Come and see, as long as Aaron lived, Israel were under the shadow of faith, under these clouds [the secret of the encompassing light of Imma, and through this Israel connected to the holiness of His blessed Name, for the Holy One Blessed be He set Israel under the shade of the clouds of glory in the Wilderness because the air of the Wilderness was defiled, and He had pity on His children so He enveloped them in holiness in this pure air and incidentally also sheltered them thereby from the sun and heat]. After Aaron [the Chariot for chesed] died, one cloud [the first cloud, that of chesed]departed, the one most to the right [the principal cloud that all the others were included in it]. When that departed, the other clouds departed along with it [for they followed the first cloud]. Everyone were seen lacking [holiness, for until now they cleaved to G‑d through the merit of Aaron, and now they were distanced from Him because the holy air that enveloped them through the clouds was removed].

The Colleagues explained the verse: "And when all the congregation ‘saw’ that Aaron was dead". (Num. 20:29) Do not pronounce it 'saw (vayir'u)' but 'were seen (vayera'u)' [for the encompassing clouds departed and Israel was then revealed to all]. (Rosh Hashanah 3a) Immediately, "And when the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negev, heard that Israel came by the way of Atarim"; (Num. 21:1) he heard that the clouds of glory [that had covered over and guarded Israel from their enemies] were gone and their great guide [Aaron] to whom all the clouds were attached, had died.

Rabbi Yitzhak said, Indeed it was "the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negev". [The verse emphasizes that he lived in the Negev, the secret of the chesed of kelipa; thus he immediately sensed the death of Aaron, who was the chesed of Holiness.] When the spies Moses sent returned, they said, "Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev"; (Num. 13:29) [Amalek didn’t live in the Negev, but the Canaanites, however they lied] in order to dishearten them [Israel], since their strength was first broken by Amalek [in Refidim].

Rabbi Aba said, "The Canaanite...heard." Why is it mentioned here, after the clouds were gone? It is written of Canaan, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of slaves shall he be to his brethren". (Gen. 9:25) We learned here that whoever excludes himself from the shadow of faith [by not dwelling in a Sukkah on Sukkot] is worthy of being a slave to slaves of slaves. This is the meaning of, "he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners", (Num. 21:1) taking himself slaves from among Israel. [Once the clouds which were the shade of Holiness upon Israel, were removed, Canaanite had the power to take slaves; so too, one who desists from dwelling in the Sukkah, the secret of the clouds meaning the shade of Holiness, it is appropriate that they are taken as slaves.]

It is therefore written, "Every citizen in Israel shall dwell in booths" (Lev. 23:42) for whoever is from the root and holy stock of Israel shall dwell in booths under the shadow of faith [the encompassing light of Imma] Whoever is not from the holy stock and root of Israel shall not dwell in them, but excludes himself from under the shadow of faith. [It is improper for other nations to dwell in the Sukkah.]

It is written, "Canaan has balances of deceit in his hand". (Hosea 12:8) This hints to Eliezer, Abraham's servant [who was descended from Canaan and was implanted among the external forces called deceit]. Come and see, since it is written, "Cursed be Canaan" [Eliezer was cursed] and since this Canaanite merited to serve Abraham and since he did serve Abraham and dwelt under his shadow of faith, he merited being excluded from that curse that Canaan was cursed with. Furthermore, a blessing is written about him, as written, "And he [Laban] said, Come in, you blessed of G‑d". (Gen. 24:31) This teaches us that whoever dwells under the [shadow of the holy sukkah, which is the] shadow, of faith bequeaths freedom for himself and his descendants forever [for the Sukkah is the encompassing light of Imma, the place of freedom] and is blessed with a supernal blessing. Whoever excludes himself from this shadow of faith bequeaths exile for himself and for his descendants, as written, "he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners."

BeRahamim LeHayyim: We are never as good, holy, and high, as when we are sitting in a Kosher Sukkah during Sukkot. For all we need to be is to be, simply, just dwelling in the shade of the Supernal Mother, Hovering over Her chicks (us). Sefardim must eat bread to say the blessing; Ashkenzim can drink wine/grape juice or eat mezonot. When we do this, we enwrap ourselves in holiness, we plug ourselves into this sublime wombing chamber, with a ceiling that extends to the chest of our Supernal mother under which we, Her children stand...

No child — namely us are alike. And none of the guests who will visit under Her shade are alike. Abraham — the "star" on Day One is the man of chesed, Yitzhak — the "star" on Day Two the man of gevura, etc. They visit us in freedom, for there is no freer place than the Sukkah. Free from the 51-week a year regular material routine of TV, cell phone, microwave, exercise machine, etc.

We move our best utensils out with us to honor the Sukkah and make it our permanent dwelling, but leave most behind. We free ourselves from their chains, and accept the freedom of the Sukkah related to Imma. Born free, we return to freedom.

Were there booths that sheltered the Jews in the desert or were there only clouds in Aaron's merit as discussed above? —“Both these [views] are words of the Living G‑d”

What does this mean for your Sukkot, and why is it being revealed to you now?

Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries
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