Sukkot: Chag Ha'asif

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

One of the names that the Torah gives the holiday of Sukkot is Chag Ha'asif, the holiday of gathering. Seemingly, gathering describes the time period in which the holiday falls out in, being that this is the time of year that landowners would gather their crops from their fields. If that's the case, why would a description of the time period become so significant to become one of the names of the holiday? Obviously, there is more to it. The Be'er HaParasha quoted the Rashbam on the pasuk, למען ידעו דורותיכם כי בסוכות הושבתי , who says, by remembering how Hashem took care of all the Jewish people's needs for 40 years in the desert, they would continue thanking Him when they settled the land with beautiful homes filled with bounty. Then they would not think that it was their strength that enabled them to settle the land, and it was their craftsmanship that built their homes. This pasuk, which commands us to sit in the sukkah, is alluding to the fact that we have to remember that everything we have is only because Hashem gives it to us. This message is so important specifically at this time of year, when the landowner sees how much yield his fields produced, at a time when he is susceptible to feeling haughty over what he accomplished. The Torah reminds him that all of his blessing only comes from Hashem. This is one of the reasons why Sukkot is called the Chag HaAsif. It is not just describing the time period, but is rather helping us stay humble and appreciate Hashem during this time of gathering. It is obvious that Hashem gives us everything we have, but the Yetzer Hara makes it not so obvious. Something could be staring a person right in the face, but he doesn't realize it because he gets sidetracked. The Be'er HaParasha gave him a mashal to explain. There was a wealthy man transporting dirt over the border from a neighboring country. When the border patrol asked him about it, he said he was building a new home and needed dirt for it. They told him there was plenty of dirt in his country and didn't need dirt from a different country. He said that this dirt was much better. They didn't believe him. They thought he was smuggling valuables like gold and silver under the dirt and trying to avoid the taxes. So they ordered their inspectors to sift through all of the dirt. In the end they didn't find anything and let the truck load through. This repeated itself every single day for months. Every day he would transport dirt and every day the inspectors would search and find nothing. Finally the wealthy man said his house was completed and wasn't going to need any more dirt. The head of the border patrol asked this man what he was hiding for all these months. It couldn't be that he just needed dirt. The wealthy man told him, if you sign a letter saying I'll never have to pay tax for it, then I'll tell you. He signed the letter, and the wealthy man told him he was transporting brand new trucks every day but he sidetracked them with the dirt. So too, we work hard and we earn money and the Yeser Harah tells us it was our hard work that produced the money. But we must not get fooled. It's only Hashem. Baruch Hashem, another one of our enemies has been eliminated. It happened accidentally and reportedly accomplished by soldiers that were trainees. This is Hashem reminding us that He is in charge and when He decides an enemy will be eliminated, that's when it will happen. We pray that Hashem will decide to end the fighting with all of our enemies being eradicated and allow us to celebrate the coming of the Mashiach. Amen. Chag Sameach.