A husband and wife were arguing over what name to give their newborn son. The husband wanted to name the boy after his father, and the wife wanted to name him after her father.
They went to the Rabbi. He asked the husband what name he wanted to give. The husband answered, "Aaron." The Rabbi then asked the wife what name she wanted to give, and she answered, "Aaron."
"Nu…" the Rabbi asked, "so what's the argument?" The husband said, "My father was a big scholar, and he labored over Torah all day. Her father, on the other hand, couldn't even read Hebrew."
"My father loved all people and pursued peace," said the wife. "He was wealthy, and built and supported many Jewish institutions. Your father couldn't even support his own family."
The Rabbi thought for a moment. "Aha. I have the solution. You'll name the child Aaron. Twenty years from now, we'll know after whom he was named.
For seven days each year, Jews all over the world sit in huts known as sukkos. The reason for this is the Torah's statement: "You shall sit in sukkos seven days; every native in Israel shall sit in sukkos. This is in order that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkos when I brought them forth from the land of Egypt."[1]
This passage brings a few questions to mind:
1) In the second sentence, the word (ba)sukkos appears once,
and it has a Vav: 
.
In the first sentence, however it appears twice, and both times
it doesn't have a Vav: 
2) Rashi says the phrase "every native in Israel" includes converts as well.[2] Why isn't the word "convert" explicit in this text?[3] It is explicit in many places in Torah--in reference to Passover, for example: "Yeast shall not be found in your house for seven days…from among the congregation of Israel, the convert and the native of the land."[4]
3) What exactly is the miracle that we celebrate on the holiday of Sukkos?
TWO REASONS
1) During the forty years that the Jews journeyed through the desert, there were seven "clouds of glory" that miraculously followed and protected them. Six of the clouds were stationed in each of the six directions. The seventh cloud traveled in front of them, as a scout. During the day, the scout appeared as a cloud as it lead the Jews, however at night it became a blazing fire, bringing light and warmth to the camp.[5] The sukkah symbolizes these miraculous clouds, and to commemorate them we sit in a sukkah for seven days.[6]
2) The clouds of glory appeared in the merit of Aaron, the High Priest.[7] He personified unconditional love for all, as it says in Ethics of Our Fathers, "Be of the disciples of Aaron--love peace and pursue peace, love your fellow creatures and bring them near to the Torah."[8]
This explains why it was specifically the clouds of glory that were in the merit of Aaron, rather than other miracles in the Desert: the manna, or the miraculous spring of water. Just as Aaron united neighbors and friends, so the clouds of glory encompassed all the Jews, and unified them.
SEVEN CLOUDS
The Zohar explains that the seven clouds allude to the seven emotional attributes.[9] The first of the seven clouds corresponds to the first attribute, chessed, loving-kindness. This is the attribute of Aaron. Just as the six subsequent attributes flow from chessed, so too, the six other clouds came forth from, and followed, the cloud of chessed. The Torah underscores this idea by spelling sukkos once with a Vav, in the second sentence of our verse. Vav, has a gematria of six, alluding to the six clouds surrounding the Israelites. However, in the first sentence, the word sukkos appears twice, and without a Vav. These two appearances allude to the two aspects of the chessed or scout cloud, since it was a cloud during the day, and a blazing fire at night.
THREE MITZVOS TO LOVE
Why is the word ger, or "convert" omitted from our verse?
The Rabbis tell us of three mitzvos that express loving-kindness: Yom Kippur, the Four Species, and Sukkos. Each of these mitzvos, in turn, allude to three levels of love or unity. On Yom Kippur, people who rarely attend synagogue come and join the community service. At the beginning of the Kol Nidrei service, we recite the Rabbinic decree that the "righteous" may pray together with the "transgressors". Even though they're permitted to join together, it still implies that there are two kinds of people: the righteous and the transgressors. This first level of unity or love, therefore, is incomplete.
