The Secret of the Stolen Sukkah and the Power of Tears

Class No. 265 | Wednesday morning, the 4th day of Chol HaMoed Sukkos, 19 Tishrei 5761, at the Wall - Part 2

A deep discourse explaining the claim of the nations of the world

The Gemara in Tractate Sukkah (31a) tells of a certain elderly woman who came and cried out before Rav Nachman. This elderly woman represents the Shechinah (Divine Presence), who is always crying out and weeping before Rebbe Nachman, begging him to save her. What was she crying about? About the fact that all the Rabbis, together with the Exilarch and all the tzaddikim of the generation, are all sitting in a "stolen sukkah."

What does it mean that everyone is sitting in a stolen sukkah? Rabbi Nasan explains (Hilchos Gezeilah, Halachah 5) that all of us, without exception, are called robbers. The proof of this is that all the nations of the world say about us, "You are robbers and you are thieves."

The answer to the claim "You are thieves"

The very first Rashi on the Torah cites the words of Rabbi Yitzchak:

"The Torah should not have begun with anything other than 'This month shall be for you' [the first mitzvah given to the Jewish people]... So what is the reason it opened with 'In the beginning'? Because of the verse, 'He declared the power of His works to His people, to give them the heritage of the nations.' For if the nations of the world will say, 'You are thieves'... they can say to them, 'The entire earth belongs to Hashem; He created it and gave it to whomever was upright in His eyes.'"

For 3,700 years now, ever since Avraham Avinu came to the Land of Israel, the nations of the world have been claiming against us, "You are thieves." Therefore, Hashem opened the Torah with "In the beginning God created," in order to show the world that Hashem is the Master of the house, and He distributes gifts to whomever He desires. But the question is asked: Will any gentile actually look at this Rashi? After all, the nations of the world continue to shout with one voice that we are robbers and thieves.

Rabbi Nasan explains that the claim "You are thieves" is actually directed inward, at us. As long as we learn Torah and live our lives in a routine manner—eating well, sleeping well, and learning a little bit—without doing true teshuvah (repentance), we are called "thieves." The Shechinah (Divine Presence) comes and cries out to Rebbe Nachman: Save the generation! Tell them that they are sitting in a stolen sukkah, because they do not know the ways of serving Hashem. They do not know that first and foremost, one must wake up at Chatzos (midnight), go out to the fields, and cry to Hashem.

The hidden tzaddik and Yirmiyahu the Prophet

A story is told of a certain city that was struck by a plague. The rabbis of the city searched for the great sinner whose transgressions had brought about this tragedy. They discovered a man who would go out to the forest every night at Chatzos (midnight), and they suspected that he was going there to commit immoral acts. They decided to send someone to follow him.

The tracker ambushed him and followed him deep into the thick of the forest. He stood from a distance, and suddenly he heard terrible wailing and crying from the depths of the soul, like one weeping over the dead. He realized that the man was reciting Tikkun Chatzos (the midnight lament over the destruction of the Temple) with terrifying cries. Suddenly, he heard another voice crying together with him.

When they emerged from the forest, the tracker approached him, begged for his forgiveness for the suspicion, and asked, "I now understand that you are one of the thirty-six hidden tzaddikim, but please reveal to me—whose was the second voice that I heard crying with you?" The tzaddik answered him, "You should know that it was Yirmiyahu the Prophet. He comes to me every night, sits, and cries together with me over the destruction."

Today, we are witnessing destruction. All the nations of the world are shouting, "You are thieves," and they want to annihilate us. Every day we hear about more casualties and wounded, miserable families left without a father. The Shechinah (Divine Presence) cries out, "Go save the tzaddikim, reveal to them how to get out of the stolen sukkah!" The way to get out of there is through the power of teshuvah (repentance), to return to Hashem, blessed be He, for all our sins, to go out to the fields, to cry to Hashem, and to sit on the ground in Tikkun Chatzos (midnight lament).

Torah novelties born from rivers of tears

A person can learn Torah and write wonderful chiddushim (Torah novelties), but if he did not draw them down from the words of the tzaddik—if he did not wake up for Chatzos (midnight), did not go out to the field, and did not shed rivers of tears—these chiddushim will not accomplish anything. With every single chiddush, new heavens and a new earth are created, but if the chiddushim are not learned out of mercy and supplications, external forces are liable to take control of them.

They asked Rabbi Avraham ben Rabbi Nachman of Tulchin why he stopped writing chiddushim in his old age. He replied, "I can no longer shed rivers of tears. I wrote the entire 'Biur HaLikutim' while shedding rivers of tears. Every single line was dipped in an ocean of tears."

This is also how the Babylonian Talmud was written. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and also wept." The Sages wrote the Babylonian Talmud with rivers and oceans of tears. Only through rivers of tears does one merit to reveal true chiddushim of Torah that become wellsprings of living water, which water and revive the entire world, and bring the Jewish people back in teshuvah (repentance).

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