, we would call it the אחדות, the unity of the Jews, showing how the whole Jewish nation is really one, no matter which level you are. Certainly there are differences in level, and everyone has his quality, and everyone is special in his way, but still, it doesn't make one better than the other. If you have a certain quality someone else doesn't have, then you have a certain מעלה, you have a certain good quality, but in essence, you are still a Jew like everybody else, and we're all together. And this is one of the things that we do on סוכות, to show the unity of the Jews. Then there's another significance in this מצוה of taking the ד׳ מינים. It says in many ספרים that the אתרוג represents the heart, the לולב represents the spine, the הדסים represents the eyes, because the leaves of the הדסים look like the eyes, and the leaves of the ערבות look like the lips. So this is the most important part of the person, and what we do is, we put them all together, and we make a מצוה out of it. And this is to show that we tell השם that we are taking our heart, and taking our eyes, and taking our lips, our mouth, and taking our spine, which basically is the build up of the whole body, and we're giving it over to a מצוה, we're making a מצוה out of it, we're serving השם with it. And this is to teach us for the whole year that everything that we have, our whole self has to be set up in such a way that we will serve השם in all ways, we will serve God in everything that we do. Then there is another thing in the מצוה of לולב, which it says in the מדרש. לולב and אתרוג and all the four kinds. The one that sticks out basically is the לולב, that is tall, and the מדרש says that this comes after ראש השנה and יום כיפור. ראש השנה and יום כיפור, as we know, are ימי הדין, days of judgment, which means we stand trial during those days. And the מדרש says a משל, a parable. When you see two people going into a trial, and you don't know which one will, when he comes out, which one is innocent, which one is guilty, so the מדרש says, I guess that's how they used to do it in those days, that the one that's coming out holding a banner in his hand, you know דידן נצח, you know he won! And the same thing here, we are so sure that we won, we came out innocent from this trial during ראש השנה and יום כיפור and עשרת ימי תשובה, the ten days of תשובה, that right after that, what we do is, we walk around with the banner, holding the banner, and showing that דידן נצח, that we won, and השם gives us a very good and happy and healthy year. That's concerning the ד׳ מינים, in short, very short, there are a lot of things much more to say, but this is in short. Then we have the other מצוה, the מצוה of סוכה. The מצוה of סוכה is that, as we know, we go out, we build like a hut, like a tent, like a, not a tent, but like a little building, a little made-up little room covered with סכך. סכך is the cover, the only way the סוכה is כשר if it's covered with סכך. Now סכך really means like branches and greenery. There are a few הלכות what makes כשר סכך. It has to be something that grows, it has to be something that cannot, halachically, according to Jewish הלכה, become טמא, become impure. It doesn't mean physically not clean, but it means impure, halachically, the way it says in הלכה. So, and it cannot be connected to the ground, has to be cut off. So what we do is we cut off branches, or whatever other place has different things for סכך and you put it on. And that's the סכך. Now the סוכה itself, you could have a סוכה made of four walls, you could have a סוכה made of three walls and it's also כשר. Obviously four is better, with an opening to get in and out, but four walls, and then you have a סוכה made of three is also כשר, and a סוכה made of two walls and a third one a little bit, even if it's removed from the two, is also כשר. Actually this is hinted in the word סוכה. The word סוכה is made up of three letters: סמך, כף, and a ה. Actually there's a ו after the סמך, but that's only a vowel, that's not really the real part of the word. So it's סמך, a כף, and ה. סמך has four sides to it. Letter סמך has four sides. That represents the סוכה that has four walls. A כף has three sides. That represents the סוכה which has three sides, which is also כשר. And a ה also has three sides, but a ה, the third side, the third line on the left side is not connected. So you have two, and then you have a little bit of the third which not even connected, and that's also a כשר סוכה. And that's why the hint to the סוכה is from this. This is all based, the מצוה of סוכה is based, פסוק says