The Sukka And The Blessing It Brings

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Two mitzvos are specific to the Yom Tov of Sukkos, the mitzvah of Sukka and the mitzvah of the "four kinds," lulov, esrog, haddasim and arravos. If so, why is the Yom Tov called Sukkos, and not after the four kinds? And what are we meant to learn from this? 

There are several reasons that it's called Sukkos. 

One reason is that the mitzvah of Sukka is connected to every moment of the holiday, from when the holiday is sanctified until it ends seven days later. On the other hand, the four kinds begins only in the morning of the first day. 

What more, the Sukka has to be built before the holiday, especially for the mitzvah of Sukka and the building of the Sukka is considered a mitzvah. Whereas it's possible to put the four kinds together on Yom Tov. 

Another reason is that once you do the mitzvah of the four kinds, there is no more obligation. But the mitzvah of Sukka is that you should live in it as you live in your home. This means that it continues all day long, until the holiday is over. 

Another way that Sukka is greater than the four kinds, is that the four kinds are like most mitzvos, they are particular to one part of the body, in this case, the hands. On the other hand, Sukka is with the whole body, the mitzvah envelopes the whole body. And all the mundane things that are regularly done in the home should be done in the Sukka, and they become a mitzvah, so it makes everything you do a mitzvah. 

You have to live in the Sukka as you live in your home. That means that your Sukka is your home for the duration of the holiday. 

Our sages say, "One who has no home, is not a mentch," he is missing a vital part of being a person, a place to call home. When a person doesn't have a place to live, he doesn't feel like a mentch. This means that when a person isn't home, he is affected by the fact that he has a place to call home. On Sukkos, when we call the Sukka home, we are affected by the Sukka even when we are not in it, every moment of Sukkos we are affected by the Sukka. 

Everything that we do in the month of Tishrei, the Holidays, the Ten Days of Teshuva, Shabbos Bereishis, and even the other days, are meant to affect the whole year. 

We are expected to do everything for Hashem, as our sages say, "know Him in all your ways." And the mitzvah of Sukka gives us the strength for this. Because even if you sleep in the Sukka, you are doing a mitzvah, even when you are not in it, you are connected to the mitzvah, connected to Hashem. We have to take the holiness and the joy of the Sukka and bring it into the home throughout the year. 

Our sages say, "a man's home is his wife," this tells us the power of the Jewish woman, that she has an effect on her husband and children, not only when they are home, but even when they are not home, as she is their stability. 

May we all have a wonderful Sukkos, and may it affect our whole year and our homes that they should be filled with nachas and shalom bayis, hope and happiness, light and joy, good health and success.