Sukkot: Harvest Festival
Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.
Biblically an autumn harvest festival and a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt, Sukkot’s modern observance is characterized by festive meals in a sukkah, a temporary wood-covered hut.
As an extension of its harvest festival community roots, the idea of welcoming all guests and extending hospitality is intrinsic to the celebration. Actual and symbolic “guests” are invited to participate by visiting the sukkah. Specifically, seven “forefathers” of the Jewish people are to be welcomed during the seven days of the festival, in this order: Day 1: Abraham; Day 2: Isaac; Day 3: Jacob; Day 4: Moses; Day 5: Aaron; Day 6: Joseph; Day 7: David.
The holiday lasts seven days. The first day (and second day in the diaspora) is a Shabbat-like holiday when work is forbidden. This is followed by intermediate days called Chol HaMoed, during which certain work is permitted.
The Hebrew word sukkoṯ is the plural of sukkah which is a walled structure covered with s’chach (plant material, such as overgrowth or palm leaves).
A sukkah is the name of the temporary dwelling in which farmers would live during harvesting, reinforcing agricultural significance of the holiday introduced in the Book of Exodus. As stated in Leviticus, it is also reminiscent of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelled during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and many people sleep there as well.
On each day of the holiday it is a mitzvah, or commandment, to ‘dwell’ in the sukkah and to perform a shaking ceremony with a lulav (a palm frond, then bound with myrtle and willow), and an etrog (the fruit of a citron tree) (collectively known as the four species).
Destination: Israel