in חומש that השם wants us to remember the time when we went out of Egypt, and we stayed in the desert for forty years. And it says כי בסוכות הושבתי, I had you sit in סוכות during that whole time. What does it mean we sat in סוכות? So there is actually an argument of the great sages in the תלמוד. One says it actually means that the Jews, when they lived in the desert for so many years, they made themselves little rooms like these סוכות, and they stayed there. So for us to remember that השם protected us when we lived in the סוכות, we also have to have a סוכה. Then there's another opinion that the סוכות that השם that the תורה is talking about is really the ענני הכבוד. ענני הכבוד means the clouds, because we learn in the חומש that when they went out of Egypt and they stayed the forty years in the desert, there was a cloud that covered them all around and protected them from the outside, from the elements, from the enemies. So to remember that, we also sit in something that protects us specifically for this. Now the truth is the Jews went out of Egypt in the month of ניסן. פסח, when we celebrate the Exodus, is in the month of ניסן, which is the beginning of the spring. So really if we're going to celebrate and remember when they went out of Egypt and they sat in the סוכות, or they had this the cloud, should have been in the month of ניסן when we went out of מצרים. But all the commentaries say that the reason is because during that time of the year, people anyway do that sometimes. It's getting warm, so people sit outside, they make themselves little סוכות, and they live there sometimes, they stay there. So you wouldn't be able to tell that we're doing that for the מצוה. And as I said before, the main reason is the מצוה, because this is a מצוה that השם gave us. So in order to make sure that we realize that this is done specifically for the מצוה, that's why השם said do it this time of the year when it's going into the winter, and people don't make סוכות then, otherwise. And you make the סוכה, so this will be you'll see that this is special for the מצוה of סוכה. Now the מצוה of סוכה is, there are two parts to it. The first night of סוכות, we must eat a כזית, a certain amount, of bread in the סוכה. Just like the night of פסח we must eat a כזית of מצה, we must eat a כזית of bread in the סוכה the first night of סוכות. The rest of סוכות, we are not allowed to eat outside of the סוכה, but there is no obligation to eat in the סוכה. Which means like this, to make it clear: The מצוה of סוכה that you must be in the סוכה is only if you eat bread or cake, or some opinions even wine, but other things you're allowed to eat outside of the סוכה. If you want to eat fish and meat and all other things, vegetables, you can eat it all outside the סוכה. The truth is, a person who's more careful, more מהדר we call it, would not eat anything outside the סוכה, would not even drink water. And that is actually the מנהג ליובאוויטש, מנהג חב״ד, and many other people who do that. But the דין is, if you want to be just according to the דין, you're not allowed to eat bread, cake, cake and wine. And that's why only when we eat these things in the סוכה do we make the special blessing, the special ברכה, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לישב בסוכה, but only when we eat this. So it comes out like this, that during the first night of פסח, of סוכות, we must eat a כזית of bread in the סוכה. The other times, the whole week of סוכות, if a person wants to, throughout the whole week, just eat eggs and eat other foods, and not eat bread or cake, then he's allowed to. He can't make a ברכה. He will miss out the מצוה of סוכה, but he's not doing anything wrong, because there is no obligation. But to eat bread, if you want to eat bread or cake, and some say even to drink wine, you must do that in the סוכה. That's the מצוה of סוכה. Now the מצוה, מצוה of סוכה also has a lot of significance behind that. Again, even though the real reason is because השם said of, told us to do it. And it says that the מצוה of סוכה is connected to ראש השנה and יום כיפור. Where do we see that? The main part of the סוכה is the סכך. The roof, which is made of the סכך. Certainly you must have walls. If you don't have walls and you just have סכך, let's say if a person would just have four poles and סכך on top, that's not a סוכה, you must have walls. But the real part of the סוכה is the סכך. The word סכך is made up of three letters: סמך, כף, and כף. סמך is בגימטריא, the numerical value of סמך is 60. The numerical value, the גימטריא of כף is 20. So we have 60, and 20, and 20. We know on ראש השנה we blow שופר, and we make different sounds: תרועה, שברים, and תקיעה. And the sum total of how much sounds we make is 100. And we make 60 תקיעות throughout the whole דאווענען, prayer of ראש השנה, 60 תקיעות, 20 שברים, and 20 תרועות. So סמך, which is 60, כף, which is 20, כף, which is 20, that's the word סכך, is, it says in קבלה, is a continuation of the 100 noises, sounds that we make with the שופר. Because what happens on ראש השנה transforms itself, in a spiritual sense, obviously, into the מצוה of סוכה. Also, when it comes to יום כיפור, the time of the בית המקדש, when we had the holy Temple, the main thing of יום כיפור was that the כהן גדול, which is the high priest, would go into the קדש הקדשים. This is once a year that he would go into the holy of holies. And what would he do there, on this holiest day of the year, into the holiest place, and the holiest human being? He would be מקטיר קטורת. He would bring in certain incense, certain spices, and in the קדש הקדשים, they would, would catch fire, and he would have to wait till the whole room clouds up with a cloud of smoke of the incense, and then he would walk out, and he would come back to take it out, etc., etc. So it says again in ספרים and in קבלה that the סכך of the סוכה is the transformation, it takes the cloud of the smoke that was there יום כיפור, and it comes transformed into the סכך of the סוכה. So this is a continuation of יום כיפור. So we see the מצוה of סוכה, in the spiritual sense, is a continuation of the day of ראש השנה with the מצוה of שופר and the day of יום כיפור with the כהן גדול going into the קדש הקדשים. In other words, this has the same holiness, because some people would think, well, there it's some special thing, ראש השנה, יום כיפור, but here what is it? This is a continuation in the spiritual sense, as it's explained at length in קבלה. But then there's another thing when it comes to סוכה, an interesting thing. סוכה, as much as during the week of סוכות that is basically our home, but there is something special in the מצוה of סוכה. And before I get to explain what it is, it's worth to mention, between these two מצוות, one might think, which is more important? Now, it's hard to say more important. Both מצוות are just as important. Every מצוה is important. But which one could we say is the main one, and which one is the secondary one, that we still have to keep just as well, but which one is the more? So we see that the יום טוב, the holiday, is called חג הסוכות, the יום טוב of סוכות. It's not called חג האתרוג, the יום טוב of אתרוג, חג הלולב, the יום טוב of לולב, חג ההדסים, חג הערבות, חג הד' מינים, the יום טוב, the holiday of the four kinds. It's called חג הסוכות. Obviously that this is the עצם, we call it, the essence of the יום טוב is the סוכה, and the מצוה of the ד' מינים is something that we do during this holiday of סוכות. And we actually see it also: the מצוה of סוכה starts from the night. As soon as it is nightfall, the night of סוכות we have to sit in the סוכה. On the other hand, the מצוה of the ד' מינים, we only do during the day. At night you can't do that, so obviously this starts more, so this is even, so to speak, more important. So it comes out that the עצם, the essence of the holiday, is the סוכה, it's called חג הסוכות, and the ד' מינים is during the יום טוב of סוכות, we have to have the ד' מינים. So obviously, סוכות is something very, very special. So I'll explain what is so special about the מצוה of סוכה. There are many things that we find in the מצוה of סוכה which is very incredible, very interesting. The מצוה of סוכה is such a is probably the only מצוה that you walk into the מצוה completely. The whole person walks into the מצוה. When you walk into the סוכה, the סוכה, this room, this סוכה is the object of the מצוה. And when you walk into the סוכה, you're fulfilling a מצוה. But who walked into in the סוכה to fulfill the מצוה? The whole person! Every part of the person. See, other מצוות you perform with a certain part of the body. When you put on תפילין, it's you take your hand and you put on תפילין on the other hand, so the hand is involved. When you put the תפילין on the head, the head is involved. When you give charity, give צדקה, your hand gives צדקה. When you eat מצה, your mouth eats eats מצה. Every מצוה is done by a certain part of the body. סוכה is done by the whole person! The whole person walks into the סוכה, and you don't find that by any other מצוה. Now one might say we do find it by another מצוה, the מצוה of going to the מקוה. When you go to the מקוה and you immerse yourself