The Sukkah

During the holiday of Sukkot, Torah commands us to live in a Sukkah:

"You shall live in huts seven days; all citizens of Israel shall live in huts, in order that all future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in huts when I brought them out of the land of Egypt ..." Leviticus 23:42-43.

Thus, the most important ritual of Sukkot is living in a sukkah. The sukkah, however, is a temporary structure, with four walls and a roof that is open to the elements. Sukkot begins a few days after Yom Kippur, so the sukkah is constructed during the period between these two holidays.

The sukkah is a temporary structure to remind us of the impermanence of our lives and to remind us of the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 40 years following the Exodus from Egypt. The roof of the sukkah must be made of organic materials, such as reeds or branches. It must also be open to the sky, so that we can see the moon and the stars from the inside, but it should provide enough shelter to shade us from the sun.

During the holiday of Sukkot, we are to live in the sukkah and treat it as our home. We decorate the sukkah with the fall harvest fruit. In addition, beautiful items we hold dear are brought into the sukkah to brighten our lives. In the community sukkah (the one built at the synagogue) is often decorated by the artwork of the children.

During the Sukkot holiday, many Jews study Torah in the sukkah.

Sukkot is a joyous holiday and one that all people look forward to participating in.