ע"ל סימן תרכ"ד דמצוה להתחיל בעשיית הסוכה מיד במוצאי י"ה וכתב מהרי"ל מיד לאחר יה"כ יעשה הסוכה ואפי' אם הוא ע"ש דמצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה:
One should try to begin building the sukkah immediately after Yom Kippur so that one goes one from one mitzvah to another.
דתניא (ויקרא כג, מג) כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל ענני כבוד היו דברי ר' אליעזר ר"ע אומר סוכות ממש עשו להם
For it has been taught: "For I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths [sukkot]" (Leviticus 23:43): These were clouds of glory, the words of R. Eliezer. R. Akiva says: They made for themselves real sukkot.
אמר רבי אבין: משל לשנים שנכנסו אצל הדיין ולית אנן ידעין מאן הוא נוצח, אלא מאן דנסב באיין בידיה, אנן ידעין דהוא נצוחייא. כך ישראל ואומות העולם באין ומקטרגים לפני הקב"ה בר"ה ולית אנן ידעין מאן נצח, אלא במה שישראל יוצאין מלפני הקדוש ברוך הוא ולולביהן ואתרוגיהן בידן, אנו יודעין דישראל אינון נצוחייא. לפיכך משה מזהיר לישראל ואומר להם: ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון:
This commandment is a parable that describes two people who contend in a legal battle before the King. Although the two people were not informed in whose favor the judgment was issued, they can figure it out by looking to see who walks out still holding his weapons. Thus Israel along with the nations of the world face the Divine judgment on the Day of Atonement. We cannot tell which one emerged victorious, which is why God commanded You shall take for yourselves ... You can see from the fact that Israel emerges from before God holding its palm leaves and citrons, its lulav and etrog, that Israel emerged victorious.
Rabbi Michael Cohen
The worshiper also needs Sukkot which counterbalances Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur takes place inside; Sukkot takes place outside. On Yom Kippur we fast; while on Sukkot we feast. On Yom Kippur we pray and study with our minds; for Sukkot we build with our might. On Yom Kippur we hold a book in our hands; on Sukkot with the lulav and etrog we hold nature. On Yom Kippur we are serious and introspective; on Sukkot we are told to be joyful.
Rabbi Nicole Guzik
My favorite mitzvah of the year comes immediately after Yom Kippur. As the last shofar blast pierces the night, we are supposed to run home and start building our sukkah. The first nail hammered into the ground to symbolize an urgency to begin our year with action.
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are brimming with words. For hours we pray, confess, promise, plead, hope and dream. We forgive, mourn, regret, rage, challenge and encourage. And for the most part, we remain rooted in place, teaching our heart a curriculum of compassion and change for the coming year. But moments after Yom Kippur ends, the biggest choice resides in our hands. Talk the talk or walk the walk?
Walking the walk is leaving Yom Kippur services with a bit more patience as the traffic in the parking lot begins to build up. Walking the walk is seeing the person with whom you disagree and offering a humbling hello. Walking the walk is determining whether our words lift or crush another’s soul. Walking the walk is living as an active partner in God’s ongoing creation of the world.
We will spend ten beautiful, sacred days praying, singing, talking. May we spend the remainder of this year loving, building, giving, walking.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Yom Kippur peels all your protective layers and helps you enter that joy, Sukkot says, hey, don’t rush to reinstall that armor, hang out, vulnerable, in this fragile hut and discover that you can hold this open joyful space for longer. You’re ok. Stay here. Make joy a habit.
Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, The Tapestry of Jewish Time
Most days of our lives we find a measure of security in our walls and our bricks and our boundaries. "Good fences make good neighbors." And that security -- as God learned in the desert -- is essential to our well-being. And yet, there are times when our ordinary world meets extraordinary challenges, when our boundaries are penetrated and our fences fall. What then? What will comfort us in the presence of dangers that walls cannot repel: the dread of illness and loss, the pain of shame and uncertainty, the shadow of hopelessness or despair, the fear of failure, the struggles with aging?
Sukkot reminds us that the ultimate security is found not within the walls of our home but in the presence of God and one another. Indeed, there is a midrash that says that sukkot are not buildings at all but the glory of God. This holiday helps us understand that sometimes the walls we build to protect us serve instead to divide us, cut us off, lock us in. The walls of our sukkot may make us vulnerable, but they make us available too.