The haftaros of Succos paint a frightening picture of the End of Days. The comparisons to present-day conflicts are all too real

The Syrian crisis and the furor surrounding it are reflected with amazing accuracy in the prophecies of our neviim who describe a future scenario in which mighty armies will fight wars around Eretz Yisrael and Hashem will save the Jewish People and their Land.

We read about these wars in the haftaros of Succos. And now as Succos approaches the frightening reality of war seems closer than ever. In this post-Hiroshima generation we know the devastating potential of war. We live in the age of ballistic missiles of nuclear weapons stockpiles and the threat of chemical warfare – now a shocking reality in Syria. And with the Iranian threat looming the apocalyptic images painted by the haftaros of the first day of Succos and Shabbos Chol HaMoed are no mere horror fantasy.

The pesukim (Yechezkel ch. 38; Zechariah ch. 14) describing the war of Gog and Magog paint the scene in bold grim colors. The war to take place at the End of Days will be a world war and its location is defined. “On the mountains of Israel” says Yechezkel and Zechariah says “to Jerusalem.” Many nations will take part: “And I shall gather all the nations to Jerusalem to war and the city shall be captured” (Zechariah 14:2).

Yechezkel gives a more colorful description (38:4-10) addressing Gog in Hashem’s name: “And I shall unbridle you and I shall put hooks into your jaws and bring you forth and all your army horses and riders all of them clothed in finery a great assembly.” 

The psukim even describe the period in which the war is to take place: “You will come to a land [whose inhabitants] returned from the sword gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel which had been continually laid waste but it was liberated from the nations and they all dwelt securely” (ibid 8).

The Malbim explains “gathered from many peoples”: “Those who returned from many lands of exile and gathered in their land from the various nations where they were scattered ‘upon the mountains of Israel which were continually laid waste’ and now they are taken out and allowed to go and settle in Eretz Yisrael.”

The period and the place are clearly identified. And according to the psukim that follow it appears that this will be an extremely difficult war until a dramatic change occurs that will bring victory: “And it will be on that day when Gog comes against the land of Israel declares Hashem Elokim that My blazing indignation will flame in My nostrils. … And I will reveal Myself in My greatness and in My holiness and will be recognized in the eyes of many nations and they will know that I am Hashem” (ibid 18-23).

Let us look at the parallel description in Zechariah now to get a more complete picture of the dreaded war: “And Hashem shall go forth and wage war with those nations like the day he waged war on the day of the battle ... And this shall be the plague which with Hashem will smite all the nations who besieged Jerusalem; his flesh will waste away while he still stands on his feet; his eyes will waste away in their sockets and his tongue shall waste away in his mouth” (Zechariah 14:3-12).

Terrifying.

What generation is better equipped than ours to envision these apocalyptic scenes? We know that entire populations can be killed in one moment — the first moment in a total global war. The psukim describing the great hailstones fire and brimstone raining down upon the armies of the nations who come to make war on Israel peek out at us from newspaper headlines and news footage from the battlefields of our times.

The psukim prophesy that “Hashem will smite all the nations that besieged Jerusalem… And this shall be the plague… his flesh will waste away while he stands on his feet his eyes will waste away in their sockets and his tongue shall waste away in his mouth.” Isn’t this reminiscent of the terrible pictures in the news of the dead left in the wake of Bashar al-Assad’s chemical onslaught or of survivors of a nuclear attack? This seems to be part of what lies in store for the world according to our neviim and it hovers over us like a dark threatening cloud.

But what does all this have to do with Succos? Why do we read such dark prophecies during the festival of the succahs that shelter us from harm? And why after describing the plague that will smite the enemies who gather againstIsrael does Zechariah speak specifically of Succos?

The Haftarah goes on to say: “And it will come to pass that everyone left of the nations who came up against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to prostrate himself to the King Hashem Tzevakos and to celebrate the festival of Succos. And it shall be that whoever of all the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalemto prostrate himself to the King Hashem Tzevakos upon them there shall be no rain.” (Zechariah14:17-19).

Again how does Succos tie in with this theme of a dreadful war and the unleashing of Hashem’s wrath on our enemies?

The connection is deep. For a succah is not merely four walls that barely stand up against the wind. It isn’t just schach or colorful decorations. A succah represents a whole philosophy of life which divides the human race into two categories: the succah people and the anti-succah people. Over the millennia these two segments of humanity have formed the only two civilizations that really exist in this world two contrasting civilizations that wage an endless obstinate exhausting struggle against one another.

Chazal taught that the mitzvah of succah means moving out of one’s regular home into a temporary dwelling. Rav Yitzchak Arama author of Akeidas Yitzchak defines this obligation as follows: “At this time people leave off all matters of profit business dealings produce and everything to do with property and go out to this little succah … For the basic necessities are sufficient for all the days he spends in this entryway which is a temporary dwelling” (Akeidas Yitzchak Shaar 67).

A succah then is a model for giving precedence to the spiritual over the material. It teaches us to realize our spiritual ambitions instead of investing all our powers of body and soul in the acquisition of material things. This mitzvah brings the spiritual achievements of the Yamim Noraim into active expression.

The succah as a philosophy of life dispels interpersonal tensions moderates the competition for livelihood and opens up all the options for compromise in the whole realm of mundane life. For the succah people this is a principle worth dying for.

Against the succah civilization stands the whole world. Since the dawn of history the anti-succah people have viewed this material world as the be-all and end-all. The struggle for material gain is the father of all the fierce competition in the world. It motivates all desire for conquest causing war and bloodshed. And it has been the main stimulus for technological advances intended to give power to one man over another.

Thus weapons of war developed. It began with carving stone to serve as a spearhead and advanced through battering rams catapults and gunpowder – all the way to atomic bombs and guided missiles. This is where the anti-succah civilization has brought the world.

The neviim foresaw that things must come to this terrible stage of development. This is why they connect the results of the final war to chag HaSuccos expressing the hope that after the terrible destruction man will understand that all his pursuit of happiness through worldly aspirations was a bitter mistake. Only then when he stands on the ruins of his world will he see that his redemption lies in the philosophy of Succos.

The succah is a succas shalom. Only the rational view of life represented by the succah will bring the peace that the world longs for.