What were the

Ananei ha-Kavod?
Dr. Shawn Zelig Aster
Faculty, Yeshiva College Bible Department

At first blush, the Torah’s explanation for the mitzvah of sukkah seems crystal-clear:

In order that your [future] generations should know ‫למען ידעו דרתיכם כי בסכות הושבתי את בני‬
that I caused the Israelites to dwell in sukkot, when I '‫ישראל בהוציאי אותם מארץ מצרים אני ה‬
took them out of Egypt; I am the LORD your God :‫אלהיכם‬
Vayikra 23:43 ‫מג‬:‫ויקרא כג‬

But what specific element does the sukkah commemorate? What are the “sukkot” in which we
dwelled when we left Egypt? On this question, we find a disagreement between Tannaim. R.
Akiva seems to understand the verse according to its simplest meaning: God caused the
Israelites to dwell in booths on their way out of Egypt. In contrast, R. Eliezer’s opinion is that the
“sukkot” in which we dwelled were ananei ha-kavod (often, but wrongly, translated “clouds of
glory”).1
Interestingly, Rashi, in his commentary on Chumash (Vayikra 23:43) quotes only the view
attributed to R. Eliezer, and omits the simpler view. Why should we not understand the verse as
referring to actual sukkot? Surely it is simpler to understand the sukkah as a commemoration of
actual booths, than to understand sukkah as a commemoration of ananei ha-kavod!
Rashi, in his commentary on the Gemara Sukka 11b, hints at a possible reason for preferring to
understand sukkah as a commemoration of ananei ha-kavod. In commenting on the view “actual
sukkot,” he notes that “when the Israelites camped during their journey in the desert, they would
build sukkot to shield them from the sun.” In this comment, Rashi implies why he rejects the
simple view. If we understand the word sukkot in Vayikra 23:43 to mean “actual sukkot,” or
“booths,” then the word would refer to structures the Israelites themselves built. But the verse
clearly states “that I caused the Israelites to dwell in sukkot, when I took them out of Egypt; I
am the LORD your God.” Rashi is aware of the grammatical emphasis, which shows that the
making of the sukkot of the desert was a divine act. He therefore prefers the view that interprets
the word sukkot in this verse as ananei ha-kavod, since these were presumably produced by God,
whereas the booths of the desert were produced by man.

1
The names of the Tannaim are recorded differently in different sources; here I have followed the gemara in Sukka 11b.

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According to Rashi and at least one Tanna, then, the mitzvah of sukkah commemorates ananei
ha-kavod. This begs the question: what were the ananei ha-kavod? The phrase “ananei ha-kavod”
appears nowhere in the Hebrew Bible. It is a phrase which appears for the first time in the words
of the Tannaim. Ananei ha-kavod is a construct phrase, composed of two words which appear on
their own in Chumash: anan, meaning “cloud,” and kavod, meaning “Divine Presence” (what
Hazal call “shekhina”). Hazal repeatedly coin construct phrases by combining two words that
stand on their own in Chumash. (Another example is karnei ha-hod, which appears in midrashim
and is quoted by Rashi on Shemot 34:33.) By coining such phrases, Hazal draw our attention to
the pesukim in which these words are used. We can identify the specific pesukim to which our
attention is drawn: on several occasions the words anan and kavod appear within the same pasuk
in Chumash. These are the pesukim we ought to consult to understand the meaning of ananei ha-
kavod, and ultimately, the meaning of the mitzvah of sukkah.
Two pesukim2 that contain both the words anan and kavod are:

And it came to pass, as Aharon spoke unto the whole congregation ‫ויהי כדבר אהרן אל כל עדת בני‬
of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, ‫ישראל ויפנו אל המדבר והנה כבוד‬
and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. :‫ה' נראה בענן‬
Shemot 16:10 ‫י‬:‫שמות טז‬

And it came to pass, when the congregation was assembled against Moses ‫ויהי בהקהל העדה על משה‬
and against Aharon, that they looked toward the tent of meeting; and, ‫ועל אהרן ויפנו אל אהל מועד‬
behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. :'‫והנה כסהו הענן וירא כבוד ה‬
BeMidbar 17:7 ‫ז‬:‫במדבר יז‬

In each of these pesukim, the Presence of the LORD (Kevod Hashem) is said to appear in (or by
means of) a cloud (anan). These pesukim deal with the period of the Israelite wandering in the
wilderness, and each deals with an episode of grumbling among the Israelites.3 As the grumbling
reaches a crisis, Kevod Hashem appears by means of a cloud, just as the nation is about to turn its
wrath on Moses. The appearance of Kevod Hashem ends the grumbling, because it forces the
Israelites to focus their attention on God's presence and power. On the level of the presented
narrative, it shifts the reader's focus from the Israelites’ behavior to the divine response.
By connecting the mitzvah of sukkah to these pesukim, Hazal are encouraging us to examine how
the cloud indicating the Divine Presence functions in them. In the story of the mon (Shemot
16), the Israelites, fearful of the uncertainty of food supply in the wilderness, demand to return
to the fleshpots of Egypt. They accuse Moshe and Aharon of conspiring to starve the Israelites to
death in the wilderness, and refuse to acknowledge that Moshe and Aharon acted to deliver
them from Egypt. In the story of Korah (BeMidbar 16-17), the Israelites are consumed by their
own guilt after the Korah episode. They accuse Moshe and Aharon of having caused the death of

2
There are four pesukim which contain both the words anan and kavod. These include Shemot 24:16-17, which
speak about Ma’amad Har Sinai; Shemot 40:34-35, which speak about the dedication of the mishkan; and the two
pesukim discussed here.
3
Very similar narratives appear in BeMidbar 14:10; 16:19; or 20:6, but these do not explicitly mention the anan.

