Sukkot - סוכות

SUKKOT – The Harvest Festival:

For forty years, as our ancestors crossed the Sinai Desert prior to their entry into the Holy Land, miraculous "clouds of glory" surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. During this same period, the Jews were also the beneficiaries of another two miracles, the Manna and the waters which were produced by the rock—the "Well of Miriam."  

Ever since, we remember G-d's kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah - a hut of temporary construction with a roof covering of branches - for the duration of the Sukkot festival (15-21 Tishri). For seven days and nights, we eat all our meals in the sukkah and otherwise regard it as our home.

Along with Pesach (The Passover), Shavout (Giving of the Torah), Sukkot is the third in the trilogy of the process of the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Eygpt.  In the days of the Temple, Jews would make pilgrimages three times a year to Jerusalem, bringing sacrifices for the Holy Temple.  After the destruction of the Temple, the practice of sacrifice discontinued.

Sukkot also reflects an earlier festival, celebrating the gathering of the autumn crops.  Whilst it is associated with the above historical events and their spiritual meaning, it has never lost its connection with agriculture and the land.

Sukkot  begins five days after Yom Kippur and is exactly half a year away from Pesach.  It begins on the full moon of the month of Tishri and although it is a week long festival, it actually lasts for eight or nine days because the festivals of Sh’mini Atzerat and Simchat Torah are tacked on, as they fall respectively immediately at the conclusion of Sukkot.  More about those festivals at the end of this section.

Another Sukkot observance is the taking of the Four Kinds, better known as the luvav and etrog. The lulavis a collection of freshly cut branches, a palm frond (lulav), three myrtle twigs (hadassim) and two willow twigs (aravot), as seen above.

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