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In this Sukkot shiur, Rav Dov Ber Cohen invites us into the deeper avodah of לישב בסוכה — not merely sitting inside four walls, but arriving fully present within a space he describes as a Shechinah co
The Rabbi Dov Ber Cohen Podcast explores Jewish mindfulness, emotional mastery, relationships, and real inner avodah.
In each shiur, Rabbi Dov Ber shares practical Torah wisdom for navigating anxiety, deepening connection, strengthening emunah, and living with greater presence and purpose.
Rooted in Chassidic depth yet grounded in everyday life, these teachings are experiential, honest, and transformative.
If you’re seeking clarity without pressure, growth without guilt, and spirituality that actually changes how you live - this podcast is for you.
Shalom aleichem friends, I don't have any live classes at the moment, but I thought I'd make this video because it's very important for you to understand the avodah, the spiritual, mindful work of being in a sukkah. Our sages really teach us that the whole process of Elul leading into Rosh Hashanah, leading into the עשרת ימי תשובה, leading into Yom Kippur were just to get to this moment where we can sit and just be in the sukkah surrounded by God's divine presence. Our sages actually teach that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are called the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe, and it's really based on the avodah of yirah, of God consciousness, of reverence and respect and excited wonder. But now we're moving into Sukkos, and Sukkos is a time of ahavah, of an embrace, of just a immense oneness. That's the main difference between yirah and ahavah. Yirah, there's a bit of distance. It's like, wow, respect, and it's an amazing thing. Ahavah is there's immense closeness, immense intimacy. So really, they say that Rosh Hashanah Yom Kippur is like a mikveh, and the mikveh is purification in order for us to be able to even enter the sukkah, which is a very, very, very holy place. It's called the Kodesh Hakodashim, it's the Holy of Holies. And our sages call it, really, we're going under the chuppah now, it's the the wedding canopy, and it's the yichud room, that's why there's seven days. We went to the mikveh on Yom Kippur in order to prepare for the wedding, and it's seven days of sheva brachot, and we're sitting just in this immense divine embrace. The Arizal z"l brings from the the Gemara that says that a sukkah has to have at least two wall, two full walls, and then a tefach, a little bit, and he shows that it's like a hug. Hashem is pulling us in and embracing us. So we've really got to get this idea that the mitzvah of the sukkah is just to be, to be present. It's called לישב בסוכה, just to be present in the sukkah. Firstly, that just means be in the sukkah as much as you can every second. Don't just kind of have it outside and do your thing, and then once in a while if you want to eat a cookie, you you go into the sukkah. Really, you want to be present in the sukkah. And even sleep. If you can sleep in the sukkah, it's the only mitzvah I know of that when you're asleep, you're actually fulfilling a mitzvah every second you're in there. So you're surrounded, you're literally basically surrounded, you're in a mitzvah. You're in a mitzvah, you're not doing a mitzvah. By the way, we don't ever actually do mitzvot. We are mekayem, we fulfill, we we establish a mitzvah. How does that work? Because matzah isn't a mitzvah, it's a mitzvah item. And tefillin, it's not a mitzvah, it's a mitzvah item. And tzedakah, the money isn't a mitzvah, it's a mitzvah item. What a mitzvah is is when you have a Jew who takes a mitzvah item and does whatever they're meant to be doing with it, that becomes a mitzvah. So you're not doing a mitzvah, you're part of a mitzvah. So when you're in a sukkah, by the way, you are part of a mitzvah surrounded by a mitzvah. And if you're in Eretz Yisrael, just being in Eretz Yisrael, that's a mitzvah, so you're being a mitzvah in a mitzvah in a mitzvah of Eretz Yisrael. It's a very, very high level. And all the other mitzvot that I can think of, we either do them or we say them. We we shake the lulav and etrog, and we eat matzah, and we give tzedakah, or we say the Shema. This mitzvah is just to be. That is the mitzvah. It's the only mitzvah where the mitzvah is be, be present. And it's actually a very hard mitzvah because most people don't have yishuv hadaat. So yishuv hadaat has two main meanings, but one of them is just to settle your mind, to be in the present moment. So when you're in your sukkah, don't just be in the sukkah, which is a mitzvah in itself, but be fully present. If you're thinking about your business and and what party you're going to go to tonight and what guests are coming and what are you going to do after Sukkot, means you're not being present. For most people, it's very difficult to actually do the avodah of I call it the no עבודה עבודה, which means just to