Hillel the Elder used to say, “If I am here, everyone is here; but if I am not here, who is here?”
A beraita on our daf relates that this is what the great Sage would say when he rejoiced in the Beit Hamikdash during the Simchat beit hasho’eva celebrations during Succot.
Rashi writes that although Hillel was speaking in the first person – “ani” which translates as “I” – he was actually speaking in the name of G-d. His message was that if the Jewish People are righteous then G-d’s Divine Presence will dwell in the Beit Hamikdash and everyone will come there. But if they transgress, G-d will remove His Divine Presence from there and no one will come (Rashi).
Commentaries ask why Hillel referred to G-d as “I”. A great rabbi in Jerusalem taught me that on Succot the simcha of mitzvah that followed the days of judgment, purity and atonement of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur help a person truly recognize that a “piece of Divineness” is inside him. Succot is the only time of the year when we say in prayer “I” but are referring to “Him” — as we learned above in our masechta that we pray, “Ani v’Hu hoshia na”, which is a plea for G-d to save us (45a).
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