Hassidout sur Jérémie 2:2

In the verse (Lev. 23:43), "In order that [your future generations] may learn that I made [the Israelites] live in sukkot," and the verse (Jer. 2:2), "I remembered to your favor the lovingkindness [hesed] of your youth [... How you followed Me in the wilderness]," the general idea of the matter is that in Nisan Hashem brought us out of Egypt, and it was through Hashem's lovingkindness alone, as it is written (Ezek. 16:7), "And you were naked and bare." However, Hashem wanted that this lovingkindness be through the merit of good deeds of the Israelites, so that it would endure forever. And so it is written (Ps. 62:13), "The lovingkindness is yours, Lord, for You will repay each person according to his deeds." The meaning is that the Holy One, blessed be He, engineers through His lovingkindness that the person merits this lovingkindness on his own, through his or her own deeds, for everything is ultimately attributable to the Cause of all causes. And this happened afterwards in that the Israelites traveled into the wilderness and merited the clouds of glory. The meaning is that the fact that they merited this through their own deeds removes the Accuser from B'nai Yisrael; "One who eats what is not his, feels ashamed [to look in the face of his benefactor]" (Yerushalmi, Orlah 1:3), but one who merits through his own deeds is honored. And see what I have said below [in another piece from Sukkot the same year]. And this matter appears every year. At Pesah there is the exodus from Egypt through Hashem's lovingkindness. And afterwards, at Rosh Hashana, a person is judged with regard to whether he has repaired his deeds the lovingkindness. For all of Hashem's lovingkindness is so that a person will repair his deeds by means of the lovingkindness. And when he merits by right, the lovingkindness winds up being repaid, even according to the criterion of justice [midat hadin]. And this is the lovingkindness of the holiday of Sukkot -- the lovingkindness that comes by right. All of this happened to our ancestors, and this is why it says, "I remembered to your favor the lovingkindness of your youth [... How you followed Me in the wilderness]" The meaning is that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused the lovingkindness to be remembered throughout the generations in that it was on account of Israel's own good deeds, and the remembering is by right. The meaning is that lovingkindness is just for a moment, except that, for one who merits that lovingkindness by right, it endures forever. (And this is "[I will make with you an everlasting covenant,] The enduring lovingkindness promised to David.") And this why it says, "I made [the Israelites] live in sukkot," for even the sukkot are a reminder of the exodus from Egypt, but they are a reminder of the lovingkindness that was done through the merit of B'nai Yisrael, etc. And in this way the question of the Tur [why Sukkot is observed in the Fall rather than in Nisan] is resolved.

Yom Kippur is a day of forgiveness and pardon, in general and in particular; and there is forgiveness for the sin of the golden calf on it. As they, may their memory be blessed, said about the verse, "however on the day when I take account of them, I will take their sin into account" - that there is no accounting in which the sin of the calf is not included. And the reason is because all sins were caused through it afterwards. And likewise - the positive trait being greater - there is no forgiveness that does not have forgiveness of the sin of the calf in it. For also all of the repentances that the Children of Israel always do are all from the power of the repentance and the forgiveness of the generation of the desert. This is as the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said, that that generation was not fitting for that sin, but it only [happened] to teach [the concept of] repentance. Hence anytime that the Children of Israel repent, it arouses the merit of the generation of the desert. And each year, a little of he sin is erased; until in the future the whole sin will be rectified, and the Children of Israel will merit to be what they were worthy to be before the sin, as it is written (Psalms 82:6), "I said you were powers (elohim, here being understood as angels)." And hence on Yom Kippur, they are like angels; and that is a sign that they will be holy beings in the future. And the Children of Israel fast with joy, to say that they look forward to returning to that earlier level, such that we will not need eating or drinking, but rather just to be nourished from the luster of the Divine Presence like angels. And since we remember the valor of the generation of the desert by way of forgiveness; hence the commandment of Sukkot is after Yom Kippur. As it is written (Jeremiah 2:2), "I accounted to your favor the devotion of your youth" - the merit of the generation of the desert (who dwelled in huts). Since it is through sin that merit was extinguished, and it is through repentance that merit becomes aroused again. This is as Rabbenu Yonah, may his memory be blessed, wrote in Shaarei Teshuvah on the verse (Hoshea 14:3), "forgive guilt, and accept what is good." See there.

For Par'oh will say of the children of Yisra'el, they are entangled in the land, in the Mechilta it says (Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 14:3) "there is no 'entangled' other than 'disturbed'", and explains that he was disturbed in his mind and confused that he did not know what he should do, those are the Mechilta's words. And it seems that behold it's known that the letters of Par'oh פרעה are the [reversed] letters "ha'oref" הערף [nape of the neck], which is behind the brain of the wisdom, and he took wisdom from Yisra'el. And regarding this, when he saw that Yisra'el returned before Pi-haChirot, God appeared to him - for Yisra'el still lacked understanding, and it seemed to him that his bondage was still upon them. And for this reason he magnified his own strength to chase after them, but all the more so, by means that the Jews nullified their understandings and were drawn after Hashem Yitbarach, like it says: "I recall for you the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, your walking after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown" (Yirmiyahu 2:2). And so: why did they returned to camp before Pi-Hachirot? In the Mechilta, [it answers] to make known the wisdom of Yisra'el. For they didn't say "how can we turn back, not to break the hearts of the weary children and women". And this is like that which is written "Man and beast You save, God" (Tehillim 36:7). And they, of blessed memory, say: these are the human beings who are naked of understanding and make themselves like animals. And so it was with Yisra'el at the Exodus from Egypt, understanding was taken from Par'oh and given to Yisra'el and they left high-handedley, and it's known that they went up until understanding [?], and see Ramban on the verse "And God knew". And despite this, they set aside their understanding and nullified it before the understanding of the Holy Blessed One; because of this itself they came into the attribute of understanding, and if so, when Par'oh took them for ones lacking in understanding, this itself brought them to the root of wisdom and understanding. And it's like they, of blessed memory, say: in the merit of "And he hid... from seeing" (Shmot 3:6) he merited to the image of God he saw, and in this the language of the Mechilta is understood: to make known the wisdom of Yisra'el. And perhaps it isn't understood? For this matter is nullified to the will of Hashem Yitbarach and not to the attribute of wisdom. However, according to our words that "because of this itself, they merited even more to the attribute of wisdom and of understanding", because of this, from here we know the wisdom of Yisra'el.