be present. I'm here. The key, as we know, to this is your breath. So to just breathe. Focus on your breath coming in, coming out, and that brings you deeply into the present moment. Firstly, it calms your mind down, clears your mind, gives gives you yishuv hadaat. That's what it means לישב בסוכה, to have yishuv hadaat, to be present within the sukkah. But then obviously, it also taps you into a deeper place within yourself. So to be able to spend some time, and not even hosting all the time or eating all the time, just being very, very present. The other meaning of yishuv hadaat, by the way, daat is awareness, conscious awareness. Says in the Torah, why are we even sitting in Sukkos? למען ידעו, in order to get daat, in order to have awareness. So what does that mean? Awareness that we are surrounded by God consciousness. I call the sukkah really a Shechinah compression chamber. It's very, very powerful, packed Shechinah into this beautiful little box we're sitting in. And our sages teach us that the sechach, the leaves on top, really represent the ענני הכבוד, which means the clouds of glory, which were in the desert, which was a palpable experience of God consciousness and God's presence. It was also surrounding us and protecting us, and they're also called the צלא דמהימנותא, the shades of emunah. Emunah, once again, meaning I have total trust. I'm leaving my set dwelling, my home, with my structure, and my security, and my habits, and my set ways of being, and I'm just getting out. I'm getting out into a more vulnerable, open place, not so habitual. Out of my comfort zone a little bit, it's the best way to start the year. One of the worst things for our avodat Hashem is just to be doing things habitually. So first thing after Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, we don't just want to go back into our set dwelling, into our house, we want to get into this this out of your comfort zone, in the arms of Hashem. So our sages say you should really look at the sechach as much as you can, למען ידעו, in order to have daat, in order to have conscious awareness that we're surrounded by Hashem and we're surrounded by emunah, and therefore yishuv hadaat is settling that awareness, which means to feel, to feel very held and very protected. And this is why really Sukkos is called זמן שמחתנו, it's the time of our joy, because true joy comes from emunah. True joy comes from seeing the world through godly eyes, and knowing that there's a plan, and knowing that there's something beyond our reality, and knowing that not every experience we have, however painful it may be, especially this year, is the ultimate reality, that there's something far, far beyond that. So we have this yishuv hadaat, and we can tap into real simchah. The other major simchah, by the way, which seems counterintuitive, we read Kohelet, at least Ashkenazim we read Kohelet on Sukkos, and Kohelet is, I don't know what it's called in English, Ecclesiastes, maybe? Anyway, it's about Shlomo HaMelech says, \"הבל הבלים הכל הבל.\" This whole existence, olam hazeh, this world and the material world, it's just all futile. We're chasing after money, and fame, and honor, and pleasure, and and we're just chasing the world, and it's empty, there's nothing there. So true happiness doesn't come from getting more. Many people think the more I get, the happier I'll be, or the better I look, the happier I'll be. So they just want to get more, and have more, and look more, and that actually not only doesn't cause happiness, it takes away from happiness, because you're chasing stuff your whole life. You either don't get it, which means you'll be unhappy, or you'll get it, and you realize it's completely empty, which is actually the deep message of Sukkos is saying it's a temporary dwelling. We have this sukkah, it's temporary, it's it's not going to last. The sechach itself, which is so holy, is drying up and is dying. And everything, by the way, the lulav and etrog, the lulav dying, etrog dying, the willow, and the myrtle, all the four species, they've been picked from the tree, they're they're not going to be around for a long time. It's also very interesting to note that the four species, they're very, very, very, very holy for those seven days. That etrog, people spend a lot of money on their etrog, they look after it very well, and and the willow, and very, very holy. The day after Sukkot, not only are they not holy, you can just throw them out, but they're completely useless. What do you use a lulav for? A palm frond, what do you ever use that for? A willow? Nothing, completely useless. Even an etrog, right, you can't even make a good salad with it, you need a lemon for that. The myrtle, the hadas, we smell on Friday night, so there's a little use for it, but in general, these things are completely useless. It's teaching us a very important lesson in life, that life in this world is temporary, and we get so caught up. So what we want to do is become holy. For at least