Sukkot: Imagine That

 Imagination plays a critical role in the meaning and observance of Sukkot. It begins with the first time Sukkot appears in the Torah, when Yaakov builds sukkot for his animals. Ohr Hachayim suggests that Yaakov invented the idea of shelter for animals. The first sukkot in the Torah celebrate the ingenuity of our forefather Jacob. Imagination continues to play a prominent role as the Rabbis make sense of the mitzvah of sukkah. The Talmud records that Rabbi Elazar says that Sukkot commemorates the Jews dwelling under the protection of the Ananei Hakavod, the Clouds of Glory. When we eat in the sukkah, we are supposed to think about that experience. The problem is that we have never dwelled in the Clouds of Glory. According to Rabbi Elazar, we will have to use our imaginations to commemorate the Ananei Hakavod. Just as imagination is necessary when dealing with the more esoteric elements of sukkah, so too is it necessary when dealing with the nuts and bolts of sukkah construction. A sukkah does not need to be completely enclosed. It doesn’t even need to have three full walls. Two connected walls and a third piece of a wall suffice. The laws of Gud Asik, Dofen Akuma and Lavud require us to see something that is not literally there: a wall continuing upward, a roof becoming part of a wall, or empty space being treated as though schach is present. If you utilize all of these rules at one time, you may need a great deal of imagination to view that sukkah as functional protection. And yet, the halacha is that such a seemingly incomplete structure would be perfectly kosher for Sukkot use. We just need to use our imaginations. Imagination helps a person see what is possible, not only what everyone else assumes to be true. Imagination allows a person to see things as they could be. One of the recommendations suggested to help adults boost their imaginations is to change daily habits. This is exactly what we are doing this week as we dwell in the sukkah: Tzei midirat keva v’shev b’dirat arai. We leave our regular existence and hold up in a dirat arai, a change of pace whereby our imagination is given more reign.  Even the concept that our sukkahs should serve as our permanent homes for the week is framed in terminology that alludes to the need for imagination: Teishvu k’eyn taduru. We dwell in the sukkah as if we lived there. We don’t really give up our homes. The mail will still come to our permanent address, and we’re moving right back in at the end of the week. But on this holiday where imagination is the task at hand, we are instructed to imagine that our real home is the sukkah. By using our imagination while in the sukkah, we can develop skills that will serve us well for the rest of our lives. Just as the farmer would celebrate all of the bounty that Hashem had blessed him with, so too let appreciate that all of our achievements are really from Hashem. Sukkot is a time not only to strengthen the abstract notion of Emunah, that G-d is in charge, but the very personal and practical notion of Bitachon, that G-d plays a pivotal role in my own life, and that Hashem must be recognized and thanked in connection with all of my success. There is a dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai whether a Sukkah Yeshana, a sukkah built prior to 30 days before Sukkot, is permissible to use on the holiday. Rav Soloveitchik explained that even according to Beit Hillel, an old sukkah requires that an element of ingenuity be introduced into the sukkah within 30 days of the holiday. Even if the sukkah had been built a year ago specifically for the mitzvah of sukkah, something fresh needs to be added. Our relationship with the sukkah and its message must change and develop each year. We too need to consider ways to keep our sukkah experience, and our religious lives, fresh, new and relevant. The answer is as simple as it is challenging and emerges as an important theme of Sukkot: Use your imagination.