Sukkos
What the Torah calls emunah is far removed from what the world calls faith or even what we are accustomed to calling “believing in HaShem.” Emunah is not a matter of reciting the 13 Ikarim of the Rambam, and it is certainly more than a matter of hashkafa. Its starting point is what the Rambam writes at the beginning of the Mishneh Torah: "The foundation of foundations and pillar of all wisdom is to know that there exists a First Being." Emunah begins with knowledge that is not abstract, intellectual knowledge, but knowledge you can feel.
The Succa provides proof. The Gemara at the start of Mesechta Succa states that a succa higher than twenty amos is invalid, because the pasuk says "so that your generations will know that I settled the Bnei Yisroel in succos," and above twenty cubits, the eye can no longer see the schach. So, the "so that your generations will know," required by the pasuk specifically means something that the eye can see. Even though a person sitting in a succa taller than twenty cubits certainly still knows intellectually that he is sitting in a succa, the Torah's standard of "knowing" means specifically knowledge through the senses.
Rav Wolbe, z”l, (Alei Shur Vol. 2, 296) asserts that “from this we are compelled to interpret similarly the verse in Parashas Ve’eschanan, "You shall know this day and take to heart that Hashem is God . . .,” and conclude that there too we are obligated in sensory knowledge, something we can feel, not just know in our thoughts.” Does a child say, “I believe in my father’s existence?” No. He says, “I live with my father.” So too, a Jew doesn’t just believe in HaShem, he lives with Hashem, his Father.
It is not only Jews, but, as we davened on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, every being formed and created by HaShem will one day come to know that HaShem created and formed him or her. Rav Wolbe reminds us that HaShem went to great lengths, 10 macos worth, to be exact, so that "Mitzrayim shall know that I am Hashem." The Mitzri’im only reached that level of sensory knowledge at the moment of their death at the Yam Suf. For us, the Bnei Yisroel, that same sensory knowledge is only the starting point of emunah.
The succa provides us with the time, the environment, and the mitzva, to take the emuna that begins with knowledge we can feel and allow it to expand and shine. We have a miraculous physical body, a world filled with wonders of creation and the greatness of the Creator, personal events in our lives filled with hashkafa pratis, and a national history that stands as perhaps the greatest proof of all of HaShem’s existence. As we sit in the “shade of emunah” of the succa, we can enjoy our yearly opportunity to allow our bodies, nature, our daily lives and our national history to be illuminated by the light of our emunah, and now that we can see it, we can practice living according to it, too.
Principle: Does a child say, “I believe in my father’s existence?” No. He says, “I live with my father.” So too, a Jew doesn’t just believe in HaShem, he lives with Hashem, his Father.
Good Shabbos and Good Yom Tov,
Rabbi Goldberg