in the waters of the מקוה, the whole body is immersed in the in in the מקוה. But, number one, there is no מצוה to go to the מקוה, it's just that there are certain things are not allowed to be done if you didn't go to the מקוה first. But if a person is not planning to do those things, then you don't have to go. Like in the case of a woman, if she doesn't plan to be with her husband, she doesn't have to go to the מקוה. So the מקוה is only if you want to do something, you must go to the מקוה. And these are things that a person has to do, you go to the מקוה, and many other things. But there's no מצוה a person in itself, the מקוה in itself you must do. While the מצוה of סוכה, you must go into the סוכה. The first night of סוכות for sure you must go into the סוכה. So the מצוה is that you have to do it, you have to put yourself completely into the מצוה. There is another מצוה that you might think covers the person, and that's the מצוה of טלית. When you put on a טלית and you wrap yourself around with the טלית, you wrap your whole body and your head and your body, especially those people who put the טלית over the head, which is the custom amongst a lot of יידן, so it covers the body. But there is still a difference. The שיעור, the measurement of a טלית, the minimum measurement of a טלית is six טפחים. Why? What's the reason for the שיעור of six טפחים? Because six טפחים, the חכמים, our sages said, is enough, the minimum to cover most of the body and the head. And since the טלית has to cover most of the body and the head, so that's why it has to be six טפחים. The minimum שיעור of a סוכה is seven טפחים. Why? Because you should be able to be in it with the head and most of your body and your table! Since you have to eat in the סוכה, they gave another טפח for the table. In other words, by סוכה, not only is your body covered with the מצוה, but even the food, the table of your your table is covered with the מצוה. And that we don't find by טלית, and that we don't find by מקוה. By מקוה, you're not covered with your clothes. Your body is covered with the water, even if we look at it that it's a מצוה that you have to do, even if we look at it that way, but it's only your body, but not your clothes. And טלית is over your clothes, but it's not your table. The מצוה of סוכה is that you have to have should cover your head, most of your body, and the table that you are using to eat. That's why the שיעור of the סוכה is a little bit bigger even than טלית. So this shows the significance of the מצוה of סוכה, that a ייד is able to enter completely, immerse himself in the מצוה. And you know what? He goes in with his shoes! And if his shoes happen to step into mud, and then he walks into the סוכה, he and his clothes and the table and even the mud on his shoes are also in the מצוה! This shows the specialty of this מצוה of סוכה which no other מצוות have have, and that's why this is something special about the מצוה of סוכה. Then there's another thing in the מצוה of סוכה. The תלמוד says, מי שאין לו קרקע אינו אדם. If a person doesn't have land, he's not really a complete person. There's something missing. And the commentaries, תוספות explains it doesn't mean land, it means land to build a house. Basically it means מי שאין לו בית אינו אדם. If a person doesn't have a house, he's not a he's missing in being a person. He's only a complete person if he has a house. So it comes out that what makes the person complete, the house he has. Since during the week of סוכות our house is supposed to be the סוכה, so The completion of us as an אדם as a human being during that week is made of the סוכה, because that's our house. A regular house is not a מצוה, but a סוכה is a מצוה. So during the week of סוכות, we are complete as a human being because of the special מצוה of סוכה. In other words, our being, our אדם within us, the fact that we are completely an אדם as the תלמוד says is because of the מצוה. So the מצוה makes us complete, and this is something that we don't find by any other מצות. And that's why the מצוה of סוכה is the main מצוה, and the מצוה of אתרוג is secondary. Not, again, I'm repeating again, no one should make a mistake and think that secondary that it's not so important. It's as important as the מצוה of סוכה because they're both מצות of השם, but nevertheless, within the two, this is more because this has a lot of special qualities over the מצוה of אתרוג and לולב, even though it has also special qualities of אחדות, as I said before, etc., etc. Then there's another interesting thing when it comes to the מצוה of סוכה. השם wants us to live