The first mention of Succos – not the Yom Tov but the ‘booths’ – occurs in the Torah after the famous meeting between brothers Yaakov and Eisov. We read, “And Yaakov journeyed to Succos and built himself a house, and for his livestock he made shelters (סכת); he therefore called the name of the place Succos”.
Many question Yaakov’s actions. How could he call the name of the place after the livestock, thus giving precedence to his possessions over his actual family? Does this not echo the mixed priorities shown by the descendants of Gad and Reuven when they presented to Moshe their request to remain on the Transjordan, “pens for the flock shall we build here for our livestock and cities for our children”. A blunder which they were severely punished for.
To answer this question let us take a look at another place that was also called Succos. When the Jews left Egypt we read about their first encampment, “the Children of Israel journeyed from Raamses to Succos”. Indeed we celebrate the festival of Succos, “So that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in Succos when I took them out of Egypt. What is the significance of ‘Succos’ as being the first pit stop on the way out of Egypt?
The Ba’al Ha’Turim points out the unique spelling of ‘Succos’ – סכת – missing the letter ‘vov’ (as in סוכות). This unique spelling appears only in reference to Yaakov’s booths and the first pit stop we went to as a nation – thus connecting the two.
The Vilna Gaon speaks at length of the parallels between Yaakov’s (the single Jew) personal exile in the house of Lavan and the national exile in Eypgt. Yaakov trod the path that was to become the destiny of his descendants. “Jewish history is Jewish Destiny!” The Torah goes out of its way to describe how both Yaakov and the Nation leave their prospective exiles with great wealth. The first stop with all this wealth on the way to the Promised Land both with Yaakov and the Nation is Succos! How are we to understand this?
The festival of Succos is also referred to in the Torah as ‘Chag Ha’asif’ – The Festival of the Ingathering [of the crops]. The agricultural year has come to an end, the crops have all been harvested – the silos are full. As we say in davening – “it is the season of our rejoicing”. The hard work has paid off. As Jews after the bounty has flowed from Hashem – we then stocktake. Not just to know how much we have amassed – that is not the purpose of the wealth – we move into a flimsy Sucoh. We vividly remind ourselves that security is not through what we own in the physical sense of what we have amassed – security is only through connection to Hashem. This is the real rejoicing of Succos – the reminder that we have a connection to Hashem.
This suggests R’ Yaakov Galinsky is why although we have visual reminders throughout the Pesach Seder: Maror to remind us of the bitterness; Charoses, the cement; we have no reminder of the great wealth with which we left Egypt!? Some joke – we have no reminder since the wealth is long gone. There is a great truth to this. The real wealth is not the gold and silver it is something much deeper. The real wealth was the connection that we had forged with Hashem and we were going to concretise with the receiving of the Torah several weeks later. The Dubner Magid gives a great parable to understand this:
There was a young and inexperienced person who worked hard for a wealthy man. When the time came to be paid he was paid with ‘paper money’. The young man thought he had been fobbed off with mere paper. The father of the young man was summoned and the master explained how he had paid him. The father replied, “It is true that the papers are excellent – much more preferable to cash. But my son does not understand such things. Let him be allowed to enjoy real gold”
The great wealth that was promised to Avraham was not physical gold and silver – that would have hardly enticed our forefather. Rather he was offered the Torah – the Divine teachings, the precious jewel of the world – invaluable and more precious than a thousand talents of gold and silver. Hashem gave us both the ‘paper money’ – the Torah and the gold and silver.
When a Jew comes to stocktake, he realises the importance of his physical wealth is only inasmuch as he has amassed connection to Hashem. The Succoh is the place for this activity, and so the Jews stop at Succos – get put up in booths – and begin to taste the real joy of freedom. Now we understand why Yaakov calls the place Succos. We read how Yaakov built a house. This house says the Targum was a ‘Beis Hamedresh’ – house of Torah study. In contrast to his spiritual affairs that demanded a permanent structure, his wealth was given mere booths. To highlight this very important display of where his priorities lay Yaakov called the place after that which reminded people of the transient nature of physical wealth – Succos.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov