Guests

Since the sukkah is a dwelling for the shechinah and the exalted guests, it is proper that one also invite guests of flesh and blood to share one's meals in the sukkah, to please his Heavenly guests.

If one cannot find poor people to invite to his table, he should seek out the needy, or organizations that assist them, whom he can provide with help so that they can joyously observe the Festival in their own homes. As they eat at their own tables, it will be regarded as if they were guests in his sukkah.

Symbolically, then, the master of the house sits in the middle, with the exalted guests at his right, the corporeal guests at his left, and above his head, the Divine Presence.

All year long, the poor observe people working in their fields and deriving blessings from their activities, while they themselves, the poor, have nothing and are completely dependent upon the generosity of the rich. The joyous season comes when the harvest is gathered, all bring the fruits of their labors into their homes, and the poor person has nothing with which to enrich his desolate abode. How can he rejoice?

Therefore, the Holy One, blessed is He, says to Israel: You shall dwell in sukkot seven days. When the produce of your field is gathered, all of you will leave your homes and all of you will be My guests in My sukkah, where the wealthy are no different from the poor. Three walls covered with a roof made from the refuse of the fields and vineyards: this is the sukkah of every Jew - whether he be rich or poor.

And every Jew replies to G-d; "Even though [whether or not] You have blessed me and made my fields and vineyards productive, my only joy is in You. I establish my dwelling place only in Your sukkah."

Therefore, when a Jew rejoices in G-d, thanks Him for all of His goodness, and recognizes that all blessings come only from Him, it is only fitting that he bring joy, at the time of his own happiness, to the hearts of those whom G-d loves, the poor. As the verse states: For thus says He Who is exalted and lofty, Who inhabits eternity and Whose Name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with he who is contrite and of humble spirit (Isaiah, 57:15).