A greater love is expressed in the mitzvah of the Four Species. The lulav, or palm frond, represents the Torah scholars. The esrog, or citron, represents the Torah scholars who also perform good deeds. The hadas, or myrtle, represents those who perform good deeds but lack Torah knowledge. Finally, the aravah, or willow, represents one who neither studies Torah nor performs good deeds. We firmly bind these four plants together to form a single cluster. This is a greater level of love; not only are different kinds of people joining, as in the Yom Kippur service, but here, all are closely bound in unity. Yet, even within this cluster, there are still four discernible categories.
The greatest level of love is when people sit together in a sukkah.[10] As the Talmud says, "It is proper that all Jews sit in one sukkah."[11] When we sit in a sukkah eating, drinking and rejoicing, we don't discern between "righteous" and "transgressor", or "scholar" and "unlearned". Rather, all Jews sit together as one, without labels or distinctions.
In light of the above, we can also understand why the word "convert" is not explicit in our verse. The holiday of Sukkos alludes to the greatest level of love and unity, in which no distinctions are made, and so the Torah doesn't want to use a word that could imply any difference between people.
MOSHIACH
Now more than ever, as we stand in the wake of a new year--and in the wake of the revelation of our righteous Moshiach--we must increase our efforts to unite our brothers and sisters. When we are united, we can hasten the ultimate Redemption, when we will all sit together under the Sukkah of Perfect Peace.
A STORY
The famed author, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, told the following story. His father was an accountant for many years. One of his clients was the Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway. In his later years, his father suffered from a stroke. While he was still unconscious, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, one of the secretaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, called the hospital daily, telling Rabbi Telushkin, "The Rebbe has asked me to call, and to find out your father's condition." After a few days, his father regained consciousness. The next day, Rabbi Krinsky called again, stating, "Yesterday, we had a board meeting, and an accounting question came up. We asked the Rebbe what to do, and the Rebbe referred us to your father." Rabbi Telushkin replied, "You do know that my father just regained his consciousness after a serious stroke. I'm not sure if he can answer the question. Is the Rebbe aware of this?" Rabbi Krinsky said, "The Rebbe is aware, and yet, he has requested that we ask your father."
Rabbi Telushkin went to his father and asked him the question. To his surprise, his father was able to answer.
The Rebbe's love for fellow human beings was truly outstanding. Not only did he love everyone in general, demonstrating this by sending out thousands of his disciples to help people the world-over, but he also loved people individually, taking time out from his overwhelmingly busy schedule to commission a call to a hospital patient. Furthermore, the Rebbe had the sensitivity to ask this patient a question in his field, so that in case his stroke had left him feeling helpless and insignificant, he could regain his confidence and sense of purpose.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Leviticus, 23:42-43
[2] Based on Toras Kohanim, Chapter 17:9. See also Tractate Sukkah,
28b.
[3] Rashi and Sifra say that "native" refers to born
Jews, and "in Israel" adds the concept of converts.
Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that the next verse in the parsha
shows the reason for the mitzvah of sitting in sukkos: we should
remember that G-d protected our ancestors in the Wilderness. Therefore,
since the ancestors of converts were probably not among the Jews
in the Wilderness, the Torah had to say "native" and
"in Israel", in order to include converts in the mitzvah
of sukkos (see Artscroll Chumash, Stone Edition, p. 689, note
42). However, this still doesn't answer the question why the actual
word "convert" is omitted from the verse.
[4] Exodus, 12:19
[5] Numbers, 9:15-22. See Rashi on verse 18.
[6] Code of Jewish Law, Orach Chayim, Chapter 625:1. See also
the Code of the Alter Rebbe, under the same chapter number. See
also Baal HaTurim on Leviticus, 23:42.
[7] Zohar II, p. 186b. See also Likutei Sichos, Vol. II, pp. 331-334.
[8] Chapter 1:12
[9] Zohar II, Ibid.
[10] See also Likutei Sichos, Vol. II, p. 434, regarding the difference
between the Four Species and dancing on Simchas Torah.
[11] Tractate Sukkah, 27b