this time, we want to become holy and tap into that, and understand that happiness isn't going to come from chasing this this earthly existence, it comes from being holy, connecting to our neshama, connecting to spirituality, and neshamot never die. Everything in the sukkah is teaching us that everything dies. So if you're connected to the physical world so greatly, then that will die, and that will your body will get old, and and it will stop working so well, and eventually it will die. But your neshama never gets old, your neshama just keeps getting greater and greater and bigger, so you tap into some eternal existence. So you're sitting in the sukkah, and you're surrounded by stuff that's basically dying, and it's sending you this amazing mess- message that use this world, whilst we're in this world, use this world, but only to become more conscious and more spiritual, and bring God consciousness into the world. And really, that's what the lulav and etrog is saying. We see that the sukkah really represents, it's like a tallit. You have a tallit, and a tallit represents God beyond time and space. י and ה and ו and ה is basically למעלה, beyond time and space. סובב כל עלמין is around, surrounding us, but in a in an embrace. We can feel the tallit on our heads, so the the sukkah is like a big tallit. And then you've got the tefillin. The tefillin is kind of God within this world, and our thoughts, and our emotions, and our actions in this world, and that's what the lulav and etrog is, that we're we're taking an action. That's why very important, if you can, to wave your lulav and etrog in the sukkah. So you're going to be in your sukkah, maybe in your tallit, waving your lulav and etrog, and taking these two aspects of Hashem, Hashem beyond time and space, and ממלא כל עלמין, completely within, completely immanent, completely present. We actually know that the gematria, the numerical value of sukkah is 91, and it's the same gematria as two names of Hashem, the name of Hashem beyond time and space, י and ה and ו and ה, which is 26, and the name of Hashem within time and space, Adonai, א ד נ י, which is 65. And 26, 60 plus 65 is 91, which is a sukkah. So we're really bringing all of these aspects together. For me, maybe I'll give a whole separate class about the lulav and etrog, we know that it represents your spine. The lulav represents your spine, which is your values and your principles. Are you living an upright life? And the etrog represents your heart, and your heart is all about your your motivation and your passion and your desire. What am I What am I yearning for in my life? And then we have the myrtle, which is your eyes. How are you seeing the world? Are you looking at the world through eyes of of judgment and jealousy or through love and joy and God consciousness? And the willow is your mouth, your lips, because how are you speaking? How you speak to yourself, how you speak to other people, that really creates the world around you, like Hashem created the world through speech. So what we're doing, when we're taking these four species, not only are we taking them, we're taking these four principles in our life in our hands. I'm going to take my principles and my values in my own hands, and my passion and my heart and my desire and my yearning, I'm in control of that, and my eyes, how I see the world, I'm in control of that, and my speech, how I speak, I'm in control of that. I'm taking these things in my hand, and I'm saying, \"I'm going to now bring them into the world. I'm going to express these things, these parts of me into the world in a very conscious way.\" My ultimate kavana when I'm shaking the lulav and etrog is just simchah. This is great! There's so many deep kabbalistic things, different names of Hashem, and each one represents there are four species, four letters of God's name, and there's lots of amazing Kabbalah, but for me, the most simple intention is just like, I'm just doing what Hashem wants me to do right now, and I really enjoy it, and I run around my sukkah, and I'm dancing, and singing. So this is really it, זמן שמחתנו. Real simchah comes from these two things. Number one: just being able to be fully present. We know our mind takes us away from joy with all our doubt and jealousy and ego and all our stuff, so if we can be present, we'll be joyful. And secondly, realizing that this world is is finite and temporary, so we shouldn't get our happiness from that. And obviously gratitude, sitting there, being grateful for everything we have, and enjoying time, family, and friends, and food, and but that's not the main thing. If if your whole of Sukkot is we had great guests and great food, and we drank, and we sang, that's very wonderful, you should do that, just make for yourself some moments where you can be on your own in your sukkah, maybe holding your lulav and etrog, just breathing very deeply and trying to feel in the embrace of Hashem. Be'ezrat Hashem, you should have an amazing chag sameach.