But Jacob journeyed on to Succot and built a house for himself and made sukkos for his cattle; that is why the place was called Sukkos. (Bereishis 33:17)

The Torah tells us that when Yaakov left Lavan’s house on his way back to Eretz Yisrael, he stopped and built himself a house, and for his cattle he built “sukkos”. Chazal tell us that that “sukkah” refers to the “sukkos” of the festival. The Shem Mishmuel (Shmuel Borenstein 1855 –1926), asks, “Why is it that Yaakov named the place he was in based on where the animals were dwelling and not based on where the humans were dwelling? Furthermore, does this means that our holiday of Sukkos is celebrating the dwelling place of the animals? Shouldn’t we celebrate the resting place of the humans – after all, who is more important!?”

Our Rabbis have told us that if we were sentenced (on Yom Kippur) to go into exile, we fulfill this punishment by instead going into the Sukkah. What is the idea of going into a shack and how does it replace exile?

The Shem Mishmuel answers that Yaakov received the cattle from Lavan in a completely legal process. However, as they were previously in the home of a wicked man, they had to be purged from the taint of sin in a special procedure. It is because of this that they were put in a Sukkah, as this would guarantee their protection from the negative influences around them. The only function of a Sukkah is to protect one from the outside. The inside has no value, whereas a house is a place that has value from what is inside it as well. Therefore, Yaakov put the animals in a Sukkah to show us that he was only housing them to protect them from negative influences left from Lavan. But Yaakov himself, who was a righteous, wholesome individual, lived in a house to show that he didn’t need protection from the outside elements.

What the source verse is teaching us is that one who has fallen must immediately make it a primary focus in his life to not fall again into that situation by entering a protective environment. This is similar to those who are on “12-Step” programs: A person must always protect himself from entering a situation where he is liable to fall back to where he was.

One could ask – isn’t running into “exile” in the Sukkah after Yom Kippur the equivalent of needing a crutch? The answer is that we do need a crutch and smart people use crutches to make sure that they don’t get hurt again! The point of exile is that we should understand that we are frail people, and we need to be in a place where we feel that we are in Hashem’s hands and must do what we can to not succumb to outside influences.

“Zman Simchaseinu” – as Sukkos is called – is perhaps referring to the fact that we have fortified ourselves. We are cognizant of our shortcomings and are working at keeping negative elements away from us. Indeed, we are not comfortable because we are not secure in our Sukkah, as we know that we may always fall prey to the yetzer hara again. But the flimsy physical protection, which leaves us with the feeling of insecurity, is an ingredient which can guarantee our success in the teshuva process by giving us the awareness that we are always in the hands of Hashem. We celebrate our recognition of the enemy, and that we have taken precautions not to fall prey again. Happiness comes from a feeling of completeness in one’s life. While in the Sukkah, we feel that the days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have brought us to an understanding that we need to be living within the protection of the Sukkah.

May this simple Sukkah that we build outside our homes this year bring us to the ultimate Sukkah with the skin of the Leviathan with Hashem embracing us for eternity.