in a temporary dwelling place during that week because the סוכה is not a permanent place. It's only a little shack that we made, and that's where we live, so to speak, during that week. So we live in a temporary dwelling during the week of סוכות. What this shows us is, we have to remember that our living in this world is basically temporary. This is not the most important part. השם, God put us here for a with a mission, but we have to know that this is only a place where we have to complete our mission, and the real place is in the higher worlds, and after משיח and also down here, but after משיח will come. Now, this is only like a temporary situation, which is connected to the famous story that the פריערדיקער רבי, the previous רבי told about the מעזריטשער מגיד, the מגיד of מעזריטש, who was the greatest student, disciple of the בעל שם טוב, and actually he is was his successor. And he was before, with the time when he was still a student of the בעל שם טוב, the מעזריטשער מגיד, who lived in the city of מעזריטש, was a מלמד, was very, just a teacher, was very, very poor. Once there was somebody who was by the בעל שם טוב in the city of מעזשיבוזש, and he told the בעל שם טוב he's going home. His city was not far from מעזריטש, where the מעזריטשער מגיד at that time as a student of the בעל שם טוב lived. So the בעל שם טוב says, \"Please, when you come there, visit my student, the great גאון, צדיק,\" and he gave him so many descriptions, so many titles, \"רב בער, his name was רב בער, in מעזריטש.\" He was so happy to take this mission from the בעל שם טוב. He came to the city, expected that this is probably the rabbi of town or some great sage in the town, and he asked about him. No one even knew about him. Finally, he found out there was a person, רב בער, who is a teacher living at the end of the city on a in a broken down house. The bottom line is, to make the story short, he finally got to the house and he walked in and he saw He couldn't believe it. The whole house was so poor. The windows were broken. Everything was broken, and the table was made of a piece of wood, and two little stumps of trees held it up, and the chairs were little pieces of wood on the floor, and that's how he taught the children. And then he found out that at night, this would turn into the It's so poor. So when he sat down, he gave him the message from the בעל שם טוב. But after he finished, he says to him, \"I want to ask you something.\" And he was a visitor in מעזריטש because he lived in a different town, not far, but he lived So he asks the מעזריטשער מגיד, \"How do you live like this? Don't you have any furniture? Don't you have a bed, a chair, a table, any furniture?\" So the מעזריטשער מגיד looks at him, \"And where is your furniture?\" \"Is my furniture? Ha, I have it at home! In דער היים איז גאר אנדערש,\" in Yiddish. \"At home, things are different.\" So the מגיד said, \"Yes, yes. By me the same thing. In דער היים איז גאר אנדערש. This is This whole world is temporary. In דער היים, when משיח will come and in גן עדן, that things are different. There, I have a lot a lot of furniture. This furniture...\" And this is the lesson that we take from the סוכה. השם wants us to live in a temporary dwelling to show us that for a week, keep in mind that your whole life in this world is temporary. And if it's only temporary, what is you got to do only what your mission is. You got to keep to the שליחות, the mission that השם gave you, because this is not really your place, but we're here for a reason. So if you don't accomplish the mission, you don't do the reason why you're here, so what's the purpose of being here? And that what is is one of the lessons that we have from the מצוה of סוכה that this reminds us that we live in a temporary place. Then there are על פי קבלה, according to קבלה, when it talks about סוכה and about the ד' מינים, it says that סוכה is the מצוה that we walk inside and it surrounds us. In קבלה, there is a term called מקיף. מקיף means something that surrounds. Now we know that every מצוה that we do draws down great, godly light. Obviously, we can't see it, but we do know It's true, and we believe it. And it's more than just believing; we know it's true that there is Godly light that comes down through every מצוה. Every מצוה, whether it's a מצוה of תפילין or the מצוה of צדקה, of charity, and any מצוה that we do draws down light. But every מצוה draws down different light of השם, which we refer to in קבלה as אור אין סוף, the infinite light of השם, but there are so many different types and so many different things, so many different levels. Every מצוה brings down a different level, a different type. The מצוה of סוכה brings down such a high level of Godly light, similar, as I said before, to the Godly light that came down once a year when the כהן גדול, the holiest person, went into the holiest place on the holiest day through this smoke, this cloud of smoke, same thing סוכה brings down such a high light. And that's represented in the fact that it's מקיף. In קבלה we learn that מקיף, something that surrounds, shows that that's not limited. Something that's not surrounding you, like food that goes in, is limited to according what you could take, so it's limited to the person. Even clothes that surround a person are measured according to his measurement, so it's limited to him. But when you have the, we call it מקיף הרחוק, the far מקיף, the far surrounding, like a house, that's not limited to this person. You can have tall people and short people and all kinds of people coming into the same house. And that in קבלה represents a such a high level of Godly light of אור אין סוף, of infinite light of השם, of God, that is beyond limitations, much more than any other מצוה. And that's the specialty of the מצוה of סוכה, and this is why this is the main part of the מצוה. And this is why this comes right after ראש השנה, יום כיפור, because after we finished with this special עבודה we call it, service of God during ראש השנה, יום כיפור, we're able to reach such a high level of bringing down מקיף, מקיף, the surrounding, which means such a high level which is unlimited at all, and it comes down to us. But the question one might ask, if it's so great and so unlimited, how do we draw it down when we are limited people? And this is where the מצוה of the ד' מינים, the four kinds come in. The לולב, which is the tallest, and the others, so the לולב represents a pipe. It's like a pipe. And we stand in the סוכה, and by doing this מצוה, this is like the pipe that takes down this Godly light, which is מקיף, which surrounds, and brings it down that we should be able to bring it down into this world to us. And this is one of the reasons why it's preferable to do the ברכה, make the blessing and do the מצוה of the ד' מינים in the סוכה, because then we actually physically represent the fact that we're drawing down the great light of this מצוה of סוכה, the מקיף, down into us by this לולב that we're bringing down, by holding in our hands and bringing down this great light together with the others, with all the other kabbalistic things that apply to all the מצוות of סוכה and the and the ד' מינים, etc., etc. Then there's another reason why we should bless and do the מצוה of the ד' מינים in the סוכה, because since during סוכות, the סוכה really is supposed to become our dwelling place, so any important thing that we do, it's preferable to do it in our dwelling place. And since this is an important thing because it's a מצוה, it's important to do it in the סוכה. But the truth is, if you do it at home or you do it some place else, you're also fulfilling the מצוה, but we're talking now more kabbalistic reason and called מצוה מן המובחר, it's better that way, but if you didn't do it that way, you're still מקיים, you still fulfill the מצוה. This is very, very short, in a nutshell, some of the points concerning these two מצוות of the יום טוב, of the holiday of סוכות. There are other things when it comes to the holiday of סוכות, which I'll just mention in short, we won't go into it, and that is there's a concept of שמחת יום טוב. יום טוב, the holiday, the חג, is a special time to be happy and rejoice. Now, all holidays you have to be happy, but where does the תורה specify specifically more the מצוה that you have to be happy in סוכות? That's why סוכות is called זמן שמחתנו, the time of our joy. פסח you also have to be happy, but it's called זמן חרותנו, the time of our freedom. שבועות you also have to be happy. It's also one of the ימים טובים you have to be happy, but it's called זמן מתן תורתנו, the time when the תורה was given, our תורה was given. But סוכות is called זמן שמחתנו, the time of our שמחה. So the מצוה of שמחה applies then even more. And because of that, there was a special שמחת בית השואבה it's called, which took place during סוכות. In the time of the בית המקדש, there was a special מצוה on סוכות which only happened in the בית המקדש, a special מצוה. When they brought the sacrifices, so normally on the sacrifices they would also have to pour wine. That's called ניסוך היין, the pouring of the wine. סוכות there was a special מצוה they had to draw water, special for this