The four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot are some of the busiest days of the year. We’re putting up Sukkot, buying the Lulav, Etrog, Hadasim, and Aravot, and getting ready for a holiday of seven days. It can be a stressful time but we realize that it’s part of preparing for a beloved holiday with its beloved mitzvot. There is another perspective of these four days from which we see that this is more than just a preparation period.

וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים וַעֲנַף עֵץ־עָבֹת וְעַרְבֵי־נָחַל וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם לִפְנֵי ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם שִׁבְעַת יָמִים׃

On the first day you shall take the fruit of the hadar tree (the etrog), branches of palm trees (the Lulav), branches of a cordlike tree (the Hadasim) and willows of the brook (the Aravot), and you shall rejoice before your God, Hashem, for seven days. (Vayikra 23:40)

The Midrash (cited in Yalkut Shimoni on this verse) finds it odd that the Torah calls this, “the first day” when it is actually the 15th day of the month (of Tishrei). The Midrash explains that the Torah is alluding to the following idea.

Between Yom Kippur and Sukkot everyone is busy with the mitzvot of the upcoming holiday. On the first day of Sukkot the Jewish people take the Lulav and Etrog in hand and praise Hashem. Hashem then declares, “I have forgiven you for everything up to now. Today is the first day for a new accounting of your actions.” This implies that even after Yom Kippur we do not attain complete forgiveness until Sukkot begins.

This is because after experiencing the elevation of Yom Kippur we need to show after we come back down that we want to bring that experience into our practicle lives. That happens right after Yom Kippur ends, during the days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, when we busy ourselves with mitzvot. We express how much we want to continue being enveloped in holiness.

And then there’s one more step. When we take the Lulav and Esrog in hand and praise Hashem, we are expressing our joy for the forgiveness we have attained on Yom Kippur and for the ability to bring that sanctity into our lives . That expression of joy brings the forgiveness of Yom Kippur to its completion.

Thus the fifteenth day is also the first day.

It’s a new slate in our relationship with Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak