You shall take on the first day…[2]
A medrash[3] asks: “Is it the first day? In fact, it is the fifteenth [of the month]! Rather, it is the first day in the accounting of aveiros.”
The meaning of this is not readily apparent. Assuming that Yom Kippur brought forgiveness for past sins, the new accounting ought to begin on the day after, the eleventh of the month. Why the fifteenth, at the beginning of Sukkos?
We might find an answer to these questions in the Gra’s explanation of the term that Chazal use[4] for what we offer on our day of judgment: din v’cheshbon. Din, he says, is the verdict pronounced for our misdeeds; cheshbon is an accounting – what accomplishments we failed to achieve during the time we spent sinning. Man does not have the luxury of “free time.” We should be actively producing mitzvos at all times. We are held accountable when we do not.
Unless he is already busy and preoccupied with the performance of other mitzvos. Which presumably is the case in the days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos, when we are busy with the selection and purchase of the four minim, and with the construction of a Sukkah. Therefore, we are not challenged about what mitzvos we could have accomplished in those days.
This “grace period” of sorts comes to a halt on the first day of Sukkos. By the time the holiday begins, the esrog is safe in a container at home, and the Sukkah is in full use. Thus, the fifteenth of Tishrei – the first day of Sukkos – is the first day since Yom Kippur that we are called upon to give a cheshbon/accounting regarding the opportunities for good that we have missed.
We can find a variation on this theme as well. Chazal[5] tell us that people who are involved in the performance of a mitzvah are protected from harm. The context of the gemara is bodily harm. It is more than reasonable, however, that this protection all the more so extends to spiritual harm. This should mean that HKBH wards off spiritual damage to a person in the mitzvah-laden days between Yom Kippur and Sukkos. The observant Jew needn’t scrutinize his time for aveiros he might have committed, because he can assume that Hashem is keeping spiritual missteps far away from him.
There is a catch, however. This Divine shield is only offered to a person whose intentions are completely for the sake of the mitzvos he is involved with. No such protection is given the person who spends hours shopping for the perfect esrog so that he can pridefully show it off to his neighbors. It certainly is not shown to a person whose mitzvos come only through the commission of aveiros, like using a stolen esrog.
How does this work out, on a practical level? Can a person know himself whether his intentions were entirely for the right reason? The litmus test is whether he finds himself committing aveiros during the insured period. And the test is concluded only with the arrival of Sukkos. If he makes it all the way to the finish line without having fallen spiritually in some way, then he knows that his intentions were pure, and Hashem has been quietly holding his hand for the last days, keeping aveiros at bay.
If, by the time Sukkos arrives, he finds that he did stumble in some way, then he knows that his kavanah was not what it should have been. Discovering that he did not have Divine protection, he is now obligated to do the usual spiritual accounting, of how much that was expected of him he failed to do, and how many actual sins he committed.
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson zt”l, the Shoel U-Meishiv ↑
- Vayikra 23:40 ↑
- Tanchuma Emor 22 ↑
- Avos 3:1 ↑
- Pesachim 8b ↑