where home really is

Sukkos is a remembrance of the ananei ha'kavod that we merited in the zechus of Aharon haKohen, the great oheiv es ha'briyos u'mekarvan la'Torah.  Aharon is all about kiruv rechokim, which is why on this chag even the mayim tachtonim get brought up to the mizbeiach (see Rashi on VaYika 2:13 and this post).  Sukkah is the only mitzvah that envelopes the entire person, from the brain right down to the muddy shoes on your feet.  (You can't wear shoes on har ha'bayis, so aliya la'regel doesn't count.)  Meaning, it is a mitzvah that can envelop any and every Jew, whether you are the brains of our people or just somewhere on the bottom of the pile.   Mekarvan la'Torah, everyone included.

There is one other mitzvah that envelops the entire person, head to toe, and that is the mitzvah of yishuv Eretz Yisrael.  Coincidence?  Maybe not.  The Tiferes Shlomo asks what happened to the promise in the leshonos shel geulah -- v'hotzeisi, v'hitzali, etc. -- to the promise of v'heiveisi?  True, Klal Yisrael made it to Eretz Yisrael after 40 years, but justice delayed is justice denied, and that was a completely different generation?  He answers with the pasuk describing sukkos: "U'smachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem shivas yamim." (Devarim 16:15).  Sukkah is a chovas ha'guf -- what does the pasuk mean that we celebrate "lifnei Hashem?"  The answer is that when you are in the sukkah you are lifnei Hashem, in Eretz Yisrael, by the makom Mikdash.  The sukkah is like a little embassy; it is part of Eretz Yisrael wherever it may be located.  When Klal Yisrael left Egypt "va'yisu mei'Ramses Sukkosa," they headed for Sukkos.  Through being in the sukkah they experienced right then a taste of v'heiveisi, the kedushas Eretz Yisrael.  

ויסעו בני ישראל מרעמסס סכותה. הנ"ל דהנה כבר הקשו הראשונים על ההבטחה שהבטיחם הש"י להכניסם לא"י מיד הלא לא נתקיים ההבטחה ההיא. גם דרך שלשה ימים שאמרו נלכה ונזבחה כו' קשה מאד היכן הי'. אך הנה אמרו חכז"ל מה חג לד' כשם שחל שם שמים על החגיגה כן חל ש"ש על הסוכה נמצא הסוכה היא בחי' הקדושה של הקרבנות ובחי' א"י בכל מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך וברכתיך. לכן כאשר באו בנ"י לסוכות זכו בזה לקדושת א"י והקרבנות כנ"ל:

Things are so topsy turvey in Eretz Yisrael, with so many factions and parties and chugim, but that's how it's supposed to be because yishuv ha'aretz, like sukkah, envelops us as a people head to toe, top to bottom.   

The lesson of sukkos is that what we call home is not really home.  If you had a chance to review Yoma before Yom Kippur you may recall R' Yehudah's opinion (10b) that the lishkas palhedrin did not need a mezuza (m'doraysa) because "dirah baal korcha lo shmah dirah."  Living in galus is, or should be, a dirah baal korcha, a place we are forced to be in against our wishes.  Lav shema dirah -- it's not really a home.  Home is Eretz Yisrael.  For one week a year we remind ourselves of that fact.  We experience through sukkah a taste of kedushas ha'aretz to remind ourselves of where home is.  And if you are in Eretz Yisrael already, then remind yourself k'shem she'chal shem shamayim al ha'chagiga chal shem shamayim al ha'sukkah, that there is yet more holiness that we need in Eretz Yisrael itself so that it becomes the homeland that we need.