In the hours leading up to Sukkot this 5783/2022 I saw a tweet by Rabbi Yossi Mandel sharing a talk by the Friediker Rebbe, R’ Yosef Yitzchak Schneeerson, back from Poland 1933 about the dynamic of a Sukkah’s walls vs. its Schach covering. It has a great message about Sukkot, about life – it fits the “Chasynthesis” theme we talk about a lot.
Walls represent limitation and definition. The Schach may be a covering of sorts, but it represents limitlessness, open to the sky. Sukkot and indeed (Jewish) life in general is a dual-approach, a blend of these two ever-present aspects: the finite and infinite, the defined and undefined, the rational and supra-rational, the planned and unplanned, the known and the unknown….
But Friediker Rebbe adds an interesting halachic angle that also has bearing on its meaningful message: A Sukkah’s walls must (or should be – depends on halachic opinion) put up before the Schach goes up. In life-terms this means that we can’t just soar into the unknown and unplanned, on our end the finite needs to come before the infinite, the defined helps prepare the space for the undefined to dwell.