Anti-agent activities[1]
בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים…
You shall dwell in Sukkos for seven days[2]
In Jewish law there’s the concept of Agency[3]. Meaning, I can appoint an agent to perform certain acts on my behalf, such as betrothing a wife, ending a marriage, separating tithes, and slaughtering offerings. A question that is asked[4] is that logic would dictate that agency shouldn’t work for the mitzvah of Sukkah, but why not? Why can’t I have someone else dwell in the Sukkah on my behalf? Why should it be different than the above mitzvos? Similarly, why can’t I have someone else wear Tefillin for me?
An answer that is proposed is that there’s a fundamental difference between Sukkah and Tefillin, and betrothing a wife or separating tithes. When I sent an agent to betroth someone for me, it’s not the agent that is getting married. It is me. Similarly, when I have an agent separate tithes, he’s doing so with my produce, not his. As a result, the marriage is effected, and the tithes are separated. The agent merely went through the motions for me. However, dwelling in the Sukkah and wearing Tefillin are incumbent upon my body. Someone else’s body cannot substitute for that. As such, agency wouldn’t work[5].[6]
Perhaps we can take this idea, with regards to Sukkah at least, a little deeper. We find a related question about agency when it comes to the daily prayer service. We have an agent, known as the Shilach Tzibbur, repeat aloud the Shemoneh Esrei prayers we said silently. While his main purpose is to fulfill the obligation of those who cannot pray on their own, in a sense he is also fulfilling our obligation in the Rabbinic enactment. We have an obligation to have a communal recitation of the Shemoneh Esrei, and the agent fulfills our obligation for us.
However, there’s one part of the public recitation that we don’t rely on the Shilach Tzibbur. When he recites the thanksgiving prayer, known as Modim, we all bow simultaneously. And yet, while he recites the traditional Modim prayer, the congregation recites a different expression of thanks known as Modim D’Rabbanan. If the Shliach Tzibbur is acting as our agent, and we are silent the rest of the recitation, why specifically here do we not rely on him? The answer is similar to above[7]. Expressing thanks is something that a person has to do on their own. It would be incongruous to send an agent to thank someone else on your behalf. As such, we are required to thank Hashem directly, not relying on the agent[8].
The Mishnah Berurah, in the first section on the laws of Sukkos, explains to us[9] the purpose of the mitzvah of dwelling in the Sukkah. We are to dwell in the Sukkah to remember the astounding miracles and wonders Hashem performed for us in Egypt. The purpose would seem to be to create feelings of gratitude towards Hashem. This obviously cannot be performed by an agent[10]. If we have someone else do the mitzvah for us, how could we ever expect that those feelings would be engendered within ourselves[11]? We therefore must dwell ourselves in the Sukkah.
May we properly internalize within ourselves the feelings of gratitude which the Sukkah generates!
Chag Sameach!
[1] Based on an idea shared by a friend, R’ Yitzchak Massey
[2] Leviticus 23:42
[3] Kiddushin 42a
[4] Tosafos Rid to Kiddushin 42b s.v. שאני התם
[5] Another way to phrase this distinction is that agency works for a Chalos Din, affecting status changes (unmarried to married, untithed to tithed, unslaughtered to slaughtered), but not for mitzvah actions
[6] Tosafos Rid loc. cit. See also Birkas Shmuel Kiddushin § 20 and Ketzos HaChoshen to Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 328:1 § 1
[7] Abudraham Seder Shacharis shel Chol U’Feirusha
[8] It would seem the person who is fully reliant on the Shliach Tzibbur is silent during Modim because they are unable to say the prayer themselves. If they could, then perhaps they should say this part with them according to this approach
[9] Mishnah Berurah to Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 625:1 § 1
[10] See Sefer HaChinuch § 606