Sukkot: In Hashem’s Hands

Sukkot: In Hashem’s Hands

Update: 2025-10-06
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The Sefer Ha'ikarim writes, there are three fundamentals of Emunah that every Jew must believe. Number one is the existence of Hashem. Number two is that the Torah was given to us from Shamayim. And number three, Hashem is involved in everything that happens in this world- hashgacha peratit. The Sefer Kometz Mincha suggests that each of the shalosh regalim corresponds to one of these three fundamentals. On Pesach, the world learned that Hashem exists. On Shavuot, we saw the Torah coming down from Shamayim. And on Sukkot, we saw how Hashem took care of the Jewish people's every need in the desert, surrounding them in His clouds of glory. Thus, we leave our homes and go to live in temporary structures to show that we know we are in Hashem's hands. He is the One who protects and watches over us at all times. This is one of the reasons why Sukkot is called "zemans simchatenu," the time of our greatest joy. Because when a person internalizes that he is in Hashem's hands, he can be happy in all situations in life, even during the trying times. A woman related how Emunah gave her the ultimate strength and joy to deal with a very difficult situation that she was experiencing. Last year, she had a miscarriage late in the pregnancy. It was a devastating blow, especially since they had been waiting to have a child. After the loss, she worked very hard on her Emunah. That is what enabled her to get through that very difficult time with sanity. She conceived shortly afterward. However, to her dismay, things went wrong right from the beginning. The pregnancy was filled with fear and panic. Every doctor's visit meant more fear. And every trimester brought its own challenges. She decided to start listening from the beginning of an Emunah hotline that she would regularly call. This hotline has over 2,000 5-minute clips. And she went back and started from number one. She drank every word thirstily and allowed the words to penetrate her soul and override her emotions. There were many times when she thought the pregnancy had ended. She kept repeatedly attempting to strengthen herself like a lion and kept listening to the classes aggressively. She would dial the number trembling and then hang up feeling much more relaxed and hopeful. There were many nights when panic would overtake her and the doctor's grim prognosis wouldn't let her sleep. She would then call the Emunah hotline and let the words of chizuk calm her nerves and enable her to fall asleep. There were times when she had questions like, if Hashem didn't want us to be parents yet, why did He have to pick up our hopes so high only to drop them down so low? But then the Emunah lessons answered that question for her too. Perhaps there was a harsh decree written for them and Hashem in His infinite mercy was giving them temporary challenges in exchange. Those thoughts gave her a lot of Chizuk. She felt like she entered the pregnancy on a premature theoretical level of Emunah and left it on an advanced level with a concrete connection to Hashem. She would not sell this connection for any money in the world. It's the most precious commodity that she possesses. By the end of the pregnancy she had already listened to 770 classes on the hotline. She especially connected with the lesson about imagining the yeshua of Hashem before it happens and relying on Him for it. As she holds her beautiful baby girl in her arms, she knows with certainty that the only thing that got her to this glorious moment was her Emunah and Bitachon. When we go outside and look up at the flimsy s'chach, we should internalize that it is only Hashem who protects, only Hashem who helps and only Hashem who takes care of us. The more we recognize this, the happier we will be.
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Sukkot: In Hashem’s Hands

Sukkot: In Hashem’s Hands

Rabbi David Ashear