THE TIMING OF SUKKOT

Rambam opens the discussion of Sukkot by noting that it is a time of rejoicing, and that it is a week so that it will be a noticeable time period. He then explains its seasonal placement as connected to the agricultural harvest—as Aristotle notes in the Ethics, the general custom was to have festivals around the time that harvests were completed. In addition, Rambam says, Sukkot comes at a time when it is possible to live in a Sukkah without undue discomfort from either heat or rain. Those are some technical issues he explains, but they are not the main thrust of his thoughts about Sukkot.

AN OPINION AND A QUALITY

Rambam now returns to consider Pesah and Sukkot together, noting that each has two messages for us, one an "opinion," by which he means a belief, and the other a quality, a character trait. For opinions, Pesah reminds of the Exodus and the miracles attached to it, while Sukkot reminds us of the miracles of the desert.

Note that in Rambam’s formulation, sitting in a sukkah isn’t only to remember the booths (truth is, the Shulhan Arukh rules that the Jews did not sit in physical booths in the desert, they were surrounded by `ananei hakavod, clouds of Glory). It is also to remember the cloud of smoke by day and pillar of fire by night that led the Jews on their wanderings, the rock that gave them water, the man that fell from the sky, that their clothing never wore out, and so on. That would mean that, parallel to Pesah, it is worth (although there is not a specific mitsvah) reviewing the whole procedure of the desert during Sukkot, not just the simple fact of sitting in booths.

When it comes to the moral quality, Rambam calls for remembering our times of stress in times of prosperity, because it teaches gratitude to God, submissiveness and humility. In the case of Pesah, the gratitude comes from remembering that He took us out of slavery, which is why we recreate some of the acts of our time as slaves (matsah and maror). In the case of Sukkot, Rambam says leaving our houses to booths reminds us of how people who live in the desert have to live, and we can then remember that God took us from there to the best and most fertile place on earth.

The moral point of both these holidays, so far, is to remind us of what God has done for us and to keep our gratitude to God fully in mind. That in turn will lead to submissiveness and humility, presumably because as we recall (and keep fully in mind) that our good fortune has less to do with our own efforts than with God’s having brought us to that point, we have less right to view ourselves as powerful, etc., the self-image that leads to arrogance.

THE ROLE OF THE AVOT

Rambam adds to his presentation of the moral quality of Sukkot another factor that led God to bring us to Israel, the "best and most fertile place on Earth." Aside from God’s benefaction, Rambam notes His promise to the Patriarchs, whom he describes as perfect in their opinions and moral character. He then says that it is a pivot (a basic principle) of the Law that every benefit God has or will grant us is due to the merit of the Fathers. That means, in Rambam’s opinion, that it is not only on the High Holidays that we rely on the merit of the Avot, but really throughout our lives. In that picture of history, the Jewish people reached its height with Avraham, Yitshak, and Yaakov, and ever since have just been trying to get back to the level that they reached. Rambam doesn’t elaborate, but it is a view of Jewish religious history that is worth more thought.

SHEMINI ATSERET

Rambam explains the addition of another day of holiday after Sukkot as aimed at allowing for celebrations that could not take place in booths, but need to happen in houses. Since a seven-day sitting in Sukkot was necessary to make it clear that people are living in those booths for a reason and not as a matter of personal preference, the day of rejoicing while sitting in houses presumably had to be a separate day for Rambam.

BEFORE THE ARBA MINIM

Rambam is about to give his view of the Arba Minim, the four species we take for the seven days of Sukkot. He notes, however, that there are Midrashim in Hazal that explain the significance of the four species in ways that are only meant to be poetic. Rambam does not identify which ones he means, but I feel confident he is making a reference to such portrayals of the Arba Minim as reflecting the Jewish people and others. (Some of those we will see in the Riverdale Jewish Center between Minha and Maariv on the first and second day of Sukkot, when we review R. Zadoq haCohen’s understanding of the Arba Minim). Rambam mentions—as he does in the Introduction to Helek, which we saw recently on a Shabbat afternoon in the RJC—that there are two groups of people about such statements of Hazal, one that is sure that Hazal meant those statements to be true (in our case, that would mean that they literally meant that the Torah told us to take the Arba Minim to symbolize the Jewish people) and others who reject Hazal’s statements because they so clearly do not reflect what the pesukim mean. Rambam thinks it is important to see that Hazal were using the verses to make a point, but not to claim that that was its actual meaning.

Rambam gives an example of an interpretation of the commandment to have a tool in one’s possession to be able to dig and cover over one’s excretions. In the gemara, Bar Kapparah is quoted as using this verse to say that one should use one’s fingers (his reading of yad) in one’s ears (turning the word azenekha into aznekha) to avoid hearing obscene talk. Rambam points out that Bar Kapparah never meant that this was what the verse actually says, he was using it in a poetic fashion.

THE ARBA MINIM

With that cleared up, he is then free to explain his view of the point of the Arba Minim. He claims that these species, which only grow in inhabited places, indicate the joy and gladness of the Jewish people upon leaving the desert, where there were none of these luxuries. Note that in Rambam’s explanation (both of the Sukkah and of the Arba Minim) the focus of the holiday is entirely on the aspect of yetsiat mitsrayim, of the Exodus and its denouement. That means that he sees the placement of the holiday at the harvest season purely as a convenience, since people are finished with their agricultural labors, and the weather is right for Sukkah living. There is not, however, in Rambam’s presentation, the notion that Sukkot is also about avoiding the sense of arrogance that a full granary might bring.

Rambam also notes three common factors to the Arba Minim: first, they are plentiful in Israel, so that everyone can procure them (which means, incidentally, that the prices we pay here for the Arba Minim should be felt as part of the travails of exile; it is not that God wanted us to spend a lot of money for these ritual items, it is that our living far from the Land forced that price hike upon us). Second, these are items that are beautiful and fresh (presumably so that we see them as aspects of settled land that are worth celebrating). Third, they keep fresh for seven days, in contrast to other fruit that grow in Israel (which leads me to wonder what his trick for the Aravot was, but we’ll never know).

Rambam’s view of the Arba Minim, I would add, turns Sukkot into a holiday that balances our memory of the desert between remembering its rigors with remembering the great rest that came at its end—the Sukkah reminds us of the living in the desert (and the miracles there), while the Arba Minim remind us of the arrival in Israel. That, too, parallels Pesah, where we eat matsah and maror to remember slavery, but also the Korban Pesah to remember the Exodus, and say Hallel, etc. In both holidays, there are two types of memory being experienced.

CHAPTER 44

The commandments of the ninth class are those that Rambam put into Sefer Ahavah, such as tefillin, prayer, berakhot, etc. The point of all of these, Rambam says, is to keep our thoughts of God and the need to keep His commandments before us at all times, and to teach us various useful opinions. Since he thought it would be repetitive to go into any detail on these issues, I will follow his lead and stop here.