reason, and pour water on the קרבנות. That's called ניסוך המים, pouring the water. And there's a פסוק that says, ושאבתם מים בששון, you should draw the water with joy. So when they drew the water the night before, special for this, there was such a great שמחה, such a great celebration in the בית המקדש, and the תלמוד says, מי שלא ראה שמחת בית השואבה לא ראה שמחה מימיו. Anybody who didn't witness the joy, the שמחה that took place in the בית המקדש, when these great sages were dancing and the שמחה was so great with the musical instruments, etc., etc., never saw a שמחה. Any שמחה you think you saw, it never come it doesn't come to that great joy. That's another aspect of the מצוה of the יום טוב, of the holiday of סוכות. And there's another thing which is mentioned in קבלה, mentioned in the זוהר, that during סוכות we have the אושפיזין. אושפיזין are guests, the word אושפיזין means guest, that there are seven guests that come to visit us every day in the סוכה. And the seven are אברהם, יצחק, יעקב, משה, אהרן, יוסף and דוד. Again, the forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, אברהם, יצחק, יעקב; then משה רבינו and אהרן, יוסף הצדיק, יוסף, the son of יעקב, and דוד המלך, King David. Every day they come to visit us in the סוכה. I guess great צדיקים see it. They come to visit us in the סוכה. The first day the main person is אברהם and everyone else comes with him. The second day the main one is יצחק and everyone comes with him. And this is another area altogether, and this is another aspect of סוכות, as there are many more. But the main thing of the סוכות is to do the מצוות of סוכה. And the main thing is to sit in the סוכה. The first night you must sit in the סוכה and eat a כזית there. The other days you don't have to if you don't plan to eat bread, but anyway, שבת and יום טוב a person should wash and eat bread, eat חלה, so it comes out that you should be you should eat in the סוכה. So you have to do that. The truth is when it rains, the הלכה is, the law is that when it rains, you don't have to eat in the סוכה, except the first night you have to eat כזית, otherwise even bread you can eat outside. Nevertheless, there are people who are very, very careful that even when it rains, they also eat in the סוכה, and that's the מנהג חב״ד, מנהג ליובאוויטש and most of the חסידים. So the bottom line is we have to fulfill the מצוה of סוכה, and we have to fulfill the מצוה of the ד׳ מינים, to make sure that every day of סוכות, the first day it's מדאורייתא, from the תורה, the other days it's מדרבנן, but the דרבנן is just as important as the דאורייתא, because ה׳ said in the תורה that we must listen to what the דרבנן, the חכמים tell us. So we have to take the ד׳ מינים and give it a shake, but the main thing is to hold it. When you have the לולב, הדסים and ערבות together, bound together, and you put the אתרוג next to it, and you make the ברכה and you shake it. The way you actually make the ברכה is, some people hold the אתרוג first upside down, and then they make and the לולב in the right hand, then they make the ברכה, because you have to make the ברכה before you fulfill the מצוה. So if you're going to hold it already, you fulfilled the מצוה, so you'll make the ברכה after the מצוה was done. So that's why they turn it over, because the מצוה has to be done only if it's standing upright. So if they first take it upside down, they didn't do the מצוה. But many don't do that, and also מנהג חב״ד is that we make the ברכה holding the לולב, and the אתרוג is on the table, and then we pick up, after we make the ברכה, we pick it up. The first day, when we also have to add the שהחיינו, we pick it up and say שהחיינו, and we put it together and we shake it. And the other days we don't say שהחיינו, so we make the ברכה while the לולב is in the right hand, and the אתרוג is on the table, then we pick it up, put it together, we shake it. And then if you're able to do the נענועים, and you have to find out exactly how to do it, then that's better. But the main thing is that this is to show that we are keeping what ה׳ wants. And this is the beginning of the next half a year till the next holiday, the next יום טוב, that we take all the spiritual strength and power to be able to go through the winter with serving ה׳ and realizing that the main mission we have in this world is to serve ה׳, because this world is only like a סוכה. This world is only a temporary dwelling. And from here we go, when משיח will come, we'll go to the real permanent dwelling. And we hope that this will happen this year, that משיח will come very, very soon, במהרה בימינו בקרוב.