The Medrash writes that Sukkos is the Rosh Hashana for Aveiros, the New Year for Sins. The freshness and purity of Yom Kippur remain untainted in the days leading up to Sukkos. We are too busy preparing for the holiday to do anything wrong. It is only on the first day of Sukkos that we can begin to sin.

This Medrash supports a core precept of Chassidus that the preparation for the mitzvah is more important than the mitzvah itself. Building a sukka, choosing a Lulav, and cooking meals are only preparations for the holiday, yet they effectively shield us from sin. On Sukkos itself, when we are sitting in our sukkos, shaking our Lulavim and eating those meals we find ourselves beginning to sin.

The Chassidim extended this idea to exalt the preparations made for prayer, Bris Milah, and all Mitzvos.

The so called Misnagdim (opponents of Chassidus) were against this understanding of the Medrash. The Nefesh Hachaim considered it all but blasphemous to suggest that choosing a lulav and preparing for prayer could be more important than shaking a lulav and prayer itself. While preparing for a Mitzvah we are engrossed in an incomplete mitzvah. It is only when we see a mitzvah through to its’ completion that we can realize its’ true benefits.

We can spend hours and hours preparing for a Mitzvah, but the light that emanates from the Mitzva will not begin to shine until the Mitzvah is complete.

It is kind of like school: A person can spend twenty years of his life in a school environment. During that time period he is immersed in knowledge. His life is based on an academic schedule and he lives and breathes his studies. He exists in a framework of discipline and evaluation that encourages him to grow. When he finally graduates he leaves that intense and nurturing environment. He loses the benefits of the campus – but he is now a graduate. He can sleep all day and never open another textbook, but if someone needs a doctor or a lawyer or a toothpaste tester he is qualified and licensed to help.

The same is true of Mitzvos. While preparing for a mitzvah, we think of nothing but that mitzvah. Hashem protects and shelters us as we put effort into the mitzvah. But the real benfit is in the completion. When we complete a mitzvah, we often forget about it – but we are different people because of it. A completed mitzvah elevates us in a very real and permanent way. It envelopes us with holiness and brings us closer to Hashem. Upon completion, a Mitzvah leaves our physical lives but becomes a part of our neshamos.

In the days leading up to Sukkos we are physically busy with mitzvos but we have not yet upgraded our souls. When Sukkos finally comes, our mitzvos transform us into elevated and better human beings.

As the sukka forces us to reinvent our physical environment, the calm of Yom Tov challenges us to make full use of our new spiritual reality. Sukkos is our first chance to be tested. It is the Rosh Hashana for sin.

May we merit to see our mitzvos change who we are and penetrate to the depths of our souls.

Sources: Medrash Rabbah, Emor 30:7; Yayna Shel Torah, p. 6; Ruach Chaim, preface.