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"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month...thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year ... one male goat for a sin-offering, aside from the continual-offering." (Bamidbar 29:12,13,16)

QUESTION: Why besides the daily continual-offerings and the one he-goat as sin-offering which were offered on every holiday, were there an additional one hundred and eighty-two offerings in honor of Sukkot? (Seventy bulls, fourteen rams, and ninety-eight lambs.)

ANSWER: In the Tur, Orach Chaim (417), the Beit Yosef writes in the name of his brother Rabbi Yehudah that the three festivals Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot correspond to the patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov.

When the angels visited Avraham, he told Sarah, "Hurry! Three se'ahs of meal, fine flour! Knead it and make cakes!" (Bereishit 18:6). The visit took place on Pesach (see Rashi, ibid. 18:10), and the cakes she baked were actually matzot. Since it was Pesach, he wanted her to prepare the dough herself to guard against leavening (Alshich). Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah and corresponds to Yitzchak because it was heralded by the blast of the shofar, which came from the ram which was offered in his stead (Pirkei D'Rebbe Eliezer, 31). Sukkot is for Yaakov, as the pasuk says, "Yaakov journeyed to Sukkot and built himself a house and for his livestock he made shelters, he therefore called the name of the place 'Sukkot' " (ibid. 33:12).

The name "Yaakov" has the numerical value of one hundred and eighty-two. Since Sukkot is in his honor, one hundred and eighty-two sacrifices were offered.