The New Beginning
We find in the Midrash that after bringing sacrifices for the seventy non-Jewish nations during Sukkos, Hashem says, “Make for Me a small meal so that I may enjoy from you,” asking the Jewish people to remain with Him alone on Shemini Atzeres.
In the verse in Shir Hashirim the Jewish people are called achos ketanah—a little sister. “Achos,” because their purpose is to unite all who come into the world with Hashem (l’achos in Hebrew means to unify, to join seamlessly as one). The Midrash explains regarding Avraham that he gathered all who entered the world, stitching together its rifts like one who sews a tear. This is the spiritual purpose of the Jewish people—to bring peace and harmony into the world. They are also called “little,” because they humble themselves among the nations, as Rashi comments on the verse, “Not because you were more numerous,” but because they make themselves small.
On Sukkos, when the Jewish people offered bulls for the nations, the intention was to draw forth the sparks of goodness within them and bring them back to holiness, rectifying the non-Jewish nations as much as possible. Then the Jewish people are called sister, for they unite the world with its Source. But on Shemini Atzeres, they reach a deeper place, where they are called small, for they humble themselves entirely before Hashem—the trait of Yaakov, whose name comes from ekev, “heel.” As it says, “Your youngest son, Yaakov.”
Whoever attains true greatness and deeper understanding realizes more profoundly how small he remains, how little he has done. Even Moshe Rabbeinu, after all the miracles he performed and after receiving the Torah from Heaven, said, “You have begun to show Your servant”–Moshe always saw himself as at the very beginning.
Likewise, after the days of awe—Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkos—when we have been brought into the inner chambers of the King and have taken the lulav and its species that allude to the four letters of Hashem’s Name, we feel humbled and recognize that we are just beginning. That is the way we enter into the new year and the new cycle of Torah readings. As the Kotzker Rebbe taught: Simchas Torah belongs to the future.
The verse regarding Yom Tov states, “And you shall always be joyful.” It appears that the phrase “and you shall be” conveys a promise—that so it shall be. Now, on Shemini Atzeres—after Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkos—the heart is necessarily cleansed. The eighth day alludes to the days of Mashiach, when joy will be complete above and “Hashem shall rejoice in His works.” Surely then, on Shemini Atzeres, there is already at least a measure of that heavenly joy. And if so, the Jewish people naturally must feel and be stirred with joy.
The Midrash teaches that Shemini Atzeres should by right have been fifty days after Sukkos, just as Shavuos is after Pesach. The number fifty corresponds to the fifty gates of Binah—understanding. Yet it is immediately after Sukkos. On Pesach, the Jewish people were still “naked and bare” (as discussed in the Haggadah), without sufficient arousal from below through their own efforts. They were redeemed primarily through supernal kindness. They therefore required days of preparation and purification before Shavuos. This is why we must count the Omer before reaching Shavuos. On Sukkos, after fulfilling all the mitzvos of sukkah and lulav, we are ready to enter Shemini Atzeres at once, to draw that holiness into our homes and daily lives throughout the coming year.
This teaches a person not to falter in spirit after Sukkos, saying, “What remains to me after all this?” For Shemini Atzeres was given precisely in this way—to show that afterward comes the true beginning. Through the good deeds a person performs following Shemini Atzeres, all that preceded it becomes absorbed and sealed within the innermost part of the heart. (Mekor Chaim, Shem MiShmuel)