Shaaallloooooom sweeeetest friends!!!
This dvar Torah should be in memory of HaRav Hechossid R' Yisrael Tzvi ben R' Tzadok, the father of the Rebbe Shlita who was niftar of the first day of Yuntiv. תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים ויזכה בקרוב לתחית המתים!
The pasuk [Tehillim 33/18] says הנה עין ה' אל יראיו למיחלים לחסדו - The eyes of Hashem are on those who fear Him to those who wait for his chesed. This alludes to Succos.
It is interesting that the word סוכה also means to "see". So the same word means "Tabernacle" [or "Jewish tent in October"] and "see".
When we sit in the Succah it is Hashem who is lovingly looking upon us. Succos is a time of Ahava while the earlier days of the Yomim Noaraim were days of Yirah. When we sit in the Succah we need to have both feelings. The Fear we acquired over the days of Awe and the Love of Succos, our most elevated time of simcha. If we do that then the "eyes of Hashem" will be focused on us. This means a heightened level of siyata di-shamaya [my favorite drug is "LSD" - "Lotsa Siyata Di-shamaya"] and an auspicious time to receive all of the Divine blessings.
We often think small and that is our mistake. Hashem unlimited and our tfillos should be in the realm of the unlimited. As the pasuk says למיחלים לחסדו. We have to wait for the greatest chesed possible. Don't just ask Hashem for little things but ask Him for EVERYTHING, knowing that He can give it to you. Whether or not you get it doesn't matter as much as the recognition that His desire to bestow chesed upon us is unlimited and He has unlimited capabilities.
We sit in a Succah which has more shade than sun. Shade represents the shadow of Hashem and trust in Him in all circumstances [השם צלך]. Sun represents צמצום - contraction, as the pasuk says השמש בגברתו - The sun in its gevurah. Gevurah- might - represents in Kabbalah that act of contraction. [Yitzchak's middah was gevurah which meant that he was afraid of sinning and thus contracted himself for fear of extending himself beyond permitted limits]. On Succos, when Hashem is סוכה on us, there most be more trust in Hashem's kindness that even the fear we have. We need lots of both but especially an extra abundance of trust and hope.
Succos corresponds to Yaakov Avinu as the pasuk says ולמקנהו עשה סוכות - He was the only one of the forefathers to have explicitly built Succos. About Yaacov it says ופרצת ימה וקדמה צפוני ונגבה. First he made techum Shabbos [contraction, limits - gevurah] and in that merit was promised unlimited territory - exactly what Succos is about.
How fitting it is that the gematria of the first letters of ע"ין י-ה-ו-ה א"ל י"ראיו equals 91 which is exactly the gemtria of סוכה!!!
[Based in part on a Torah of Rebbe Leibele Eiger Shabbos Chol Hamoed 1870]
A happy chag and sweeeeeeet Shabbos!