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the “people of the Lord,” and they refuse to acknowledge that those who died had “made light of
Hashem” (BeMidbar 16:30) by denying the hierarchy of Kohanim/Leviim/Israelim that He
imposed. In each case, the Israelites refuse to accept the responsibility that comes with being
servants of God: they blame Moshe and Aharon for their troubles, and seek to avoid a
relationship with God. In the story of the mon (Shemot 16), they refuse to accept that having left
Egypt, they are now servants of God, and are dependent on Him for their daily bread. Instead,
they seek a return to the fictive security of a life in which their daily bread comes from Pharaoh.
In the story of Korah (BeMidbar 16-17), those who support Korah’s rebellion refuse to
acknowledge God’s right to choose the priesthood. In each of these stories, the appearance of
Kevod Hashem (in Shemot 16:10 and BeMidbar 17:7) shifts the focus from the people’s
complaint to a Divine Sign. In the story of the mon (Shemot 16), this Divine Sign is the
appearance of manna and quail, which show that sustenance comes from God; in the story of
Korah (BeMidbar 16-17), the Divine Sign is the appearance of the flowering rod of Aharon,
which shows that God chose the tribe of Levi, and more specifically, the descendants of Aharon.
In both stories, God provides a sign to remind the Israelites that a relationship with God requires
acknowledging our dependence on Him. The beginning of this sign is the appearance of Kevod
Hashem by means of a cloud: these are the ananei ha-kavod which God provided in the wilderness.
What does the pasuk “I caused the Israelites to dwell in sukkot, when I took them out of Egypt”
(Vayikra 23:43) mean, according to Rashi? That when the Jews in the wilderness grumbled and
refused to acknowledge their dependence on God, God provided ananei ha-kavod (which
should be translated “clouds indicating the Divine Presence”). These saved the Israelites from
their own attitude of blaming Moshe and Aharon. They shifted the Israelites’ attention away
from their own grumbling, and towards the signs (the manna and quail, and the flowering rod of
Aharon) which showed how dependent the Israelites were on God. They served to change the
Israelites’ attitude by re-focusing their attention. The ananei ha-kavod essentially saved the
Israelites from themselves.
But God does not provide ananei ha-kavod eternally. Eventually, we need to accept
responsibility for shifting our own attitudes, for turning our own attention away from grumbling,
for acknowledging our dependence on God without complaint. This is the mitzvah of sukkah.
When God took us out of Egypt he “caused the Israelites to dwell in sukkot.” In commemoration
of God’s action, we are commanded to perform our own parallel action: we build sukkot. Our
sukkot are not “clouds indicating the Divine Presence,” but they are palpable, physical reminders
of our dependence on God. They are built at the time of year “when you gather the products of
your labor from the field” (Shemot 23:16), at the time of year when satiety poses the danger that
“Your heart shall become haughty and you shall forget the Lord your God who took you out of
the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (Devarim 8:14). By abandoning “houses filled with
all valuables” (Devarim 6:11), in which security comes from human endeavors, and dwelling
instead in flimsy temporary structures, we remind ourselves of our dependence on God. The
sukkah serves the same purpose as did the “clouds indicating the Divine Presence.” They shift
our attention towards our dependence on God. Essentially, we are commanded to build our own
ananei ha-kavod, for all generations.

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The interplay of Divine and human action in the following pesukim is fascinating: “In sukkot you
shall dwell for seven days, every native born one in Israel shall dwell in sukkot, in order that your
[future] generations should know that I caused the Israelites to dwell in sukkot, when I took
them out of Egypt; I am the LORD your God” (Vayikra 23:43). We react to God’s action by re-
creating God’s action, but God’s action itself was a necessary curb and brake on our own
mistaken attitude. The idea of humans creating a brake for themselves, to save themselves from
failure to acknowledge God’s Presence, is found in the Rambam’s understanding of the mitzvot
of mezuzah, tzitzit, and tefillin: “He who has tefillin on his head and arm, tzitzit on his garment,
and a mezuzah on his door may be presumed not to sin, for he has many monitors – (these are)
angels that save him from sinning, as it is said (Ps. 34:8) ‘The angel of the Lord encamps round
about them that fear Him and delivers them’.”4 By performing these mitzvot, the human being
creates his own angels to save him from sinning, just as the Torah commands us to create our
own ananei ha-kavod. This is the mitzvah of sukkah.

4
Translation from Rabbi Isadore Twersky, A Maimonides Reader, 1972.

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