Sukkot

Sukkot celebrates the autumn harvest. In Temple times, Sukkot was one of the three pilgrimages mandated in Torah. (Pesach and Shavuot are the other two pilgrimage festivals.) During the pilgrimages, harvest offerings were brought to the Temple.

Sukkot also commemorates the Israelites' wandering in the desert for 40 years following the Exodus from Egypt. We are commanded to dwell in a sukkah (sukkah is Hebrew for "booth") "so that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in sukkots when I brought them out of Egypt." Leviticus 23:43. Sukkot is the plural of sukkah.

Sukkot reminds us that despite our attempts to be secure, a certain instability is a part of our lives. On this holiday, we build temporary structures to remind ourselves of the impermanence of our lives and security. It is a mitzvah to eat in the sukkah and in many people also sleep in their sukkot.

Another custom of Sukkot is the waving of the lulav. Four species symbolize the holiday of Sukkot ~ the Etrog, or citron, and the lulav, which is comprised of three types of branches bound together. The three branches are the date-palm, myrtle branches and willow branches. All together, the Lulav and Etrog are known as the four species, or arba minim.

Sukkot is an eight (8) day holiday. During the first six days of Sukkot, (with the exception of Shabbat), during synagogue services, the congregation takes up the lulav and etrog and forms a procession around the sanctuary as songs are sung. The megillah of Kohelet (the Book of Ecclesiastes) is read during Sukkot. This reading contains the famous verse: "To everything there is a season."

The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshanah Rabbah. According to rabbinic tradition, Hoshanah Rabbah is an extension of Yom Kippur because it is on this day that the Book of Life is finally sealed.