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Home > Daily Emunah Podcast - Daily Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear > Sukkot: What Impresses Hashem
Podcast: Daily Emunah Podcast - Daily Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear
Episode:

Sukkot: What Impresses Hashem
Category: Religion & Spirituality
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2021-09-20 13:00:00
Description: The pasuk says in Mishlei , שקר החן והבל היופי אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל – loosely translated to mean the outer beauty of a person is not what impresses Hashem. Because that He created. What makes a person beautiful in the eyes of Hashem is the person’s yirat Shamayim – his fear of Heaven. When it comes to this world, people get impressed by an expensive suit or dress. If we want to impress Hashem, then we make sure the garments we are wearing conform to the halacha . With the holiday of Sukkot upon us, we have an opportunity to perform an abundance of mitzvot and shine so brightly in front of Hashem. The Gemara says on the pasuk -זה קלי ואנוהו” -התנאה לפניו במצוות “- beautify yourselves in front of Hashem by performing mitzvot. The better we do a mitvah, the more beautiful we look to Him. We all want to find favor in the eyes of Hashem, adorning ourselves with mitzvot is the way to accomplish it. There are certain defects on an etrog which can disqualify it. The Chatam Sofer in his commentary to Masechet Sukkah, daf 36, discussed the issue of etrogim being handled by many people every day of Sukkot so that by the middle of Chol HaMoed , they have become bruised and discolored in different places. That potentially poses a problem since it is likely that some of those spots are not natural etrog colors. The Rabbi concluded, those spots are indeed kosher, since they are the result of the Jews fulfilling a mitzvah, they are testimony of the Jewish People’s love for a mitzvah, and therefore, they are badges of the etrog’s beauty and nobility. Beauty stems from spirituality, not from what we think is beautiful. The Gemara in Masechet Pesachim speaks about how much blood there was on the courtyard floor of the Beit HaMikdash when all the Jewish People were there slaughtering their Korban Pesach . The Gemara commented, it was a privilege and a compliment to the descendants of Aharon to be able to walk about with their feet dipped in blood up to their ankles, whereas normally, people would consider walking through blood something disgusting and not worthy of the holy service of Hashem. Since this was a testimony to the abundance of mitzvot being performed in the Beit HaMikdash , it was considered something so beautiful. It is brought down in halacha that if there is a berit milah to be performed on Rosh Hashanah, it should preferably be done after the reading of the Torah, before the blowing of the shofar . There is a custom amongst some, brought down by the Kaf HaChaim, citing the Taz, that if the mohel is the person that is going to blow the shofar, he does not rinse his mouth from the blood of the circumcision until after he blows the shofar. Since blowing the shofar with lips stained from the blood of the milah would combine the merits of the milah with the shofar, the sound produced from that will be so beautiful to Hashem. Let us appreciate the mitzvot that we have in front of us, living in the sukkah , shaking the lulav and etrog , being happy on the holiday. Let us perform them with great joy, realizing that they are what make us so beautiful in the eyes of Hashem. Chag Same’ach.
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