What we accomplish on the High Holidays through prayer and fasting, is accomplished on the festival of Sukkot through Joy!
In fact, the Midrash states that when we shake the Lulav (the palm branch) it is similar to a victory parade after a battle, confident that we were victorious on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and were blessed for a good and a sweet new year!
Unity is one of the central themes of the holiday; binding four very different species together, sitting together under the same roof (made from bamboo, palm fronds or other greenery).
In fact, the word Sukkah represents this same unity. The sukkah is a greenery-covered hut erected for the holiday, that commemorates G‑d sheltering our ancestors as they traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land. In the Talmud, there is (naturally) dissenting opinions as to how many walls a Sukkah must have to be Kosher. While one opinion maintains that it needs four walls, another argues and says that three is enough and there is even an opinion that two plus a bit is ok.
So what do I do if someone has a Sukkah unlike my own? What if someone thinks differently than I do? Can we get along? Can we sit at the same table?
Let's take a look at the Hebrew letters that spell the word Sukkah? סֻכָּה
ס - the Hebrew letter Samech is enclosed on all four sides - representing a four-walled Sukkah
כ - the Hebrew letter Kaf has one side completely open
ה - the Hebrew letter Hay has two solid walls and one partial
All three opinions unite in the same word.
The Ba'al Shem Tov the founder of Chassidism had a Sukkah that looked like it was stitched together - it relied on dozens of loopholes in Jewish Law. Some of the scholars in Mezhibuzh challenged him on its Kosher status. He vigorously argued its case, defending the dilapidated patchwork Sukkah. When all else failed to convince the scholars, the Ba'al Shem Tov went into a meditative state, and when he emerged from it he had a heavenly note in his hand attesting to the Sukkah's legitimacy.
Why did the Ba'al Shem Tov rely on these loopholes? Why not make a Sukkah that was 100% Kosher? The Ba'al Shem Tov in doing so was essentially guaranteeing that any other Sukkah put up by a diverse Jewish community, with varying levels of means and backgrounds, would all be considered Kosher.
Unity is when every Jew feels comfortable in the Sukkah.
Wishing you a joyous and unifying Sukkot!