Sukkah and Lulav and the Sword of the Revolutionary Spirit

Parsha and its realization - Sukkot 5784

Rabbi Eliezer Haim Shenvald

These days we are marking the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, which was one of the most difficult wars we have ever fought in and remains in our national consciousness as a traumatic event. The war created an earthquake, which affected and still affects spiritual, social, and political processes. The 'failures' and oversights were mainly emphasized during the first thirty years: the complacency and indifference, the surprise, and the high number of casualties. The intelligence alert, the 'combined battle', the 'Emergency Storage Unit' situation^*1, the relations between politics and military, and more. Undoubtedly, this is of great importance. This allows for unbiased lessons to be drawn.

However, little attention was paid in these years to the analysis of a more significant aspect that characterized that war - the 'turnover'! The war opened by surprise, on two fronts at the same time and with significantly superior forces in favor of the Syrians and Egyptians. In less than a day, the Syrians managed to occupy most of the territory of the Golan Heights, and the Egyptians occupied a significant strip deep in Sinai. Among the surprised and worried captains, someone was quoted as saying that we are in existential danger! However, in a few days, the IDF managed to turn the tables around and the exact opposite happened: from a beaten army that was on the defensive and in danger of collapsing, to an offensive army, attacking deep within the enemy's territory, 40 km from Damascus and 101 km from Cairo. An unprecedented 'turnover' in modern military history!

During these years, Israeli society dealt with scars, anger, and union, and was not open to realize the miracle they just experienced, or to respect those who stopped the Syrian and Egyptian attacks with their bodies and heroism, bringing about the 'turnover'.

In the thirtieth year after the war, the Harel Institute led a national campaign to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the war in the Golan. We set ourselves the goal of raising public awareness of the 'turnover' and its creators, to balance the discourse on the war and to learn from it for the future.

Part of the Institute's actions towards the thirtieth anniversary was to study the war, in depth, from IDF and enemy materials, and from the fighters' and commanders' testimonies. From them we learned that the war was full of miracles one after the other, in all its phases. However, we also managed to identify and recognize the human magnitude, ethical side, and professional aspect, which were the main generators of the transformation, 'naturally': on most fighters and commanders we identified the patterns of ethical behavior (thousands, mainly at the company level and below) who continued to fight fearlessly with courage and valor even in hopeless situations and against superior forces (usually, in these types of situations, soldiers don't hold out and retreat). Tank crews whose tanks were damaged returned to fight in other tanks. They had a 'fighting spirit' that stemmed from a 'belief in the rightness of the way.' Their way of fighting constituted a "force multiplier" that disrupted the balance of forces on the battlefield. This is an important lesson. Contrary to the popular opinion - that to win a war you need superiority of physical strength, we learned that in this war, as well as in other wars, victory was achieved precisely by those whose physical strength was inferior at various stages, but whose spirit, faith, and greatness of soul were stronger!

לֹ֤א בְחַ֙יִל֙ וְלֹ֣א בְכֹ֔חַ כִּ֣י אִם־בְּרוּחִ֔י אָמַ֖ר ה'

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit —said Hashem"

On the battlefield, the 'fighting spirit' becomes a "force multiplier". We called our plan: 'The Sword of the Revolutionary Spirit'.

Towards the fiftieth year after the war, we recognize that the message has been understood. It is evident in the diversity of programs, interviews and articles and is emphasized in the stories of fighters and their heroism.

The next step should be to revive the 'fighting spirit' that was highly revealed in the war, for future generations. To strengthen the motivation, the resilience, the immenseness of the soul, belief in the righteousness of the path and the sense of responsibility for the fate of the country and its well-being. Even if we must face a similar test in the future, it will come to light.

On the Sukkot holiday we deal with the complexity of the relationship between the people of Israel and the seventy nations, i.e., seventy bulls sacrificed. One of its elements refers to the victory of the people of Israel over the leaders of the nations, and over the persecutions in days to come. In merit of their strong spirit: the Sages likened the four species to the weapons of the victors:

וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן פְּרִי עִץ הָדָר (ויקרא כג ג), אָמַר לֵיהּ בְּרִי מָאנֵי קְרָבָא בִּימִינָא נָטְלִין לוֹן, וּבְאִלֵּין מָאנֵי קְרָבָא אִינוּן יִשְׂרָאֵל רְשִׁימִין דְּנָצְחִין דִּינָא,

"On the first day you shall take the product of hadar^*2 trees… My son, said to him, the four species are like weapons of war that are taken in the right hand to stand in judgment before the nations of the world" (Tikkunei Zohar 29a)

"Taking four species comes to instruct us that we are as if returning from the war after winning and it was the custom to go out with the Lulav… all the people would wave their lulavim …, etc. And we have already explained… that it is implied in the Bible that Yom Kippur is a time of war for the entire nation with the leaders from above. And in Sukkot we are a grateful nation, praising Hashem for the victory. And here is the way in which captives of war happily walk in tents, as when going to war and standing in the field. And the Almighty wanted us to wake up to this knowledge and commanded us to 'sit in the Sukkah' as we were when Israel left Egypt, when we were like an army going to war armed. This is what we must do forever after Yom Kippur; that we fought and won and that is why the Mitzvah of Lulav and Sukkah belong to the 'citizens' of Israel... And just as the king, when resting, sits in his palace in his royal city and watches over the needs of the people. But when it is necessary to protest and in time of war, he does not do so. Rather, he leaves his palace and goes before his army to another country where the war is… Goes every day with a sukkah and a tent to the place where the main battle is. Here comes the issue of sukkah for two purposes. Every individual from Israel wants to strengthen confidence and faith in Hashem. And the Holy One commanded for the entire seven days, emerge from the permanent residence in which you reside year-round and reside in a temporary residence, the Sukkah. Secondly, all of Israel remembers Hashem's protection of Israel in their war, as it was in the wilderness". (Haamek Davar on Vayikra 23:43)

^*1 An emergency storage unit (יחידת מחסני חירום abbreviated as יָמָ"ח) is a military unit whose main function is the organization and maintenance of equipment intended for the reserve units during an emergency mobilization of its soldiers.

^*2 Hadar trees: The exact meaning is uncertain. Traditionally it is understood as 'citron'.