QUESTION:
The Midrash says that the aravos correspond to the reshaim, and their tikkun is to be taken together in one agudah (bundle) with the other species [the lulav and esrog and hadassim, who are compared to tzaddikim (the esrog) and people who have good deeds (hadassim) or Torah learning (the lulav), and by being joined together] they “atone” for the aravos - the reshaim. Since the other species correspond to tzaddikim (on varying levels), especially the esrog, can we deduce from this Midrash that the tikkun for the reshaim is to become connected with the tzaddikim, and even more so, to connect to the personal “tzaddik” that is within every Jew’s soul, the “Yechidah” level of the soul, that pure place inside of us which never sins and is always connected to Hashem – and if that’s correct, can we take this insight further and say that the way to be saved in this generation [if we are on the level of reshaim, chas v’shalom] is to become connected to tzaddikim?
ANSWER:
That is a good insight, but even more so, we know that after the arba minim (4 species) of Succos comes Shmini Atzeres in which there is no arba minim, in which Hashem says “Stay with Me one day”, and this high level of closeness of Hashem available on Shmini Atzeres doesn’t require the arba minim [Thus there is a deeper level than Succos, which is the level of connecting to the tzaddikim. And that is Shmini Atzeres, where we can connect to Hashem directly with no intermediary in between]. Understand this.
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